Changes of Heart

The last couple of weeks gave us the opportunity to enjoy a theater play here at Warner Pacific College. The play "Changes of Heart" by Pierre De'Marivauz not only is a very enjoyable play but more important it has a very insightful message. The play; quote from the program: "The prince loves Silvia, but Silvia is quite sure that she loves Harlequin, though she kind of likes the Guardsman (the Prince in disguise), but she definitely, absolutely, positively, does not love the prince-she thinks. Meanwhile, Harlequin, who is totally in love with Silvia, also likes Flamina, and food." is a metaphor for the indecision that  young people have as they look up to their future careers.
As we have many Freshman coming to college undecided of what major to pursue and more often than not even changing major in their first semesters. There are many angles to analyse in this metaphor, one being the lack of preparation students have for the major that they think would like to graduate. This is the most challenging aspect of students in the "hard" sciences. It is a well know fact that in general more than 30% of students that come to college thinking of graduating in these sciences switch major finding what is better fit to their character and liking. The problem is aggravated when first-generation, low-income, underserved students are pursuing these majors that normally require an integrated support starting with a family that has the resources to forge, and remediate, the skills that these programs require.
With trending changes in our society today, attendance of these unprepared students is in the rise and strong positive proactive measures have to be adopted by colleges in order to satisfy the demand. Warner Pacific college is taking the initiative partnering with other association like ACT SIX http://www.actsix.org/  to foster a healthy environment for these students. WPC is also intentionally opening our doors to underserved-urban students so they can be exposed to a Christ-Centered, Liberal-Arts education increasingly necessary in this ever changing world.

The question we have today is:

How do we increase the options for these students without having an irresponsible impact in the college budget?