For most people, college is a significant investment, but with an important caveat: You need to graduate from it to reap the benefits. But the statistics for successfully graduating are not good. Consider the following:

• More than one million students drop out of college every year, and three-quarters of them are first-generation college students (source: Forbes)
• At four-year colleges, 40 percent of undergraduate students drop out (source: Education Data Initiative)
• Black students have the highest dropout rate at 54 percent (source: Education Data Initiative)
• Nearly one-third of college freshmen drop out before their sophomore year (source: Education Data Initiative).
• Students who drop out of college are nearly 100 times more likely to default on their student loans when compared to students who graduate (source: Mark Kantrowitz at Forbes)
• The earnings lost by dropping out of college is $3.8 billion in a single year (source: Education Data Initiative)

Do I have your attention?

One person who takes these statistics seriously is Matt McCarthy, a multiple-time award-winning professor at Arizona State University. Having taught over 70,000 students in his career, McCarthy has seen what separates people who complete college versus those who drop out. What helps is that McCarthy very nearly became a dropout statistic himself, and so he has seen what causes students to drop out from multiple vantage points: student, professor, and parent.

McCarthy uses numerous examples (often hilarious) in this highly listenable book to drive home the lessons about what differentiates a college graduate from a college dropout. With his engaging writing style, McCarthy shares fundamental truths in a way that is accessible to both students and their parents. And by adopting the lessons in these minutes, a student is far more likely to graduate and realize the rewards of having done so.

In my opinion, this book is the single most valuable gift that family and loved ones can give to their current or prospective college student.