Exploring Student Persistence Factors Among Undergraduate College Students PDF Download

Author: Andrea J. Bishop
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 404

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Book Description
ABSTRACT: Factors contributing to student persistence are important topics to investigate to minimize wasted finances, time, and effort by both students and institutions (Chen & St. John, 2011; Cornacchione & Daugherty, 2013; Jobe & Lenio, 2014). This quantitative study examined how some factors (i.e., academic and social integration, goal and institutional commitment) contribute to a student's intent to persist academically. For the study, a guiding theoretical framework was developed based on Tinto's (1975) theory of student departure and Ajzen's (1991) theory of planned behavior. Utilizing two quantitative, self-reporting survey instruments administered simultaneously, a convenience sample (N = 405) of undergraduate students representing two data collection sites, a regional comprehensive state university and a primarily two-year state college, within the southeast region of the United States, provided data during the Fall 2016 semester. A correlational analysis conducted revealed a significant positive relationship between academic integration and student intent to persist, r(405) = .13, p

Author: Wesley R. Habley
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470888431
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 513

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Book Description
INCREASING PERSISTENCE "Of all the books addressing the puzzle of student success and persistence, I found this one to be the most helpful and believe it will be extremely useful to faculty and staff attempting to promote student success. The authors solidly ground their work in empirical research, and do a brilliant job providing both an overview of the relevant literature as well as research-based recommendations for intervention." GAIL HACKETT, PH.D., provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs; professor, counseling and educational psychology, University of Missouri, Kansas City Research indicates that approximately forty percent of all college students never earn a degree anywhere, any time in their lives. This fact has not changed since the middle of the 20th century. Written for practitioners and those who lead retention and persistence initiatives at both the institutional and public policy levels, Increasing Persistence offers a compendium on college student persistence that integrates concept, theory, and research with successful practice. It is anchored by the ACT's What Works in Student Retention (WWISR) survey of 1,100 colleges and universities, an important resource that contains insights on the causes of attrition and identifies retention interventions that are most likely to enhance student persistence.?? The authors focus on three essential conditions for student success: students must learn; students must be motivated, committed, engaged, and self-regulating; and students must connect with educational programs consistent with their interests and abilities. The authors offer a detailed discussion of the four interventions that research shows are the most effective for helping students persist and succeed: assessment and course placement, developmental education initiatives, academic advising, and student transition programming. Finally, they urge broadening the current retention construct, providing guidance to policy makers, campus leaders, and individuals on the contributions they can make to student success.

Author: Debra Jean Fenty
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Persistence to graduation for adult undergraduate students has been challenging for decades. Many adult learners enroll into the university with numerous sociodemographic characteristics that can hinder their success. Adult students must manage multiple roles and balance their personal, professional and student roles in order to succeed. Twenty-eight percent of first year undergraduate students will not return to college in their second year (American College Testing, 2012). The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between self-efficacy, academic success and persistence for undergraduate students through the lens of Donaldson & Graham's (1999) model of college outcomes for adult learners.The sample for this study represented 310 undergraduate students from two large urban public universities in the United States. This study measured the students' level of self-efficacy and academic persistence in college. The following surveys were employed for this study: the New General Self-Efficacy Scale (Chen, Gully and Eden, 2001) and the Social Integration and Persistence Scale (Pascarella & Terenzini, 1980). Because this survey is nearly 40-years old, the researcher employed an exploratory factor analysis on the data which now suggest that there are six factors that measure academic persistence for adult learners in urban universities. These six factors include: (1) intellectual development, (2) peer group interaction, (3) non-classroom faculty interaction, (4) negative faculty interaction, (5) academic aspirations, and (6) university interconnectedness. This study suggests a significant positive correlation between five of the six factors, with exception to the factor: interconnectedness to the university. The findings suggest that there is a significant correlation between self-efficacy and undergraduate credit hours earned, but no significant correlation between self-efficacy and cumulative grade point average. The findings suggest that there is a positive correlation for student persistence factors: intellectual development and student academic aspirations and between the credit hours earned. There is a significant positive correlation for student persistence factors: intellectual development, student academic aspirations, and university interconnectedness and between the GPA. The findings suggest a negative correlation exists between the students' persistence factor: negative faculty interactions and GPA. This study found a significant influence between numerous student sociodemographic characteristics and factors measuring student persistence.

Author: Eric Anthony Kollar
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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ABSTRACT: First-generation college students encounter unique challenges and obstacles and often have lower matriculation rates than continuing-generation college students. Factors influencing academic persistence among first-generation students include financial, emotional, academic, and social difficulties. A theoretical framework comprised of self-determination theory, causality orientation theory, and the theory of persistence guided the examination of academic persistence. A 99-item online survey instrument was administered to undergraduate and graduate students enrolled at a comprehensive regional university located in the southeastern region of the United States during the fall 2015 semester. Results indicate an interrelationship exists between autonomy and academic integration for first generation college students. Academic integration for first-generation college students negatively correlated with mother's highest level of education. Interrelationships exists between relatedness and social integration, as well as hours spent working and social integration for first-generation college students. Academic and social integration are primary elements of academic persistence. Attending to the basic psychological needs of autonomy and relatedness will foster academic and social integration among firstgeneration college students.

Author: Alfred Rovai
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 1780631626
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
The purpose of this book is to increase understanding of the major theories, issues, challenges, and solutions related to online distance education. It balances practical advice with a description of the theoretical and research-based underpinnings for the culturally-responsive strategies presented. An important integrating theme is the impact of globalization and internationalization on all aspects of distance education. Consequently, the book examines the implications of global reach and cross-border education and promotes the integration of global learning in academic programs. - Addresses the global reach of distance education and associated cultural, linguistic, and accreditation issues - Describes the latest online learning technologies, e.g., blogs, wikis, podcasting, mobile learning, virtual worlds, etc. - Addresses the culture of higher education and forces that are moving higher education in new directions, e.g., academic capitalism, consumerism, and competition among non-profit, for-profit, and corporate universities

Author: Floralba Arbelo Marrero
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Academic achievement
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description
This study examined the academic persistence of 10 undergraduate Hispanic nontraditional students enrolled at a public and a private not for profit Hispanic Serving Institution in the southeastern region of the United States, each in their last year of a bachelor degree program. Using a phenomenological research design and an ecological and sociocultural framework the findings indicated that family context, personal aspirations, campus environment within Hispanic Serving Institutions, life challenges, and English language learning each play a vital role in the persistence behaviors of this population. These factors interact at the student and institutional levels to provide students with internal and external resources and motivators that influence their academic persistence at Hispanic Serving Institutions.

Author: Sharon Lanre-Orepo
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Academic achievement
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
In recent years, an increasing number of first-generation college students have pursued higher education. However, previous studies found that these students are significantly more likely to depart before their second year in college and encounter more challenges that impede them from pursuing a college degree. The purpose of the current study is to examine the role of support factors and the academic and social burden associated with first-generation college students in predicting persistence. The study also examined the role of instructor support and academic self-efficacy in predicting college persistence. A total of 145 first-generation college students completed a survey that assessed family support, instructor support, social support, college persistence, college academic self-efficacy, and academic and social burden. Results revealed that instructor support and social support significantly predicted higher college persistence, and that family support and social support significantly predicted lower academic and social burden. The results also demonstrated that academic self-efficacy predicted college persistence after controlling for support factors and that academic self-efficacy mediated the relationship between instructor support and college persistence. These findings indicate that academic self-efficacy is not a rigid personality trait but can be impacted by a student's college experience, particularly the student's relationship with a trusted instructor. Findings from this research can guide institutions of higher education to implement programs and practices to help more first-generation college students realize their academic dreams and goals.

Author: Elyse D'nn Lovell
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Adult college students
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
The purpose of this quantitative comparative analysis study was to determine the factors that contribute to motivation and persistence among undergraduate college students who are parents compared to those students who are not parents. It is important that administrators, faculty, and support staffs know what undergraduate college student-parents report as factors which are contributions or hindrances to their motivation to enroll and persist in achieving degree attainment success when compared to students who are not parents. The results of this study can be used by administrators, faculty, and support staffs as they recruit students, enroll students, retain students, revise current programs, and create new programs. In this study, three hundred and twenty three students were administered a survey (designed from two existing surveys) distributed one week before the semester ended, spring, 2011; ninety four parents and two hundred and twenty nine non-parents responded to questions about five persistence factors (enrollment barriers, decision to continue attending college, classroom experiences, student services and attainment goals) and one factor of motivation. The difference between persistence and motivation is that persistence questions were more specific to academics, while motivation questions were both academic and personal (intrinsic). The results showed parental status predicted persistence to continue attending college, classroom experiences and perceptions of student services. Parents showed higher levels of persistence survey scores than non-parents to continue attending college, classroom experiences and student services. Differences in motivation were unclear. In addition to student-parent status, individual student characteristics of age, marital status, and gender showed significance for predicting enrollment, attainment and student services. Non-traditional age students had lower levels of survey response for barriers in enrollment. Married students had lower levels of survey response for the attainment of goals. Females showed higher levels of survey response for student services. This study concludes that persistence factors were different between parenthood, age, marital status, and gender while differences in motivation remain unclear when comparing student-parents and students who are not parents.

Author: Jo Handelsman
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9781429201889
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
Seasoned classroom veterans, pre-tenured faculty, and neophyte teaching assistants alike will find this book invaluable. HHMI Professor Jo Handelsman and her colleagues at the Wisconsin Program for Scientific Teaching (WPST) have distilled key findings from education, learning, and cognitive psychology and translated them into six chapters of digestible research points and practical classroom examples. The recommendations have been tried and tested in the National Academies Summer Institute on Undergraduate Education in Biology and through the WPST. Scientific Teaching is not a prescription for better teaching. Rather, it encourages the reader to approach teaching in a way that captures the spirit and rigor of scientific research and to contribute to transforming how students learn science.

Author: Lori Jean Spencer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Latino college students face factors in their lives on a daily basis that affect their persistence in college. While the nation is seeing an increase in Latino enrollment in higher education institutions, the persistence rates of Latino students are not higher than other students, regardless of ethnicity. Several theorists such as Astin, Tinto, Pascarella, and Terenzini have studied specific variables affecting Latino college student persistence; however, Terenzini and Reason (2005) developed a model that combined the multiple forces affecting Latino college student persistence. This qualitative case study was guided by two questions that intended to explore the phenomenon of college student persistence factors: (1) How do college experiences affect Latino persistence to graduation? and (2) How do cultural factors promote or hinder Latino college persistence? Findings produced six key themes: (1) Campus Influences, (2) Out of Class Experiences, (3) Curricular Experiences, (4) Teachers' Influences, (5) Influential People, and (6) Pre-college Preparation. The themes identify key components of student experiences before they begin college and while they are attending. These components work together as a force developing each student with skills that promote persistence in college such as student engagement, admission's criteria, cultural capital, and family support.