The nexus between college choice and persistence

Initial student commitments have long been considered an influence on persistence, but the reasons why students choose to attend a college have seldom been considered as dimensions of initial commitments that could influence persistence processes and outcomes. This study used NPSAS-87 to examine the influence of finance-related reasons for choosing a college on persistence decisions. The findings include (1) finance-related choices have direct and indirect influences on whether students persist in college; and (2) market-based, monetary measures of financial aid, tuition costs, housing costs, and other living costs have a substantial direct effect on persistence.     

The Big Five Personality Dimensions and the Process of Institutional Departure

This study investigated the role of the “Big Five” personality dimensions in the dynamics of institutional departure in a convenience sample of 240 first-time, first-semester students enrolled in Introduction to Psychology at a large southwestern state university. Of the “Big Five” dimensions (agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and openness to experience), structural equation modeling revealed that conscientiousness exhibited the largest total effect on institutional departure (−.293). Conscientiousness exerted indirect effects (−.133) on institutional departure via organizational involvement, initial institutional commitment, and cumulative GPA as well as a direct effect (−.160) on institutional departure. Only 14 of the 240 students departed the institution within 1 year. A discriminant function analysis of institutional persistence versus departure, using cumulative GPA, institutional commitment, and conscientiousness as predictors, yielded a high false positive rate (67.6%) and a high sensitivity rate (78.6%).     

A comparison of white and black student academic success using noncognitive variables: A LISREL analysis

The structural relation of the seven noncognitive dimensions proposed by Sedlacek and Brooks in 1976 and traditional definitions of academic ability, as indicated by Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores, to first semester grade-point average (GPA) and persistence after three and five semesters was examined in this study. Random samples of entrants at one predominantly white state university were administered the Non-cognitive Questionnaire (NCQ) during summer orientation in 1979 and 1980. The NCQ results and the SAT scores were used to derive structural models (using LISREL) or early academic success for both black and white students. The structural models for the black and white students were found to be very different. For black students, traditional academic ability was related to first semester GPA, but neither GPA nor academic ability was related to persistence. Only the noncognitive dimensions were predictive of black student persistence. For white students, academic ability was the best predictor of first semester grades, and these grades were the major predictor of subsequent persistence. The noncognitive dimensions were not important in white student academic success, whereas they were crucial in black student academic success.     

Academic Fatalism: Applying Durkheim’s Fatalistic Suicide Typology to Student Drop-Out and the Climate of Higher Education

Student drop-out remains a critical issue facing educational professionals. For higher education, the vast research in the past 40 years has been influenced by the work of Tinto and his model of student persistence. In this model are several elements that have proven to sharpen the focus of student drop-out research such as the concept of integration. The philosophical foundation for these concepts stems from Durkheim’s work on suicide. Specifically, Tinto’s employs Durkheim’s “egotistical” suicide type as an analogy for student departure while attributing students’ departure as a decision to separate themselves from the academic community. However; assigning causation of student departure to students’ decisions stands in stark contrast to the theoretical underpinnings of Durkheim’s work. Durkheim believed that certain social tendencies cause suicides. If student drop-out is to be typified by a certain Durkheimian suicide “type,” then specific social facts must exist in those societies. In this article, student departure in higher education will be examined using Durkheim’s theory of suicide complemented with Bourdieu’s theory of symbolic violence. Egotistical suicide will then be re-examined as an analogy for student departure and the Durkheimian suicide “fatalistic” will be presented as suitable analogy for student departure.     

Persistence at an Urban Community College: The Implications of Self-Efficacy and Motivation

This study examined how self-efficacy and motivation affected student persistence at an urban community college. Self-efficacy was studied at two dimensions: self-regulated learning efficacy and self-efficacy for academic achievement. Motivation was also investigated at two levels: intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Results show that self-regulated learning efficacy and extrinsic motivation predicted persistence. Intrinsic motivation and academic achievement self-efficacy failed to predict persistence directly. Two path models were constructed to assess the direct and indirect relationships among self-efficacy, motivation, and persistence. The reduced model explained 8% of the variance in persistence. In the reduced model, extrinsic motivation emerged as a mediator in the relationship between the two dimensions of self-efficacy and persistence. It was also found that self-efficacy measures correlated well with motivation measures. Implications and limitations of the research findings are discussed.     

Price response in persistence decisions: An analysis of the high school and beyond senior cohort

It is well established in the research literature that student financial aid has a positive influence on year-to-year persistence. However, there has been no prior research on price responsiveness in persistence decisions. This article examines the influence of the amounts of student financial aid received and tuition charged on year-to-year persistence by college students in the high school class of 1980. The principal finding is that the persistence decisions of college students in the early 1980s were more responsive to increases in student aid than to tuition increases. This finding suggests that persistence rates can be improved if institutions increase need-based aid for currently enrolled students when tuition is increased each year, or if government student aid increases over the levels provided in the 1980s.Presented at the Seventh Annual NASSGP/NCHELP Research Conference, Washington, D.C., May 16, 1990.     

Career decision-making self-efficacy and institutional integration of underprepared college students

This investigation applied, as the theoretical base, a model of student persistence and departure (Tinto, 1987) to explore the nature of the relationship between career decision-making self-efficacy and integration. Career decision-making self-efficacy identifies students' perceived confidence (self-efficacy) in their ability to plan and execute vocationally relevant tasks in the educational environment. The sample comprised 418 underprepared students. Data were analyzed using correlation, analysis of variance, and multiple regression. There is an interrelationship between perceived career decision-making self-efficacy and integration (overall, social, and academic) for underprepared college students. The variance in students' integration can be explained by their career decision-making self-efficacy and by their initial goals and commitments. Career decision-making self-efficacy surpassed all other variables in explaining the variance in overall and academic integration. Based on these research results, career decision-making self-efficacy should be considered as a variable in future studies of integration, a longitudinal study should be conducted to determine the direct relationship of career decision-making self-efficacy to persistence and attrition, and if a relationship to persistence is found, then the rationale exists for the design and experimental testing of interventions aimed at increasing career decision-making self-efficacy.     

The influence of prices on graduate student persistence

The topic of how prices influence graduate student persistence has seldom been examined. Using the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study of 1987 to examine the influence of prices on within-year persistence by graduate students, this analysis indicates that graduate students, especially those enrolled in public institutions, are responsive to tuition charges in their persistence decisions. The major implication of this finding is that universities should examine the potential impact of price changes on graduate student persistence when they consider tuition increases each year.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Eighth Annual NASSGP/NCHELP Research Network Conference, March 21, 1991, San Francisco, CA.     

The influence of student aid on within-year persistence by traditional college-age students in four-year colleges

This paper uses the 1987 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study to compare five alternative approaches for assessing the influence of student aid on within-year persistence by traditional college-age students enrolled in four-year colleges. Three conclusions were drawn from the research. First, models that included tuition charges better predicted within-year persistence than models that did not include this independent variable. Second, the use of multiple approaches for measuring the influence of student aid provided more insight into the ways student aid policies influence persistence than any single approach. Third, tuition charges had a consistent negative influence on persistence.     

The Relationship Between Teachers' Perceptions of Student Motivation and Engagement and Teachers' Enjoyment of and Confidence in Teaching

This paper examines teachers' perceptions of their students' motivation and engagement and their enjoyment of and confidence in teaching. Drawing on Martin's Student Motivation and Engagement Scale, 10 facets of motivation and engagement were explored amongst a sample of 1,019 teachers. These facets comprised three adaptive cognitive dimensions of motivation (self‐efficacy, valuing of school, mastery orientation), three adaptive behavioural dimensions (planning, study management, persistence), two impeding dimensions (anxiety, failure avoidance), and two maladaptive dimensions (uncertain control, self‐handicapping). Male teachers tended to report significantly higher student motivation and engagement than female teachers (though effect sizes were small) and primary school teachers reported significantly higher student motivation and engagement than high school teachers (effect sizes were moderate). Adaptive dimensions were more strongly associated with enjoyment and confidence in teaching than impeding and maladaptive dimensions. Of the adaptive dimensions, students' mastery orientation was the strongest correlate of teachers' enjoyment of teaching and students' persistence and students' planning were the strongest correlates of teachers' confidence in teaching. These associations were more marked for male teachers and relatively independent of years spent teaching. Implications for teacher education and professional development are discussed.     

Do expenditures other than instructional expenditures affect graduation and persistence rates in American higher education?

During the last two decades, median instructional spending per full-time equivalent (FTE) student at American 4-year colleges and universities has grown at a slower rate than median spending per FTE student in a number of other expenditure categories, including academic support, student services and research. Our paper uses institutional level panel data and a variety of econometric approaches, including unconditional quantile regression methods, to analyze whether these non-instructional expenditure categories influence graduation and first-year persistence rates of undergraduate students.     

Factors that influence pre-service teachers' persistence

This study investigated the role of various factors in pre-service teachers' persistence. Using a sample of U.S. pre-service teachers (N = 1365) from 256 institutions, the study explored the joint effect of predictors that influence their persistence including student engagement, demographic characteristics, prior achievement, college grades, and institutional characteristics. Results from multilevel logistic models indicated that campus environment engagement was a weak but positive predictor of persistence, those with higher grades were more likely to persist, and male and minority pre-service teachers were less likely to persist. Implications include implementing evidence-based programs to improve campus environment and support at-risk candidates.     

A PERSISTENCE MODEL FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN MALE URBAN COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS

A considerable amount of effort is expended encouraging students to enroll in higher education programs. It is, therefore, disappointing to all concerned when students fail to complete their programs. It is even more distressing when one particular group of enrollees is identified as failing to persist with their studies at a disproportionately high rate. This was the issue faced by Kennedy‐King College during the early 1990s. The African American male, nontraditional student (either more than 24 years old, or part‐time enrollee, or live off campus), was identified in this category with the withdrawal/departure behavior becoming a serious and increasing problem.

Kennedy‐King College is a non‐residential, two‐year community college located in a neighborhood of Chicago that is predominantly African American (97%), low income (70% below the poverty level), with a comparatively high crime rate and a public school system that has been described as “somewhat ineffective.” More than 30% of the students are residents of this community.

The study consisted of a literature review; consideration of the variables identified from the review that had previously been thought to affect student persistence; quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis carried out with the African American male students; the development and testing of a persistence model incorporating previous and newly identified variables; and the development of a college strategy designed to increase the persistence of these students.     

Determinants of withdrawal behavior: An exploratory study

Research on college persistence has typically classified nonreturnees as dropouts. Recently, this practice has been criticized by Tinto (1987) who argues that such a practice merges together different types of withdrawal behavior whose determinants may vary as a function of the particular departure behavior under consideration. This paper empirically examines whether the determinants of decisions to withdraw from the institution are similar to those affecting decisions to transfer to other institutions of higher education for the 1984 entering freshman class at a large southern institution. Results provide support for Tinto's proposition of differentiating between different types of voluntary withdrawal behavior. While institutional commitment, academic performance, finance attitudes, and student perceptions of faculty concern for student development and teaching discriminated between persisters and dropouts, only final institutional commitment and final goal commitment discriminated between persisters and transfers.An earlier version of this paper was presented before the 1990 American Educational Research Association annual meeting.     

Tracking Financial Aid and Persistence of Women,Minority, and Needy Students in Science,Engineering, and Mathematics

This longitudinal research study focused on persistence and financial aid of women, underrepresented minorities, and needy students majoring in science, engineering, and mathematics (SEM) in a large, public university in a metropolitan area. Beginning in fall 1989, four consecutive freshmen cohorts (n's = 1967, 1679, 1614, and 1924, respectively) were tracked through 1996–97. SEM majors persisted and graduated at higher rates, but took longer to graduate than non-SEM majors. Women, underrepresented minorities, and needy students received more gift aid than other student populations. However, only women had lower departure rates and graduated at higher rates than other SEM student populations. Compared to non-SEM majors, gift aid for SEM majors was more likely to be awarded on the basis of merit rather than need. Average loan indebtedness increased rapidly from 1989–90 through 1996–97 for both SEM and non-SEM majors. Implications of the findings for improved institutional and federal policy are indicated, and further research on the study topics recommended.     

Student engagement and departure intention: an Australian university perspective

This study addresses the departure intentions of an Australian university business student cohort that is characterised by high levels of diversity in pre-entry attributes. The study investigates the level of student engagement using the academic and social integration components of the Student Engagement Questionnaire (SEQ) based on Tinto’s model of institutional departure. The results showed that the pre-entry attributes of students such as gender and low socio-economic status, together with first year of study, were not significant in determining student engagement. There were, however, significant differences in departure intention based on student engagement, particularly in terms of interaction with administrative support services and satisfaction with the educational experience. Overall, the findings support the view that institutional efforts to engage business students in the early stages of their studies minimise the risk of departure.     

The Impact of Student Perceptions and Characteristics on Teaching Evaluations: A case study in finance education

This study uses an ordered probit model to examine the impact of student characteristics and perceptions of the teaching evaluation process on student ratings. The results indicate that expected grade, ethnic background, gender and age are a significant influence on student ratings. A primary student-based influence on teaching evaluation performance would appear to be the perceived potential outcome of the evaluation in terms of tenure, promotion and salary decisions, and improvements in teaching and staff allocation. The impact of student perceptions and characteristics is also found to vary across the various dimensions of teaching performance with the potential bias being highest for evaluation questions relating to overall performance, and lowest for questions relating to formative assessment and deep learning outcomes.     

The Relationship Between Institutional Expenditures and Degree Attainment at Baccalaureate Colleges

Enhancing student persistence and effectively managing financial resources present important challenges to higher education. Surprisingly, existing student persistence and attrition models offer little insight into the potential links between institutional expenditures and student persistence. This study examines the impact of institutional expenditures on 6-year cohort graduation rates at 363 Carnegie-classified Baccalaureate I and II institutions. The results suggest a positive and significant relationship between instructional and academic support expenditures and cohort graduation rates. As a result, researchers might consider ways to integrate expenditure variables into student persistence models. Institutions also might seek out ways to shift financial resources to areas that enhance student persistence and degree attainment. Additional research may serve to strengthen student persistence frameworks and improve links between persistence research and financial decisionmaking in colleges and universities.     

An Examination of the Influence of Institutional Context on Student Persistence at 4-Year Colleges and Universities: A Multilevel Approach

Using constructs from Bean's (1990) [In: D. Hossler and J. P. Bean (Eds.), The strategic management of college enrollments. San Francisco:Jossey-Bass] student attrition model and the Berger and Milem (2000) [In: J. C. Smart (Ed.), Higher education: Handbook of theory and research (Vol. XV, pp. 268–338). New York: Agathon Press] college impact model, national survey data, and multilevel modeling techniques, this study examines the extent to which persistence is influenced by the institutional context. The analytic sample is limited to first-time, full-time, degree-seeking undergraduates attending 4-year colleges and universities nationwide. This study finds that selectivity, as measured by the average student academic ability at an institution, has a contextual effect on college student persistence that reflects a positive increment to the chance of persistence that accrues to a student beyond student-level predictors of persistence. Although the implications of the findings are mainly for theory and methods, policy implications are discussed.