Under the George W. Bush U.S. presidential administration, the federal government pushed for greater accountability among institutions of higher education for educational outcomes. Graduation rate is a key performance indicator of institutional accountability. Previous researchers of student attrition focused primarily on the effects of student…

As a nation reliant on scientific and technological innovation for the health of our economy and national security, it is imperative that both educators and education policy create learning pathways that will successfully support current and future undergraduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines.…

The Gulf Coast Association for Institutional Research (GCAIR) conducted a study of those concurrent/dual credit (CDC) students enrolled fall semester, 2001. The purpose was to determine a profile for this group of students which included gender, ethnicity, GPA, re enrollment, etc. Since there has been little research done on these students,…

The lack of consensus among researchers in defining the focal construct of rurality has led to contradictory conclusions of whether or not a rural-urban performance gap exists in higher education. Compounding this problem are the changing definitions of rural and urban, even among governmental agencies. Thus, this study used two different…

This study explored how logit, probit, and more traditional linear regression techniques compare in predicting college student retention, using data provided by registrars from a national sample of colleges and universities. Results showed little practical difference among the techniques, despite theoretical advantages offered by the first two.…

It has been more than a decade since the U.S. Congress enacted the "Student Right-to-Know and Campus Security Act," which requires colleges and universities to make public their six-year degree completion rates. Based on the "Student Right-to-Know and Campus Security Act," prospective students and their parents are being encouraged to make…

Students who were awarded university fellowships for their first year of study at a major research university were compared to nonfellowship students. The students' completion of the Ph.D. and the time required to obtain the degree were assessed. Data for about 3,200 Northwestern University students were analyzed. Three models were developed for…

An analysis was made of characteristics of students participating in the various types and numbers of institutional contacts before enrolling in college. The purpose was to examine the relationship of student pre-enrollment contacts with the university to student enrollment and retention. Records identifying potential 1980 entering freshmen having…

Graduation rates of the fall semester freshman classes that entered the Bloomington campus of Indiana University between 1980 and 1974 were studied. By examining the percentage of students completing a baccalaureate degree within four years of their matriculation, it was found that the graduation rate from the Bloomington campus significantly…

Topics and trends in literature providing a context for the present crisis in minority student retention are explored, noting a need for data-driven institutional research. Parts of a case study at a major public institution are presented. The study examined Black and Hispanic undergraduate student attrition at a White research institute to:…

Research may be divided into two types, "empowering" research and "academic" research. Empowering research seeks to determine how a particular individual or organization can produce a desired result, while academic research is concerned with why a particular condition exists. While academic research might ask "Why do students drop out of school?"…

Withdrawing, continuing, and nonreturning undergraduates at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) were compared. Nonreturning students were nongraduating students who completed course requirements but did not return the following semester (25 spring nonreturning students and 47 fall nonreturning students). Data were also collected…

Results of a 1979 telephone survey of undergraduate leavers and persisters and the University of California, Berkeley campus are presented. One hundred and fifty new freshmen and new junior transfer students entering in the fall quarter of 1977 who were not enrolled by winter quarter 1979 or had not graduated were surveyed and compared to 56…

Reasons that students enter or leave the University of Montana (UM) were studied in fall 1983. Consideration was given to first-term freshmen of traditional age, slightly older students (under age 25), transfer students, dropouts, and students who persisted at the university for 1 academic year. In study phase 1, attention was directed to…

The academic performance of intercollegiate athletes at the University of California (UC), Davis, was studied, using graduation rates and grade point average (GPA) as performance measures. Comparisons of academic performance of athletes and other UC Davis undergraduates were also made. Of 1,042 male athletes during 1970-1979, 63 percent were…