The importance of post-traditional women's persistence in earning credentials at a community college cannot be understated. The literature addresses the issue of non-completion within the community college; however, it does not address why or how some students complete, in this instance, post-traditional women. Deficiencies exist in the…

First-generation college students face internal and external obstacles impacting their persistence and degree completion. This study examined what positive and negative factors and to what degree these factors impact first-generation college students' persistence and degree completion at the Appalachian institution based on academic classification…

The integration of peer mentoring into academic programmes as a mechanism for supporting new students has received considerable attention in higher education worldwide, especially in developed countries. Despite a growing body of research on peer mentoring in higher education, an extensive review of the benefits of this approach is needed to…

University dropout is a phenomenon of growing interest in the knowledge society. However, it is a complex phenomenon in which a variety of academic and social variables interact with each other. Cyberbullying is also something that has been the subject of increased research recently, and although it has most often been studied in primary and…

The global increase in enrolment in higher education (HE) has increased the diversity of students who access HE, which poses a challenge because we have a limited understanding of the way students experience HE institutions. This paper investigates why students dropout of HE and propose preventive measures. Dropout has adverse effects on student…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to describe how social integration in the form of building relationships with faculty and peers influenced the academic persistence of first-generation students who graduated from a large university in the Midwest. Data were collected from the Institutional Integration Scale and 20…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the involvement and integration factors that contribute to the persistence of international students. Persistence and retention are central to improving higher education, and individual student persistence as well as the rates at which students persist have direct ramifications on the university…

The current study investigated the relationship between motivation to attend college, college integration, and persistence intentions among first-generation college students (FGCS). Participants consisted of 414 FGCS from two 4-year institutions in the mountain and southwestern regions of the United States. Through latent class analysis, this…

Meta-analytic Structural Equation Modeling (MASEM) is the combination of meta-analysis (MA) and structural equation modeling (SEM). With new MASEM methodologies developed over the past few years, there is an opportunity to compare the past approaches with the new ones. The purpose of this dissertation is two-fold. First, the parameter estimates,…

Participation in non-classroom activities has been documented to extend the intellectual, social, and psychosocial outcomes of the college experience. However, the benefits of non-classroom activities are often difficult to quantify due their voluntary nature, with findings mostly related to students within four-year institutions. The purpose of…

The low six-year graduation rate among American college students has been the focus of higher education research and practice for decades. At the same time, the increase in the societal focus on weight status has coincided with an increase in the experience of weight bias and weightbased discrimination in educational settings. However, little…

Higher education institutions' success relies on student retention and graduation rates, especially among underrepresented minority (URM) groups, where persistent disparities exist. This dissertation focuses on URM Division I student-athletes, often overlooked despite their significant influence within universities. Notably, academic success gaps…

The prevailing theories of student persistence have been developed in Predominantly White Institutional (PWI) contexts. The extent to which these theories--in whole or in part--apply to Minority Serving Institutions such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) has not been studied in depth. This study tests a PWI-based theory of…

More African Americans have enrolled into higher education; however, persistence in school has remained a challenge, especially in community college. Many African American students have been required to take remedial education to remedy deficits, but research on effectiveness of these courses remains unclear. Academic and social…

This dissertation investigated the persistence of African American college students with disabilities in higher education, focusing on academic, social, and institutional factors influencing their success. Using a qualitative approach and insights from interviews; findings revealed that comprehensive academic support services, social integration,…