...Southern Miss' Office of the Dean of Students is offering a free 5x7 graduation photo to all new freshmen and transfer students as part of a new program called "Project Graduation."
Students will pose in a cap and gown, holding a placard that will display their projected year of graduation....
This might be a good idea for student retention, actually, and especially if a photo company is bearing most of the cost as a promotion. (Given the opportunity for family reprints, that sounds likely.) It's easier to reach a goal if one can visualize it.
I recall the time when students were downright grateful for the opportunity to go to college. And now we have to entice them to stay by taking their picture? I'll bet they'll be enticing them to purchase extra copies for their friends and relatives.
I'm not sure that student motives in the past were particularly pure. People are people. But--if I may sound hokey--it's better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.
I'd take a different approach. Make them aware that a surprisingly small number of entering students at most any college graduates four years later. Try to help them understand that they will have to work their little Nitchampburgs off in order to make it to commencement.