The student retention behavior of stopping-out is widely misunderstood and yet very important in explaining community college student enrollment patterns. Stopping-out remains understudied in higher education literature as it is challenging to collect data from students who discontinued their enrollment. Since these students are not retained, they may be categorized as dropping-out within institutional data. The behavior of students who temporarily discontinue their enrollment and intend to re-enroll in the future is characterized as stopping-out. A clear distinction between stopping-out and dropping-out is vital to understanding the characteristics of students who stop-out and the student-level, institutional, and economic factors that influence their decision to discontinue their enrollment. By identifying the characteristics of these students and the factors that lead them to stopping-out, this study provides a foundation for shifting resources to programs that specifically target students who stop-out.
Previous retention studies primarily utilized quantitative designs, lacking a student perspective. This mixed-method study, informed by rational choice and prospect theory, analyzed quantitative and qualitative data collected through a fall 2023 student survey administered in partnership with the community college research site. Quantitative analysis revealed that stop-out students at the community college are disproportionately Black, African-American, or Hispanic, of non-traditional age, and Pell Grant eligible. The students who stopped-out for economic reasons were most likely to be part-time enrolled and full-time employed and were more likely than students who stopped out due to institutional factors to discontinue enrollment due to COVID-19. The qualitative analysis of student responses to open-ended survey questions revealed the following themes, which described the factors influencing students' stop-out decisions. These were academic goal attainment, dual enrollment, institutional policies and academics, economic or life events, and ongoing student identity. The qualitative findings corroborated the quantitative findings that economic factors predominantly drive stopping-out decisions and stop-out students still identify as college students.
The qualitative findings also confirmed that a number of students included in the stop-out survey did not stop-out. The students who reached their academic goals and dual enrollment students discontinued their enrollment because they met their academic goals. In order to analyze the students who stopped-out, these students were categorized as not-stopped-out for data analysis. The categorization allowed for the focus to be on students most closely aligned with the definition of stopped-out at the research site.
My research contributes to the existing literature by including the experiences of stop-out students through their perspective. The research results provide a foundation for community college administrators and policymakers to advocate for reallocating resources toward programs supporting the retention of this unique group. Since the research revealed that many students who stop-out still self-identify as college students, there is an opportunity to provide a pathway to re-enrollment. College leaders can create an environment that lowers the economic barriers driving these students out of the classroom, thereby increasing the student success initiatives associated with community college missions. / Educational Administration
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TEMPLE/oai:scholarshare.temple.edu:20.500.12613/10238 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Beccaris - Pescatore, Jill, 0000-0002-9402-9124 |
| Contributors | DuCette, Joseph P., Johnson, Jennifer M., 1970-, Paris, Joseph H., Woyshner, Christine A. |
| Publisher | Temple University. Libraries |
| Source Sets | Temple University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation, Text |
| Format | 135 pages |
| Rights | IN COPYRIGHT- This Rights Statement can be used for an Item that is in copyright. Using this statement implies that the organization making this Item available has determined that the Item is in copyright and either is the rights-holder, has obtained permission from the rights-holder(s) to make their Work(s) available, or makes the Item available under an exception or limitation to copyright (including Fair Use) that entitles it to make the Item available., http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
| Relation | http://dx.doi.org/10.34944/dspace/10200, Theses and Dissertations |
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