When the truth came out, the truth hurt.

The painful truth to some people is that VSU is shrinking. The more important truth to the remaining 11,500 students is that reaching our goal — graduation — has become an increasingly difficult struggle.

We realize recruiting is important, but VSU needs to realize that it is time for retention to take center stage.

While we expect the university to recruit new students, VSU’s administration needs to work harder at retaining the students they already have, many who leave for another college after only one or two semesters on campus.

This loss of students is the latest facet in a trend that began as early as spring 2013 when VSU first saw a decrease in the total number of enrolled students. The number dropped from 12,277 students in spring 2012 to 11,265 by the start of the 2014 spring semester.

VSU is not the only university experiencing a decrease in the number of students, the entire University System of Georgia is.

Many factors have led to this drop, including the rise of more localized colleges in the north Georgia area as well as many students opting to stay home during their college years to offset the always increasing cost of housing.

Despite constant protests and complaints from students, the heart of VSU’s retention problem lies beyond the standard issues of parking, the bus system and housing.

By choosing to go to college, students open themselves up to both a world of opportunities and an onslaught of financial debt. Paying tuition is, in effect, placing trust in VSU; the university owes it to the students to do the best job they can to make their students successful.

VSU has to recognize that more often than not students have to work more outside of the university to pay high tuition costs, which can be seen in the increase of students who now spend six years to complete their bachelor’s degree. Of the students that enrolled in VSU in the fall of 2007, 40.2 percent did not graduate until six years later.

It is true that it may be time for all to recognize that it is now going to take longer than the standard four years to get through college. However, it is also clear that we now need as much help as possible with finances from the system.

VSU faces the responsibility of helping students find different avenues to afford college, such as creative financial aid opportunities as well as internships and career opportunities for students entering a flat job market.

VSU has done a lot, as evident by an improved retention rate (up to 72 percent from the 67.4 percent from 2013), but a lot is not enough now.

VSU succeeds when its students succeed, and VSU needs to do everything possible to help ensure its students thrive.