The state’s university system is trying to lure back students who dropped out just short of graduation and now have new obligations or interests standing in the way of a diploma.

A recent report to the Board of Regents said 1,889 students left the university system from 2003 through 2008 and never returned after accumulating at least 90 credit hours – roughly the equivalent of a third-year student.

Regents staff found that it wasn’t poor grades but rather an illness, financial problems, schedule conflicts, work obligations or personal problems that most often sidetracked a student.

“A lot of these students in their final semester in school got a grade point average of zero despite having almost a 3-point GPA overall,” said Paul Turman. “They just walked away. Something happened” in their life.

Turman, associate vice president of academic affairs for the regents, is overseeing a two-year project to identify those students and make it easier for them to return to the university system on campus or through the three off-campus university centers and online programs.

South Dakota, New Jersey, Arkansas, Colorado, and Nevada are studying the so-called ready adult population under grants from the Lumina Foundation for Education and the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education.

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Best Online High Schools is pleased to announce this brand-new website for South Dakota online high schools. While this state currently has few such schools, look for that to grow in the very near future.