The purposes of this study are to identify student retention strategies in generic baccalaureate schools of nursing and their supporting institutions to determine if these strategies vary according to identified characteristics of the school of nursing and its supporting institution and to determine the perceived effectiveness of the strategies. Data were collected from 313 administrative heads of schools of nursing that offer generic baccalaureate programs accredited by the National League for Nursing; 217 returned usable questionnaires constituted a national response rate of 69.3 per cent. Frequency distribution and the chi-square test of independence, significant at the .05 level, were used for statistical treatment of the data.

The problem with which this study is concerned is the methodology that is used to assess the relationship between student perceptions of the college environment and student attrition. The population of the study was 329 students from a metropolitan community college who took the Student Opinion Survey, a publication of the American College Testing Service. Data on course withdrawals and non-return in a subsequent long semester were collected for the student population. The data results were analyzed statistically using analyses of variance, Pearson product moment correlation, multiple regression analysis using step-wise procedures, and factor analysis. Data were considered statistically significant at the .05 level in relation to seven hypotheses on combinations of variables that include areas of student satisfaction with the college environment, student background data, course withdrawal, and non-return in a subsequent long semester.

Student retention is one of the most important issues facing higher education. The demand for accountability of higher education has pushed the issue of student retention to the forefront of its agenda. Increasingly, state legislatures are tying funding to institutional effectiveness, using graduation rates as measures of academic quality. Though there is an abundance of literature of studies conducted at the four year institution, few studies have examined the community college student. This study attempted to identify 4 specific pre-enrollment variables, (1) parent's education, (2) high school senior grade point average, (3) educational goals and (4) racial origin, as predictors of persistence and retention. The sample included 312 entering freshmen at North Lake College in Irving, Texas who were administered the College Student Inventory (CSI) in the fall semesters of 1995 and 1996. The 1995 cohort consisted of 201 entries, 103 (51.2%) female and 98 (48.8) male. The 1996 cohort consisted of 111 entries, 65 (58.5%) female and 46 (41.5%) male. A data base was constructed by extracting selected data elements from the completed inventory. Each student was tracked for one year following the semester they completed the survey. The Pearson Chi-Square Test of Independence with .05 level of significance as the criterion level of rejection was performed to identify significant variables tied to student persistence. The research found that 3 factors, high school senior GPA, parent's education level and family origin were significant predictors of attrition at the .05 level. These factors represent information that is typically available from the student's prior to entry into the college. All too often an at-risk student is identified once he/she is placed on academic probation prompting the student to leave the college. Institutions need to implement an early warning system to identify students who are at-risk before the problem becomes intractable. The institution can then implement strategies and programs that would foster efforts to increase student engagement and retention. This study has demonstrated that there are important pre-enrollment data available to institutions that can assist potential non-persisters by identifying them early in their educational tenure.

A study was conducted at The University of Texas at Arlington to obtain measurements of non-traditional age undergraduate students using the Mattering Scales for Adult Students in Higher Education (MHE). The MHE is designed to assess the perceptions of adult students on how much they matter to the institution they are attending. The study also sought to determine if "mattering" and other selected nonacademic variables associated with the university environment are perceived by nontraditional age students to effect their likelihood of completing their baccalaureate degree. Of the five subscales surveyed by the MHE, significant statistical differences were found to exist in the Administration, Interaction With Peers, Multiple Roles, and Faculty subscales denoting an interaction between gender and minority status. Significant statistical differences were also found by gender on the Advising subscale and by minority status on the Faculty subscale.

Thesis (M. Sc. (Statistics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / The ever increasing number of students who drop out of university remains a challenge for Higher Education administrators. In response to this, different studies have been conducted globally in order to identify student retention strategies to fix the problem. However, the challenge continues to prevail year in and year out. Most of the studies conducted in South Africa used statistical methods that ignore the temporal nature of the process of student dropout. This study uses discrete-time survival techniques to model the occurrence and timing of undergraduate engineering student dropout at Tshwane University of Technology (TUT). Discrete-time survival analysis techniques allow for a more appropriate utilisation of the longitudinal nature of institutional data, where the time dependence of the data, time-varying factors and time-invariant factors can all be accommodated in the analysis. The temporal nature of the process of student dropout was analysed for the cohort of students registered in engineering programmes for the first time in 2010 at Tshwane University of Technology using discrete-time survival analysis methods. The cohort was followed for five years from 2010 through 2014, inclusive. Of particular interest was the incidence of dropout, the determinants of dropout, comparison of the single risk discrete-time model with a competing risk discrete-time model, as well as testing for the effects of unobserved heterogeneity. The study used administrative data obtained from the ITS. The logit model was used to estimate the effects of race, gender, Matric performance, performance in Matric Mathematics, residence type, English language status and time on time to dropout with time measured in academic years. A discretetime competing risk model in the form of a multinomial logit model was also estimated to account for the possible correlation between graduation and dropout. A frailty model assuming a Gaussian distribution for the frailty term was also estimated to account for unobserved heterogeneity. The study established that the risk of dropout for nonwhite students is significantly higher than that of white students. Furthermore, it was found that the effects of residence type varied with time. For instance, in the first year students with private based accommodation were more likely to dropout compared to those residing onvi Abstract campus. On the other hand, in the third year students accommodated in private residences were less likely to dropout than those residing on-campus. The findings also indicate that the effect of having English as a first language as opposed to as a second language on the risk of dropout was only significant in the fourth year such that first language English students were more at risk of dropout compared to second language students. The findings also revealed inconsistencies between the estimates from the single risk and the competing risk model. Moreover, the effect of unobserved heterogeneity was found to be insignificant. Recommendations from this study are that discrete-time survival analysis model is more efficient than traditional methods used for analysis of student dropout and should therefore be used for analysis of academic outcomes such as dropout. The model can account for the temporal nature of the process of dropout. Both time-varying and time-invariant explanatory variables can be included in the model.The effects of time-invariant explanatory variables that might have time-varying effects can also be investigated.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / More than half of the 400,000 freshmen minority students enrolled each year in colleges and universities in the United States fail to graduate within six years and some not at all. Many barriers impact student retention in college, especially for underrepresented undergraduate minority students. Studies in the past have focused on the causes of attrition of underrepresented undergraduate minority students, revealing a significant gap in the research on what leads to their success in higher education. A phenomenological study was used to allow participants to share their experiences from their individual perspectives. This qualitative research study investigated the social psychological attrition barriers encountered by successful undergraduate underrepresented minority students from African American and Latino groups. Exploring the perspective of successful students deepened the understanding of the barriers that minority students face in higher education, how they addressed these barriers, and what helped them to successfully graduate. Through in-depth interviews, this study explored the perceived barriers to student success encountered by successful undergraduate underrepresented minority students in a PWI. Participants' strategies for success was be examined and discussed.

A number of studies have been conducted on the attrition rates of undergraduate and graduate students. However, the body of knowledge concerning attrition for doctoral students, especially those who have attained the level of “all but dissertation” (ABD), is limited. The purpose of this research was to examine retention and attrition factors of doctoral candidates from a typical Higher Education Doctoral Program (Research II Public Institution) who were admitted to candidacy from 1991 through July 2000. Participation of the subject population was limited to those who had attained the level of ABD--those who had previously fulfilled the residency, coursework, foreign language or tool-subject requirements, and successfully completed the comprehensive/qualifying exams. This population included current ABDs, previously attrited ABDs, and graduates of the degree program. The research study was qualitative and intended to identify the effect of specific, predetermined factors that may have influenced or affected the progress of current, previous, and graduated students towards the doctoral degree in higher education. This study obtained responses to questions from the questionnaire/survey instrument concerning factors that affected program completion or attrition. Students had the opportunity to elaborate on factors from their dissertation, advisement, and personal, financial, and employment experiences that affected their ability to complete the program through open-ended question responses. By examining key factors in the doctoral degree experience from the three sample groups (current ABDs, previous ABDs, and graduated Ed.Ds), this study was able to draw some conclusions about doctoral attrition. Reconstructing and comparing the experiences of ABDs from the point of candidacy to the point of attrition or completion of the program determined trends, commonalities, and issues affecting achievement. Results of this study add to the limited research concerning ABD attrition and provide an insight from the student perspective as to the obstacles and support variables in the quest for the doctoral degree.

The purposes of this study were (a) to analyze whether any significant differences exist in students' satisfaction among the 11 composite scales/satisfaction measures of the SSI (retention programs); (b) to determine whether significant differences exist in satisfaction among students of the institution based on their demographic characteristics of gender, age, ethnicity, class load, and employment; and (c) to record findings, draw conclusions, and make recommendations from the study. The research was conducted using a questionnaire, The Student Satisfaction Inventory (SSI), developed by Juillreat and Schreiner in 1994. The instrument measures, among other matters, students' perceptions and satisfaction. The population of the study comprised all students at the institution during the 1996-1997 school year. A total of 312 students was sampled, with 182 (58%) returns received. Statistical treatments used to analyze the collected data included frequencies, percentages, means, standard deviation, multiple analysis of variances (MANOVA), one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Tukey's Post Hoc t-test for multiple comparison.

The problem of this study was first year student retention at a private university. The purpose of the study was to identify high risk students (dropout prone) by use of the Stratil Counseling Inventory -_ College Form (SCI-C) in order to initiate early intervention counseling and advising. Intrusive counseling was started within the first six weeks of the 1984 fall semester to facilitate the students' transition to college. The population of the study was first-time full-time freshmen students in attendance at Freshmen Orientation the week prior to the beginning of the 1984 academic year. SCI-C instrument consisted of six scales designed to elicit attrition-related information about the firsttime, freshmen students. The scales identified students who were in need of assistance, and they provided a profile of their problem areas. This information, available within ten days after the beginning of classes enabled Student Development personnel to select the students out of the freshman class who needed help and to refer them to university resources for assistance. The conclusions drawn from the analysis of the SCI-C data were: (1) students who needed assistance to integrate into the academic and social envrionment of the university were identified by the SCI-C; (2) students at Hardin-Simmons University value adult/student relationship outside of the classroom; (3) attitudes of caring service creates a "staying environment;1* (4) although the SCI-C indicates students' interests in support services, not all students who request assistance, avail themselves of the opportunities provided for them; (5) a relationship seems to exist between the intervention strategies provided particular freshmen and their succesful performance in the classroom (CPA of 1.60 or greater) and their persistence at the university for their second year; (6) the SCI-C provides attrition-related counseling information about students rather than predicting college academic success; and (7) the SCI-C i s a valid instrument to use to facilitate student retention at Hardin-Simmons University,

This study examined the perceptions held by former and current welfare-to-work participants of factors that contributed to the retention, persistence, attrition and/or completion of welfare-to-work training programs at a community college. Using the lived experiences and voices of former or current welfare-to-work participants and a qualitative research design, the researcher examined the following research questions: (a) What factors during the training impacted the movement of participants from welfare-to-work? (b) How did these factors enhance or serve as barriers to the movement of participants from welfare-to-work? This study was presented as a heuristic study of 12 former welfare participants who have transitioned or are currently transitioning from welfare to work. Using purposeful sampling, the researcher selected the participants for this study through self-identification or through nomination by program leaders and other program participants. Each of the 12 former welfare participants was interviewed about the situational, institutional, and dispositional aspects of their training. Demographic data were collected on each of the 12 participants for the purpose of a comparative analysis. Interviews of family members or friends of each of the participants validated the stories provided by the participant. Interviews with two administrators with direct responsibilities for some of the training programs for participants transitioning from welfare-to-work were also done to substantiate the stories of the participants. The findings of this study indicated three conclusions about the participants' perceptions of factors affecting their retention in welfare-to-work programs in a community college. / First, the participants' desires to break the cycles of generational welfare were evident in every aspect of the training from having a better life for their children to dealing with the embarrassment of receiving government assistance.Second, welfare-to-work training experiences were influenced by institutional factors such as instructional and institutional support or lack of support for education and career development, including mentoring. Third, personal factors such as family motivation and role models, religion, drive and determination, and the desire to make a difference shaped the participants' career training experiences and contributed to persistence and completion. / by Veronica Woodward Pino. / Vita. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2008. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2008. Mode of access: World Wide Web.