The topic of this study was student motivation and intention to graduate at a for-profit university. The research problem addressed is only 23% of bachelor's degree-seeking students at for-profit universities persist to graduate within six years. Students who leave without graduating incur more debt and earn less money over time. Grounded in an…

This study examined the importance of identity and cultural fit within the university on Latina/o undergraduates' academic persistence decisions. The psychosociocultural model (Gloria & Rodriguez, 2000) provided a framework for the study in which 128 Latino/a students' generational level in the United States, cultural congruity, perceptions of…

In an effort to characterize perceptions of learning community and engagement in relation to success for underrepresented populations of online learners at a public institution in southeastern United States, a survey was conducted in Spring 2016. The results of the survey were paired with institutional data to create a baseline engagement and…

The underrepresentation of American Indian students continues to exist at the undergraduate and graduate levels of postsecondary education despite increases of American Indian student enrollment. The purpose of this quantitative study is to identify correlations between academic factors and graduate student persistence, as well as to understand…

Few empirical studies of adult distance learners' decisions to drop out of degree programs have used large enough sample sizes to generalize the findings or data sets drawn from multiple online programs that address various subjects. Accordingly, in this study, we used a large administrative data set drawn from multiple online degree programs to…

Many researchers have explored the relationships between the likelihood of graduating from college and demographic and pre-college factors such as gender, race/ethnicity, high school grade point average (GPA), and standardized test scores. However, additional factors such as a student's college major, home address, or use of learning support in…

Academic performance is a primary predictor of college graduation, yet few studies have examined one of the earliest indicators of academic performance--first-semester grade point average (GPA). Given the considerable public and private investment in ensuring access for underrepresented students, a focus on the role of first-semester GPA for these…

Adelman (2006) observed that a large quantity of research on retention is "institution-specific or use institutional characteristics as independent variables" (p. 81). However, he observed that over 60% of the students he studied attended multiple institutions making the calculation of institutional effects highly problematic. He argued…

This study explored the interaction between student characteristics and the online environment in predicting course performance and subsequent college persistence among students in a large urban U.S. university system. Multilevel modeling, propensity score matching, and the KHB decomposition method were used. The most consistent pattern observed…

Drawing upon a sample of 13,025 students who attended the nine majority minority colleges of the Los Angeles Community College District, this study examined the interaction effects of the racial composition of the colleges on student persistence. Special attention was given to variables that paired students' race to the racial demography of the…

The current study investigated the potential role that social networking Web sites (e.g., Facebook) played in creating both actual and virtual learning communities within the first-year seminar. Researchers conducted a 2-year longitudinal study to assess whether students who were connected within a university-founded virtual network persisted in…

A collaborative project of several Quebec universities, this study investigates nontraditional student withdrawal from undergraduate accounting programmes. A nontraditional student is older than 24, or is a commuter or a part-time student, or combines some of these characteristics. Univariate and multivariate analyses of student dropout factors…

The purpose of this study was to examine the academic performance of the first-time, full-time, traditional-aged students in the Student Support Services program at East Tennessee State University. This was accomplished by comparing their academic performance with the academic performance of first-time, full-time, traditional-aged non-SSS…

This study examines how GRE scores can be used to better understand Education doctoral candidates' methodology choices for the dissertation as well as their persistence behaviors. Candidates' of one online doctoral education program were examined. Results of a MANOVA suggested that there is no difference in GRE scores based on doctoral candidates'…

Historically, retaining students and maximizing their academic achievement has been a challenge for administrators in American colleges and universities. Since the mid-twentieth century, the sophomore year has increasingly been suspected of being a gateway to declining grades, decreased morale, and increased attrition among college students.…