Education Commons^™

Making Progress Toward The Degree, Carl Simpson, Scott Matson, Linda D. (Linda Darlene) Clark

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

Introduction Students' ability to complete degrees in a timely manner has become one of the key new issues in higher education. Enrollment increases along with resource cuts have created increasing problems for student progress, which Western has been confronting through curricular changes, enrollment management policy changes, and higher workload for faculty and staff. At the same time, increases in tuition have highlighted students' felt need for efficient progress. Two recent findings illustrate the impact of these pressures on the university. First, nearly half (44.9%) of students who entered Western in Fall, 1994, said at least one course they wanted to …