A research project investigated 2,313 persons who attended Del Mar College (Texas) during fall 1990 but did not enroll for spring 1991. Four sets of data were collected: (1) limited demographic information on the total student body; (2) demographic information drawn from school records to describe all nonreturnees; (3) demographic information…

John Wood Community College's Open Learning Center (OLC) offers an alternative to traditional classroom approaches using one-to-one instruction, a competency-based learning format, and flexible scheduling. Due to concern over the high attrition rate in OLC courses, a study was conducted to identify the characteristics and variables contributing to…

In 1989, a study was conducted at the University of West Florida (UWF) to explore the success rate of Associate of Science (AS) and Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degree recipients at the college. Although the AS and AAS degrees were originally designed as terminal degrees leading to immediate employment, recipients today are discovering that…

Glendale (Arizona) Community College (GCC) conducted a survey of students who attended the college in fall 1984 and did not return for the spring 1985 term to determine former students' perceptions of GCC, reasons for not reenrolling, educational goals, transfer and employment experiences, salaries, and characteristics. Study findings, based on…

A sample of students who withdrew from Mesa (Arizona) Community College (MCC) during spring 1986 was surveyed to determine reasons for withdrawal and dropout characteristics. Study findings included the following: (1) the primary reason for withdrawing was conflicting job hours, with 52% of the students who were employed working over 40 hours per…

A mailed questionnaire was used to gather information about Montana's tribally controlled colleges and to determine: (1) what influenced students to attend the tribal colleges; (2) what their educational goals were; (3) whether the colleges assisted students in meeting goals; and (4) the degree of student satisfaction with college programs and…

A study was conducted at Fayetteville Technical Institute to compare the effectiveness of full- and part-time faculty in terms of evaluations from department chairs, student evaluations, grades assigned, and class attrition. Study findings, based on evaluation results, grades, and attrition rates for 37 full-time and 47 part-time faculty employed…

In October 1986, the Kansas State Board of Education included basic skills education as part of the role, scope and mission statements of the state's community colleges. In 1988, a study was conducted to assess the status of postsecondary remedial/developmental education. Study findings, based on semester enrollment figures for fall 1987, included…

A study was conducted at Olympic College (OC) in the State of Washington, to investigate the personal and academic characteristics of student dropouts and their reasons for leaving the college. Questionnaires were sent to 500 fall 1986 students who completely withdrew from OC during the term or received all F's, W's, or other unproductive grades…

Drawing from literature and research conducted at Prince George's Community College (PGCC), this report discusses student retention in community colleges in the U.S.; outlines retention indicators and strategies; and presents a summary of findings from PGCC's retention studies. After a brief overview of the challenge of student retention in the…

An analysis is presented of factors and conditions affecting student completion rates in the remedial mathematics program (Mathematics 1403) in the Tarrant County (Texas) Junior College District. Following introductory material on the purposes of the study and the tasks of five project teams, chapter I examines the purpose and historical…

This brief focuses on student attrition and retention in the two-year college. An introductory section discusses the definitions of attrition used in studies of student persistence; and how these definitions, which often include students who are actually completers in terms of their own educational goals, may exaggerate attrition rates, which are…

After the determination that the Principles of Accounting course offered at Herkimer County Community College, New York, had a higher attrition rate than other introductory courses, a study was conducted to develop a computer-assisted diagnostic system which could identify the learning deficiences of accounting students and prescribe corrective…

As part of a longitudinal study of student progress through the Hawaii community colleges, fall 1974 entering students were studied for three semesters ending in fall 1975. Continuation rates were higher for new students than for transfer students, males than for females, vocational education majors than for liberal arts or other majors, and…

This study documents visits to a follow-up counselor at Gavilan College (California) beginning in the fall of 2000. Students on dismissal are required to visit a counselor prior to enrolling to assist them in designing an achievable academic plan. The goals of the follow-up counseling include: (1) helping students raise their grade point averages…