Lourdes College is a small, private, coeducational commuter college located in northwest Ohio. In early 2009, the Lourdes College Board of Trustees ratified a new strategic plan promoting institutional strength and sustainability over the next six years. The desired outcome was to make Lourdes College a stronger, more vibrant, even more socially…

The retention of five cohorts of first-time freshmen and transfer students who reenrolled for 8 years in a nonresidential urban institution was investigated. Attention was directed to the effects of sex, race, and grade point average on retention, differences in retention for first-time freshmen and transfer students, and the extent to which…

The ability of Vroom's expectancy motivation theory to predict student satisfaction with the college environment, student participation at school, and student academic performance was studied. Specific objectives of the study were as follows: to test the ability of Vroom's valence model to predict student satisfaction, to test the ability of…

The role of the honors student on the urban, commuter campus is discussed with specific reference to the University of New Orleans. Prompted by a noted decline in the quality of the university's student body, an examination of the honor student population was conducted. Data were compiled from the ACT files and student records of all students who…

Retention at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, was studied, based on the entire population of 29,372 undergraduate degree-seeking students enrolled in a semester between fall 1981 and 1987. Two measures of the retention rate are used: cohort survival, the percentage of the original cohort of entering students that is enrolled in or has…

As part of a multi-phase, multi-method study of the House Plan at Cypress College in California, this study surveyed three student populations as to various House Plan aspects. Questionnaires were given or mailed to 135 students attending graduation rehearsal in June 1976, 256 students eligible for graduation, and 280 alumni who graduated in June…

Student satisfaction with the environments of five commuter colleges was studied at an eastern university. A reliable instrument was developed to profile 2,392 students' perceptions of 30 aspects of the college environment. To determine how student characteristics relate to their evaluations of the college environment, eight regression analyses…

Factors contributing to the academic persistence of college students and those factors that may be amenable to institutional control were studied in 1980 at Georgia State University. The academic career of 4,481 students was studied for a 5-quarter period at this nonresidential, urban university. Multiple regression and multiple discriminant…

This report presents and analyzes data gathered as one part of a multi-phase, multi-method, comprehensive study of several aspects of the House Plan as it exists at Cypress College. All day (458) and evening (128) students, entering February 1976 and registered for six units or more, were surveyed. The survey instrument tested students' general…

This report is a preliminary study of the counseling aspect of the House Plan at Cypress College in California. For the study, all House counselors kept records of how many students they saw for a nine-day period in May 1976 and indicated why they felt students came to see them. In addition, three groups of students (graduation attendees, those…

The most widely accepted classification system of institutions of higher education, the Carnegie system, does not provide any sub-groupings for the category of two-year institutions. This lack of precision has inhibited the understanding of the diversity among and between community colleges, their missions, functions, curricula, students, and…

Demographic characteristics, interpersonal and academic problems, underlying motives and needs, and ultimate goals of nontraditional students at a four-year liberal arts college were evaluated based on survey responses. The students were enrolled in the spring semester 1981 at a suburban publicly-supported, commuter college, located in the…

The use of an expectancy-value model, common to consumer marketing studies, in analyzing the market position of Cleveland State University was investigated. Attention was focused on showing how consumer attitude concepts and methodologies can be used in developing a strategic marketing plan. Six populations were identified as groups important to…

Results of a recent study of attrition, retention, and transfer within the system of public higher education in Kentucky are summarized. Attrition, retention, and transfer rates are presented by class level and institution for 1979-80. For first-time full-time freshmen, the university system had an attrition rate of 27.9 percent, ranging from 20.6…

Information about and excerpts from the 1981 "Commuter Institution Index," an annual publication on research on commuter institutions of higher education are presented. The Index provides an overview of the demographic characteristics of responding institutions and the functions most frequently performed by these institutions for commuters. It…