A study used theory elaboration to help revise Tinto's interactionalist theory of individual student departure from college to include the effects of organizational attributes on student withdrawal. Results provide strong support for including concepts from organizational theory and suggest future research should use theory elaboration to look for…

Examines whether students who enroll in courses that receive poor average class ratings are more likely to leave their university. Finds that enrollment in both poorly rated and top-rated courses, in contrast to mid-rated courses, reduces the probability of retention in the university. (CMK)

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)

This study examines the relative value of five empirical procedures for determining cutscores in placement of entering college freshmen. Placement test scores were obtained for all students entering in the fall, but tested in the summer of 1983 at a midwestern community college. Students who took at least one placement test in arithmetic, algebra,…

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…

Research on attrition of university students has recently examined "dropping out" as the culmination of a complex interactive process. In order to examine differences between successful students (persisters) and students who officially withdrew from a major university, and to examine the accuracy of faculty and staff perceptions of students'…

A study investigated the effects of using the Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) model in distance education. The PSI version of the course (PSI-P) was compared to a version of the course that was found to be instructionally weak (C), a revised version of the course that had an improved instructional design (IB), and a version of the course…

An experiment was conducted to determine if a mathematics laboratory would reduce the withdraw/failure (W/F) rate in freshman mathematics courses. Fifty-six students in two course sections of analytic geometry were designated as comparative experimental groups T-1 and T-2, with 29 subjects in T-1 receiving only tutoring, and 27 in T-2 receiving…

Refund policies and practices at universities and four-year and two-year colleges that are members of the Higher Education Panel of the American Council on Education were surveyed. The focus was on policies regarding freshmen students who terminate their studies before completing their first term. Usable responses were received from 580…

Conceptualizing progress through college as a sequential process, the study examined factors that affect rates of persistence and dropping out, using longitudinal data for a national sample of young men attending college in the late 1960's. A principal conclusion was that factors important to understanding persistence vary with the stage of the…

This study examined the impact of social and academic integration on college students' satisfaction and retention in the theoretical context of Tinto. A sample of 378 freshmen from a comprehensive state university responded to a survey. Variables examined included persistence, satisfaction, academic integration, social integration, academic…

This study examined first-year attrition at a large, urban university in the United Kingdom, demonstrating the application of multilevel modeling to the issue of student attrition. A sample of 2,679 full-time, first-year students studying the 20 most common subject areas was identified. Students were divided into four groups depending on their…

Results of a study of the relationship between students' propensities to withdraw from a course and the faculty member's grading in that course show that students do use the option to withdraw from courses when grades tend to be low in order to protect their grade point averages. (JMD)

Investigated the causation hypothesis (unemployment leads to poor mental health), and the selection hypothesis (poor mental health reduces employment) in a longitudinal study of 635 college graduates and 767 school leavers. Results confirmed the causation hypothesis for school-leavers but not college graduates. Employment and further education…

A study of 377 students in an Australian technological institution of higher education investigated the personal, demographic, institutional, and environmental factors associated with dropping out before program completion. Based on the findings, recommendations are made for program adjustments and improved services to accommodate student needs…