STUDENTS’ ROAD TO SUCCESS

It is crucial to define student achievement because it is a vast issue. The primary

indicator of student success in this chapter is the frequency with which students complete their
education. We will examine the impact of various factors, including well-known demographics
like race, religion, gender, and income level, as well as more complex factors like the caliber of
instruction, geographic location, instructional modality, and the observed and anticipated
effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, on this frequency. Numerous studies have demonstrated the
correlation between higher money and better life outcomes, so it is not unexpected that many
people link success and even happiness to wealth.

Although happiness is a quantity that can be measured and is objectively quantified,

income is not. In reality, it appears that many people's perceptions of success are based more
on relative income than actual money; in other words, individuals perceive success as being
based on relative income rather than actual revenue. Assuming that students self-select into the
fields they believe they will be able to achieve the most success in, using college completion
rates instead should allow for a more accurate representation of student success. Determining
whether students are actually maximizing their subjective success, however, could be an
interesting topic for future research, but that is outside the purview of this chapter.

The rationale for choosing the percentage of students who complete college as our
indicator of student success also has to do with usefulness and accessibility. It should be simpler
to notice how changing conditions affect that rate because college completion is a more binary
system than, say, income. This gives us information that is simpler to understand and that makes
connections between causes and effects more obvious. A more educated population is
preferable to one that is less educated due to the effects it has on growth and general
productivity. Therefore, it is evident that policy changes can result in improved student
outcomes if they are properly designed with data in mind.

Acceptance and completion of college can be difficult for many people while pursuing
higher education. We may learn more about how people thrive in college by observing the
many personal aspects that affect college completion and the various college qualities that may
impact a person's educational achievement. A person's desire to enroll in or finish a college
degree may be impacted by a variety of good and bad aspects of their life. The following topics
will be covered more in-depth: family life, money, mental and physical health, personality
characteristics, and academic aptitude.