College student persistence and dropout have been studied for decades, but little inquiry has focused on community college or private two-year college students. Although about half of first-time postsecondary students enroll in a two-year college, researchers understand little about why only approximately a quarter of these degree-seekers complete…

Tinto's model of college persistence/withdrawal, developed for residential colleges, is tested at a nonresidential institution. Results indicated that the concepts of person-environment fit, social integration, and institutional commitment operated differently in the commuter institution. A reconceptualized model for explaining…

The extent to which Tinto's model of college withdrawal has predictive validity in different types of postsecondary institutions was tested during the 1978-79 and 1979-80 academic years. Secondary analyses were conducted on a sample of 2,326 freshman students from 11 diverse institutions participating in project CHOICE (to better inform…