Part-time students struggle to graduate

While most full-time students live near the campus, participate in university-affiliated organizations and graduate within six years, the majority of part-time students struggle to complete a degree in the same time span, according to a recently released study.

About 15 percent of part-time students — those taking 12 credits or fewer per semester — in the state graduate within six years, compared to the 64 percent of full-time students who receive a diploma in that time, according to a report published last month by the nonprofit organization Complete College America. While the study did not include these students' graduation rates, some part-time students at the university said they feel like they're lost in the crowd and that the university does not offer enough services to help them complete their credits in a timely fashion.

"I don't really feel I have a sense of campus community," said Rachel Mendoza, a senior English major and part-time student. "I feel like individual teachers and people try to reach out more, but the campus as a whole I don't feel has a lot of help for part-time students."

The university does not track its number of part-time student graduates because, according to Associate Vice President for the Office of Institutional Research, Planning & Assessment Mona Levine, the number of part-time students fluctuates frequently. Of the 37,631 total students currently attending the university, 5,398 — about 14 percent — are part-time, Levine said. This number has remained relatively consistent, she said, because part-time students at this university are often graduating seniors with only a few credits left to complete.

"We really haven't looked at them to any great degree because they are such a minority on the campus," Levine said. "We don't track graduation rates for them. It's almost impossible to do so because there's no specific cohort that we can track."

However, Complete College America organizers said it was important to gauge the success of all students, even when it's difficult to do so. Nationally, 25.6 percent of part-time students graduate within eight years, the study reported.

"I'm sure that the University of Maryland has every intention of serving all of its students well, but until we can count how successful [part-time students] are and figure out how to do it, we're missing the opportunity to truly understand their lives and how to better design higher education," said Tom Sugar, the senior vice president of Complete College America.

However, Undergraduate Studies Assistant Dean Lisa Kiely said part-time students have access to the same resources as full-time students.

"We aren't as well set up for [part-time students] as say [University of Maryland] University College or community college because most students here come full-time," Kiely said.

The university's mandatory four-year academic plan can be adjusted for those looking to take less than 12 credits, Kiely said.

"We would recognize that a student is going to take longer than four years and maybe even longer than six," she said.

Additionally, part-time students do not receive merit-based scholarships from the university and have limited financial aid options, said Financial Aid Director Sarah Bauder.

"The costs are lower so the amount of funding to those students is less," Bauder said. She added that some options for assistance include Pell Grants, state grants and some federal loans.

These factors, along with the recent recession, have contributed to the low graduation rate of part-time students — who often commute to school and juggle an off-campus job with their coursework, according to Sugar.

"The American archetype is the traditional, go full-time at a residential school, live on campus, and get most of your bills paid by mom and dad; you're not really working and balancing school — but that's only true for 25 percent of our students in our country today," Sugar said. "Everybody else is engaged in a delicate balancing act of community, campus, juggling jobs and school and family, and yet they are trying to succeed in a system that is not designed for their success."

Some students said they were forced to transition from full to part-time to cut financial costs.

"I had a grant last year because I was full-time, and this year it was denied so I had to pay out of pocket, which means I have to work more, but it also means I get less time to study," Mendoza said. "It affects my overall grades."

Mendoza said she moved in with family to save money on rent and now has a two-hour commute to the campus, which has also prevented her from receiving the typical college experience.

"I don't have the traditional college feel. There's no parties; there's no late night studying … because I can't go to work and fall asleep," Mendoza said.

marcot@umdbk.com