Big Data Could Solve the College Dropout Crisis

Only half of the two million students who started college this fall will graduate. But there’s a possible solution to that big problem: Big Data. Colleges have access to extraordinary amounts of student data—not just on academic performance, but also on their daily routines.

“Administrators could use such data to identify which students are at risk of dropping out and could then intervene to give them additional support,” writes Mark C. Hampton, vice president for planning, analytics, and decision support, in an op-ed published by Grade Point, an education blog of The Washington Post.

Imagine the insights colleges could glean from a broad array of data about students’ lives. All this data could help identify struggling students before they drop out, according to Hampton.

Some might worry about colleges collecting and analyzing these kinds of data about students, but they already give information about their social activities and locations to companies like Facebook and Google—which sell that data for a profit. Colleges, at least, would use the data to improve students’ lives, Hampton notes.

Nevertheless, colleges and universities could promise to only collect data that has a tangible connection to students’ academic and social success. They can pledge not to sell or share the data with third parties, and offer to destroy data that is no longer valuable, such as meal swipe information for students who have already graduated.

Formalizing these standards in a code of ethics would make students comfortable with increased data collection and make colleges accountable for the appropriate use of these data. “Private companies and non-profit organizations already employ Big Data to drive sales and predict consumer behavior. It’s about time colleges apply these same technologies to help students stay in school and reach their full potential,” Hampton concludes.

This op-ed is part of an NYIT thought-leadership campaign designed to help generate awareness and build reputation for the institution on topics of national relevance. Read more op-eds by NYIT experts.