Consider motivation next time around

Daily Herald Editorial Board

In the fall of 2009, kids fresh out of high school who wanted an education at McHenry County College were given a golden opportunity: Free tuition for their length of stay.

All they had to do was maintain a 2.0 GPA (for starters), do 16 hours of approved volunteer work per semester and keep up with the paperwork involved. The result? In less than 18 months, only one in five kids is still in the program.

This has a lot of us — including McHenry County College and the foundation that funneled $1.6 million in private donations to make it all happen — scratching our heads.

How could this have flopped so badly?

The 940 kids who signed up for MCC’s Promise scholarship program were just average kids. There was no financial need requirement, no GPA, racial or gender niches to fill. Just a cross section of McHenry County high school grads.

Yet nearly 400 of them dropped out in the first semester alone.

So, what happened?

By the end of the first semester, 246 students fell short of the minimum GPA. Those who survived the grade cutoff were further challenged to maintain a 2.5 GPA for the second semester.

Some kids didn’t perform their required volunteer work — there were 163 social service agencies from which to choose and 50 workshops on how to get involved. Translation: Students were given every chance to succeed.

Some students didn’t log their hours or keep up with paperwork required to qualify for funding.

Perhaps what’s interesting is that 521 students dropped out of the scholarship program but remain enrolled at MCC. And from that we derive that the $984-a-semester incentive was not enough of a motivator. Sure, many who signed up thought it would be an easy way to get a free education, But then they read the fine print.

Were the MCC program confined to just those showing a financial need — like many other community colleges — we suspect the result would have been far different. Students who need the assistance will likely work harder to get it.

Of the $2.3 million pledged by private donors — $1.6 million was actually put into the program — Michael Luecht and his wife, Judy, pledged $1 million. They feel the program has lived up to its billing — to help more kids go to school.

The program ends at the end of this semester, and officials are putting their heads together to determine whether to continue it in another form or suspend it permanently.

Our advice: Do a comprehensive review with those who left it to get at what motivates them — or what doesn’t. And narrow the scope of the applicant pool. The college can’t rely on hunches.

If MCC wants to maintain its list of benefactors, it had better show measurably better results next time around.