The widely accepted theory that college participation is a "rite of passage," where academic and social integration is required for student persistence, is criticized as misinterpreting anthropological notions of ritual and holding consequences harmful for racial and ethnic minorities. An approach focusing on emancipation and empowerment is…

A study investigated how persistence in an academic self-management course related to self-control. Results indicate that the students dropping out had a limited repertoire of general learned resourcefulness skills. However, both high- and low-resourceful students who completed the course used the skills they learned and achieved comparable final…

A study of 418 academically underprepared college students found a positive correlation between students' perceptions of their career decision-making self-efficacy and their overall social and academic adjustment to the academic environment. Further research into career decision-making self-efficacy is recommended, particularly for intervention to…

A study of 343 African-American university freshmen showed interest in various career issues useful to advisors. Students most often reported attending college for job-related reasons, with males more likely than females to leave college to take a job. However, females were less sure of getting a job after graduation. A career advising model based…

A study of 58 doctoral students in four departments notes four general tasks of transition and initial socialization into graduate student life and future career: intellectual mastery; learning realities of graduate student life; learning about the profession; and integrating into the department. Some reasons for leaving a doctoral program are…

A model of attrition based on theory of approach/avoidance behavior was developed and tested with 262 university students, mostly in their first and second years. The study demonstrated that certain approach/avoidance behaviors affected certain types of academic and social integration more than others, and that integration may be more complex than…

This article argues that to understand higher education student retention, equal emphasis needs to be placed on successful integration into the social world of the university as into the academic world. To date, sociological research reflecting first-year students' perceptions of the processes involved in developing social lives at university is…

Drawing on Tinto's (1987, 1993) theory of student integration, this research examines students who withdrew from their original institution prior to graduation. Of this group, some of the students who withdraw do so to transfer to another institution, and it is reasonable to assume that these students are different in many ways from students who…

A longitudinal study at a large predominantly White university revealed that faculty/student interaction had a significant impact on African-American students' decision to persist. Subjects included 310 freshmen (128 African Americans, 131 Whites, 49 Hispanics, and 2 Asians). Hispanics and Whites were better retained after the 4 years than…

Accomplishments of St. Mary's University Student Retention Task Force are addressed. After reviewing the literature on the correlates of retention and approaches to improving student retention, statistical results of the 1982 administration of the Student Opinion Survey of the American College Testing program are provided. This survey explores…

Credit completion rates, learner performance data, tutor input, and costs were compared between tutors managed by an incentive pay scheme and tutors paid a fixed rate. The incentive pay scheme calculated tutors' pay using learner completion rates; the fixed rate was for each learner enrolled per month. Two tutors in the incentive pay group and a…

To determine why some persons leave the university while others remain in the student role, a study compared a group of 44 university students aged 60 and over with a group of 50 ex-students of the same age. The two groups were comparable in age, education, sex, and income. The ex-students stayed at the university a significantly shorter time (2.5…

The interactive influence of student characteristics and eight measures of student-faculty relationships on the prediction of freshman year voluntary persistence/withdrawal decisions was studied. A questionnaire was sent to the total population of incoming freshmen at a large, independent, residential university in New York State. Usable responses…

A study, as part of a larger report on attrition and retention of students at Miami University, was undertaken to determine the reasons for withdrawing from the university prior to earning a degree. A questionnaire was mailed to the 1,026 students in the 1978 class who voluntarily left the institution and for whom correct addresses could be…

The ability of investment theory to account for intent and behavior of 421 part-time, working community-college students concerning departure from or persistence at college was studied. The contribution of investment to institutional persistence, and a framework for the departure decision process among nontraditional college students are…