This annotated bibliography focuses on literature of student attrition at the college level published for the most part between 1965 and 1973. The articles focus mostly on research studies on attrition. Descriptive articles have been included when they were perceived to extend the concept of attrition. Dissertations and theses have not been…

Children who have been excluded from school for physical, mental, or emotional handicaps or who have simply never been enrolled as a result of parental neglect or school discouragement are the focus of the discussion. Schools are charged with getting rid of undesirable pupils (truant, long-haired, or other non-conforming students) through legal…

This paper uses the Chain of Response Model (CRM) to help explain retention in the community college population. In the CRM, the student's decision to remain at an educational institution is not an isolated act, but rather the result of a complex chain of responses based on her/his cognitive evaluation of the present situation. The authors applied…

Compared characteristics of students (N=180) who withdrew from a university after completing two years of a baccalaureate program. Dropouts, stopouts, and transfers reported that four factors were related to withdrawal decisions: academic environment, financial demands, career focus, and social/personal environment. Discusses implications of…

Presents the findings of a study investigating student and teacher perceptions of the academic abilities of students enrolled in liberal arts courses; students' need for and use of support services; and course attrition rates. Suggests alternatives to promote student success. (WL)

Discusses the focus of this special issue on college student retention and describes the issue's articles, which advance recommendations for institutional action that emanate from theory and research rooted in several different theoretical orientations: organizational, sociological, and psychological. (EV)

The withdrawal policies of many universities are based on the supposition that being able to withdraw without grade point repercussions will encourage students to return to the institution at a later date. This study focused on withdrawing students and examined the differences between those who re-enroll after a withdrawal and those who do not.…

A study was undertaken at College of the Canyons, in California, to determine the underlying reasons for student attrition. Questionnaires were mailed to all 2,511 students who had officially withdrawn from the college between fall 1992 and spring 1994. A total of 391 completed questionnaires were returned for a response rate of 16%. Results…

To gather data on factors associated with the withdrawal of first-time students before they achieved their educational goals, Riverside Community College (RCC), in California, conducted a study of 742 students who were attending RCC for the first time in 1994-95. The students were surveyed by telephone during their first and second semesters and…

One hundred individuals who dropped out of high school in Lawrence County, Alabama, during the 1986-87 school year were studied in order to help formulate ways schools could prevent students from dropping out and ideas on how to create advertising about available adult education to which such dropouts would be receptive. A former in-home adult…

Of the 6,076 students enrolled at Thomas Nelson Community College (TNCC) in fall 1985, 2,389 (39.3%) were "leavers," i.e., they did not graduate and they did not return in winter 1986. Because new students made up 33.8% of the total fall headcount, but accounted for 41.7% of the leavers, a study was conducted to investigate the characteristics of…

A follow-up study was conducted at Sierra College (California) to determine why students who dropped out of all of their classes during fall 1984 left the college. The dropout population included 1,549 students, of whom only 374 (27%) returned to college in spring 1985. A survey instrument was sent to all withdrawing students, requesting…

The San Diego City Schools collected statistics about grades 9-12 students who withdrew from school during the 1979-80 school year. The study's purpose was to determine how many of these former students did not enroll in schools elsewhere and, therefore, should be considered school leavers. The following generalizations may be made from the…

Tinto's conceptual schema of college dropout forms the theoretical framework for the development of a model of university student dropout intention. This study validated Tinto's model in two different departments within a single university. Analyses were conducted on a sample of 684 college freshmen in the Education and Economics Department. A…

In spring 1987, a study was conducted at Monroe Community College (MCC) to determine the factors which influence attrition and retention, with particular focus on the reasons why students who have not graduated fail to return for succeeding semesters. Questionnaires were mailed to 452 former students, requesting information on students' rankings…