Show I conducts research study Nicole Casper Staff Reporter Every year Salt Lake Community College along with other universities and community colleges in Utah compare their enrollment status to the national where the r i-r average to see f importance of higher education falls with our next generations in Utah In the past weve we've seen 1 an outstanding number of women not only enrolling in higher education institutes but also receiving I degrees and passing the national average by leaps and bounds I Unfortunately in the thelast thelast thelast last decade or so every year the number of women enrolling in colleges and even finishing high school has dropped significantly significantly- even eyen to the point of dropping below the national average The question arises why Why such the drastic drop in interest Dr Susan R. R Madsen Women Education Project Director and Associate Professor of Management at Utah Valley University asked the same question only she would wouldn't settle with guesses A year and a half later she has just about wrapped up a research project that hopes to give justice to the unanswered question concerning why young women choose never to attend college and why some chose to drop dropout dropout dropout out after only one or two semesters Kathy Hurd Kurd University Center Director has been helping coordinate the project research for those interested in being surveyed in inthe inthe inthe the metropolitan areas surrounding Salt Lake City The purpose of the research is to find out why so many women in Utah compared to the national average do not continue their education says Hurd Kurd The executive summary states that women in Utah were the highest in the nation to continue their education beyond high school now all we are seeing year after year is a continued decline This project is hoping to survey women between the ages of 1824 1824 1824 18 24 but the facilitators have been finding it more difficult than expected to get women to participate inthe in inthe inthe the chalks it up to the inability of getting women from the more rural areas to show survey is suppose to take takeno no longer than hours 2 and andis is composed of a question- question based interview that analyzes the psychosocial metrics for how people make decisions Questions that are asked will evaluate sociological cultural influences in a decision and we will use the data we find to see what efforts can be put in place to help young women finish school says Hurd Kurd A part of conducting this research may happen to tobe tobe tobe be the fact that enrollment statistics easily affect funding the state receives for higher education The report which is the Integrated Education Data System of the US Department of Education is required of all institutions and Hurd Kurd tells us that ultimately funding is affected by enrollment Pressure from the Utah State Office of Education may have been in place that started jump-started this research project The demographics of those interviewed will not be released until the final report to see if there is any cultural or social pull in this drastic decline in women who have chosen not to finish college All of Utah is participating including the State Office of Education the Board of Regions as aswell aswell aswell well as churches so that all levels and many resources as possible can be involved so we can redirect young women Hurd says The results of the research study are still being processed and any further questions concerning the project can be addressed to Dr Susan R. R Madsen at |