The Summer Melt

Posted on Wednesday, July 30th, 2014

Every year, thousands of students make their way into the post-secondary system, embarking on a journey that will be one of the most memorable of their lifetime. It will also be an experience that will position them for success in the workplace, but this blog is not about the students that go on to college or university to earn a credential, but rather the students that don’t.

These students have the same hopes and dreams, but instead of enrolling in the program they had intended to, they abandon their plan before starting classes.

In colleges, it is known as the “summer melt.”

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So the question is, why don’t these students follow through with their intentions to attend post-secondary schooling? At a time when colleges and universities are facing the reality of a demographic shift in most parts of the country that will impact enrolments moving forward, enrolment managers are paying a lot of attention to this phenomenon.

Choosing to attend a post-secondary institute is both a logical and emotional decision. With that decision comes a lot of considerations, including answering questions like: Am I making the right program choice or do I have the necessary funding to pay for college? As applicants make their way through the admissions funnel, there are lot of things that can happen to give an applicant cold feet.

What colleges are trying to figure out is what are the triggers that lead these applicants to become drop outs, before they even begin their post-secondary journey, and more importantly how can they intervene to help these students stay on course.

In my opinion, it starts with building a relationship early and maintaining that relationship through the many months involved in the admissions cycle. There needs to be a lot of communication with applicants to offset those emotional feelings that can sway a student to make a decision that they probably will later regret. The applicants may not know there are services and supports available to them that can assist with helping them overcome some of the barriers that may have them thinking about pulling the plug on their college plans.

Those connections could involve meeting with faculty in the program they are considering, taking a campus tour, participating in a summer orientation college preparation session, sitting in on a college webinar, or opening up an on line conversation with a college student services representative. All of these touch points help an applicant feel secure in their decision, and stop them from melting away.

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Parents, spouses and those closest to applicants also play a critical role in offering reassurance that the student is making a good decision by attending college. I know, because about five years ago my daughter was experiencing the same doubts during the summer months about whether she was choosing the right program. In her case, she had been accepted into an Early Childhood Education program, but eventually made the decision to enroll in an Office Administration-Executive program. It was a good choice and has led to a full time position with a large company with plenty of opportunities for advancement.

As parents, we could have said, take a year off and think about it some more. For some applicants that may work, but my experience has told me that it often doesn’t. These students often don’t resurface in the admissions funnel the following year, and it may be several years before they re-consider attending college, if they do at all.

Research in the United States has suggested the most vulnerable summer melt students come from low income families. Many may be the first person in their immediate family to attend post-secondary education, inherently putting significant pressure on them to succeed. That in itself could be overwhelming and as the start of fall classes creep closer, the emotional knee jerk reaction may be to relieve that pressure by taking the path frequently travelled by so many others who melt away during the months of June, July and August.

If you know a student that is having second thoughts about attending college this fall, do them a favour, and recommend they meet with a college advisor. That conversation could make a world of difference on whether they melt away or they carry through with their original plans to attend post-secondary schooling. It’s also a decision that could be life altering. It’s that important, given today’s competitive labour market and the need for post-secondary training.

Posted by: Jamie Bramburger, Manager of Community and Student Affairs at Algonquin College’s Pembroke Campus

Read other articles about Summer Melt phenomenon at colleges: (Note-the articles are American based as Canadian institutes have been slower to adopt the summer melt terminology and therefore less has been written about the topic by Canadian academics)

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