This survey of Australian college students provides support for an alternative explanation of attrition for a specific group of university students: students who planned to withdraw from their original program of study after facilitating entry to another undergraduate degree. (EV)

The influence of student problems, which are often cited by students as reasons for withdrawal, is compared with the influence of constructs derived from Tinto's student attrition model. The findings suggest that data from post-hoc attrition studies should be used cautiously. (Author/MLW)

Ethnography was applied to investigate 47 students' ability to persist in distance education courses in resource management and environment-related subjects. Results have been useful in deriving a classification of situational, institutional, dispositional, and epistemological problems shared by withdrawers and persisters in a broader context.…

This study tested Pascarella's reconceptualization of Tinto's model of the persistence/withdrawal process for use in a non-residential institution. Subjects (n=372) were college freshmen who had attended freshmen orientation and had completed an opinionnaire both during orientation and at the end of their first year in a medium-sized, urban…

At the start of the fall 1972 semester at Hofstra University, 688 students did not register; they represented 15.3 percent of the full-time undergraduate day students in attendance curing the spring semester who might have been expected to return in the fall. The purpose of this document is to shed light on the kinds of people who left rather than…

This report identifies the entering undergraduate classes from 1963 through 1968 at the University of Virginia in relation to the number who graduated within 5 years or less and those who withdrew for specific reasons. Data are included for the College of Arts and Sciences, Engineering, and Architecture. (MJM)

A study of attrition after the first year of college was conducted at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. A path-analytic model of nine factors affecting student persistence was tested using LISREL. The results indicate that social integration is an important factor in college persistence. (Author/MLW)

Estimates from a hazard model of college student departure for 3,975 students simulated how financial aid changes affect withdrawal decisions. Changing loans to scholarships has a large impact and front-loading aid (giving gift aid for the first 2 years) a modest impact on retention. Financial aid may represent more to students than its dollar…

According to analysis of the readability of textbooks used in 12 "common body of knowledge" courses in business administration, the higher the readability level, the lower the grade averages, fewer As, and the higher the number of withdrawals from the course. Although readability may not be the only influence, it is an important…

Although few students terminate their pursuit of a doctorate during the course-work phase of their program, many doctoral students drop out around the time that they successfully complete planned courses, a period known as "all but dissertation" (ABD). An examination of how professional educators who added a doctoral program to their…

The relationship between freshmen college persistence and self-report variables and objective academic indices is investigated. Follow-up data on persistence or non-persistence was gathered one and one-half years later, allowing one semester for attrition. Results indicate male non-persisters came from relatively low socioeconomic status families…

Provides insight into first-year undergraduate persistence by using behavioral measures--based on Alexander Astin's theory of involvement--to further understanding of Tinto's theory of student departure. Findings support the use of an integrated model in which student behaviors and perceptions interact to influence the development of academic and…

Surveyed students with a disability and a matched sample of students without a disability over a 3-year period at the University of Newcastle. Examined characteristics and academic outcomes of students with a disability because they are significantly underrepresented at Australian universities. Found significant differences between some personal…

Discusses how many Middle Eastern students, pressured by their parents and in the face of growing hostility on American campuses, are abandoning their studies to return to their home countries. (EV)

This position paper was written to answer a series of basic questions frequently asked about attrition and retention at Empire State College (ESC), New York. The questions addressed in the report are: (1) What is the attrition rate at ESC? (2) How does ESC's attrition rate compare to other colleges? (3) Who are the leavers? (4) When does attrition…