This is the second brief of three summarizing results from the longitudinal analysis of the Transfer Opportunity Project (TOP). TOP, funded by a grant from the Institute for Education Sciences (IES), explores the possible factors contributing to the low percentage of community college students who go on to earn bachelor's degrees. The project uses…

Due to its emphasis on academics and exclusion of athletic scholarships, the NCAA's Division III (DIII) is often praised by coaches, media, and higher education leaders for offering the purest form of collegiate athletics. However, the academics-first philosophy and higher graduation rates the NCAA celebrates for most of its sports are not…

This study presents a systematic review of the literature on the predicting student retention in higher education through machine learning algorithms based on measures such as dropout risk, attrition risk, and completion risk. A systematic review methodology was employed comprised of review protocol, requirements for study selection, and analysis…

The purpose of this quantitative predictive correlation study was to address the lack of research regarding the impacts of persistence factors on the educational outcomes of Hispanic college students. The study was a predictive correlation design with a criterion variable of grade point average (GPA). Predictor variables were the persistence…

Providing timely nudges to students has been shown to improve engagement and persistence in tertiary education. However, many studies focus on small-scale pilots rather than institution-wide initiatives. This article assesses the impact of a pan-institution Early Alert System at the University of Canterbury that utilises nudging when students are…

Student self-efficacy is an important part of determining a student's ability to perform well in school. This research study is a mixed-method approach to determining whether student self-efficacy is impacted by the relationships students have with faculty and staff on a college campus. Previous research indicates that student success is related…

The issue of first-year college students academic performance and persistence rate has recently become a focal point for policy discussions because researchers, administrators, counselors, and policymakers are increasingly interested in understanding why some students succeed while others fail. To help incoming freshmen accomplish their academic…

Many scholars have sought to measure the effectiveness of diverse supplemental instruction programs. Nevertheless, it is difficult to generalize about supplemental instruction or compare data, given methodological and statistical incongruities and diverse approaches and student populations at various institutions. Quantitative and qualitative data…

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the impact of the type of high school completed and selected academic and demographic characteristics on university retention to degree completion at a research university -- very high research (RU/VH) in the Southern Region of the United States. The dependent variable of this study was…

First-year seminar (FYS) courses tend to focus on preparing students for successful academic and social integration into the college environment. Many of the studies on FYS courses focus on measuring outcomes such as college grades, retention, and graduation rates. While there is notable documentation of several different types of FYS courses,…

The attention to students' noncognitive attributes has recently flourished within academic research and public discourse. This paper adds to the literature by examining the interrelationships among several key noncognitive attributes as well as exploring direct and indirect relationships between noncognitive attributes and second-year retention.…

An extensive body of research exists on the gender gap in higher education, but two gaps exist in this research: (1) examination of the relationship between observable college experiences (external) and students' perceptions of sense of belonging (internal); and (2) the study of male students' perceptions of sense of belonging in the increasingly…

An analysis of 1955 physics graduate students from 19 Ph.D. programs shows that undergraduate grade point average predicts graduate grades and Ph.D. completion more effectively than GRE scores. Students' undergraduate GPA (UGPA) and GRE Physics (GRE-P) scores are small but statistically significant predictors of graduate course grades, while GRE…

For years Georgia's HOPE Scholarship program provided full tuition scholarships to high-achieving students. State budgetary shortfalls reduced its generosity in 2011. Under the new rules, only students meeting more rigorous merit-based criteria would retain the original scholarship covering full tuition, now called the Zell Miller Scholarship,…

We examined longitudinal changes in new college students' perceptions of belonging and task mastery socialization effectiveness and their relationships to re-enrollment intentions and subsequent GPAs as a function of race/ethnicity and first-generation status. Incoming students completed socialization effectiveness measures before orientation (N =…