This report, an analysis of 1669 U.S. institutions, is a first-time study of the relationship of attrition to revenues lost in four-year public, private, and for-profit colleges and universities on an annual basis. The report is the result of a study investigating the financial impact of attrition on four-year colleges and universities. Other…

Nationally, more than one in four high school freshmen does not graduate in four years; in the 50 largest U.S. cities, the dropout rate is closer to 50 percent. Although many of these young people eventually seek to continue their education, a sizable number of dropouts (and many high school graduates) become seriously disconnected from both…

Rationale: Research examining the relationship between initial community college enrollment and bachelor's completion have shown mixed results with some studies indicating a clear penalty for community college enrollment and other studies showing no penalty, partly due to the point at which the given study began tracking the community college…

Our project is motivated by the early dropout and low completion rate problem in MOOCs. We have extended traditional features for MOOC analysis with richer and higher granularity information to make more accurate predictions of dropout and performance. The results show that finer-grained temporal information increases the predictive power in the…

In 2000, the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education introduced a performance-based funding model aimed at increasing degree productivity among the state's public colleges. This study examines how the new policy affected undergraduate degree completions. Using a difference-in-differences estimation strategy, results suggest the policy has…

Often the frontline campus representatives who interact with undecided students, academic advisors receive the opportunity to offer academic support and guidance during the academic journey, which especially benefits first-year students trying to navigate this new and challenging endeavor. As a result of their unique position, advisors have the…

For the United States to maintain national and global economic stability, colleges must graduate more students. Four-year completion rates have declined and less than one-third of full-time, degree-seeking students graduate in 4 years. Some researchers and policymakers have suggested "leading indicators" to track postsecondary…

Involvement in extracurricular activities is an oft-studied element of the college experience, especially as it has been linked to positive academic and non-academic measures. Yet, the possible limits of involvement's benefit suggest by Astin (1999) have not been scrutinized heavily. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship…

The existence of a gap in academic performance between various groups of students, such as minority and non-minority students or socioeconomically disadvantaged and advantaged students, has been the subject of public discourse and research for many years. Research has indicated numerous reasons for the existence of this gap and its impact on…

College and universities underwent tremendous shifts in the latter part of the 20th century caused in part by the shrinking pool of college ready 18 year-olds. Concerned about diminishing enrollments and lost revenue from traditionally-aged students, administrators at faith-based, tuition-driven universities instituted adult degree completion…

The purpose of this research study was to identify demographic characteristics, academic factors, and student behaviors that contributed to successful degree and certificate completion for entirely online, nontraditional undergraduate students at a large community college. A discrete-time event history analysis was used to model the retention of…

High School graduation rates are key indicators of accountability for high schools and school districts in Oregon. Beginning with the 2008-09 school year, the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) implemented the cohort method of calculating graduation rates. The cohort method identifies the year the student entered high school for the first time…

Because of shrinking budgets, increasing demand, and calls for more graduates, community college leaders are forced to make difficult resource allocation decisions. In many states, sizable percentages of the state funds available to community colleges are conditional on performance measures, including graduations; the number of states with funding…

After completing my Master of Arts in Adult Education and Training in 2009, I decided to pursue my Doctor of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix. The objective of obtaining my Doctor of Business Administration was a major step toward fulfilling my long-term career goal to teach at the collegiate level. This case study presents…

The graduation rates for Hispanic students in higher education are the lowest in the nation in comparison to any other subgroups, yet they are the fastest growing population in the nation. Lack of a rigorous curriculum in a K-12 setting and college readiness skills are factors. There needs to be a strong partnership among K-12 school districts and…