Theoretically grounded in Tinto’s model of retention and Braxton and colleagues’ revisions , this study is designed to examine the applicability of the integration model to students of different racial backgrounds. Results from a sample of full-time undergraduate students at a research-extensive university suggest that (a) academic and social integrations function differently to the persistence of Black and White students, (b) financial pressure was the most consistent impediment to college retention for all students, and (c) institutional control over academic quality is critical to student retention. In addition, results show that students of different racial backgrounds do not differ significantly in their reported intention to drop out. Implications for policy and planning are discussed.
AndrieuS. C.St. JohnE. P. (1993) The influence of prices on graduate student persistence. Research in Higher Education34(4): 399–426.
2.
AstinA. W.OsegueraL. (2005) Degree attainment rates at American colleges and universities, Revised ed. Los Angeles: Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA.
3.
BaumS.MaJ. (2013) Trends in college pricing, Washington, DC: The College Board.
4.
BeanJ. P. (1982) Conceptual models of student attrition: How theory can help the institutional researcher. In: PascarellaE. (ed.) New directions for institutional research: Studying student attritionVol. 36, San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass, pp. 17–33.
5.
BeekhovenS.de JongU.van HoutH. (2002) Explaining academic progress via combining concepts of integration theory and rational choice theory. Research in Higher Education43: 577–600.
6.
BerknerL.HeS.CattaldiE. F. (2002) Descriptive summary of 1995–96 beginning postsecondary students: Six years later, Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.
7.
BraxtonJ. (2000) Reworking the student departure puzzle, Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press.
8.
BraxtonJ. M.DoyleW. R.HartleyH. V.IIIHirschyA. S.JonesW. A.McLendonM. K. (2013) Rethinking college student retention, New York, NY: John Wiley.
9.
BraxtonJ.HirschyA. (2005) Theoretical developments in the study of college student departure. In: SeidmanA. (ed.) College student retention: Formula for student success, Westport, CT: ACE/Praeger.
10.
BraxtonJ. M.HirschyA. S.McClendonS. A. (2004) Toward understanding and reducing college student departure. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report, Vol. 30, no 3, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
11.
BraxtonJ. M.MilemJ. F.SullivanA. S. (2000) The influence of active learning on the student departure process: Toward a revision of Tinto’s theory. The Journal of Higher Education77: 569–590.
12.
BraxtonJ. M.MundyM. E. (2001) Powerful institutional levers to reduce college student departure. Journal of College Student Retention3(1): 91–117.
13.
BraxtonJ. M.SullivanA. S.JohnsonR. M. (1997) Appraising Tinto’s theory of college departure. In: SmartJ. (ed.) Higher education: A handbook for theory and research, New York, NY: Agathon Press, pp. 107–164.
14.
CabreraA. F.CastanedaM. B.NoraA.HengstlerD. (1992) The convergence between two theories of college persistence. Journal of Higher Education63: 143–164.
15.
CabreraA. F.NoraA.CastañedaM. B. (1992) The role of finances in the persistence process: A structural model. Research in Higher Education33(5): 571–593.
16.
ChoyS.BobbittL. (2000) Low-income students: Who they are and how they pay for their education. National Center for Education Statistics, Statistical Analysis Report 2000-169, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement.
17.
ContrerasF. (2005) Access, achievement, and social capital: Standardized exams and the Latino college-bound population. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education4(3): 197–214.
18.
D’AugelliA. R.HersbergerS. L. (1993) African American undergraduates on a predominantly white campus: Academic factors, social networks, and campus climate. Journal of Negro Education62: 67–81.
19.
Donhardt, G. L. (2013). The fourth-year experience: Impediments to degree completion. Innovative Higher Education, 38(3), 207–221.
20.
EatonS. B.BeanJ. P. (1995) An approach/avoidance behavioral model of college student attrition. Research in Higher Education36(6): 617–645.
21.
EhrenbergR. G.ZhangL. (2005) Do tenured and tenure-track faculty matter?Journal of Human Resources40: 647–659.
22.
Eimers, M. T., & Pike, G. R. (1997). Minority and nonminority adjustment to college: Differences or similarities? Research in Higher Education, 38, 77–97.
23.
FarrellE. F. (2003) Public-college tuition rise is largest in 3 decades. Chronicle of Higher Education50(10): A1–A35.
24.
FreemanK. E.AlstonS. T.WinborneD. G. (2008) Do learning communities enhance the quality of students learning and motivation in STEM?The Journal of Negro Education77: 227–240.
25.
HarperS.QuayeS. (2007) Student organizations as venues for Black identify expression and development among African American male student leaders. Journal of College Student Development48(2): 127–144.
26.
HurtadoS.CarterD. F. (1997) Effects of college transition and perceptions of the campus racial climate on Latino college students’ sense of belonging. Sociology of Education70: 324–345.
27.
HurtadoS.HanJ. C.SáenzV. B.EspinosaL. L.CabreraandN. L.CernaO. S. (2007) Predicting transition and adjustment to college: Biomedical and behavioral science aspirants’ and minority students’ first year of college. Research in Higher Education48: 841–887.
28.
KraemerB. (1997) The academic and social integration of Hispanic students into college. The Review of Higher Education20(2): 163–179.
29.
KuhG.LoveP. (2000) A cultural perspective on student departure. In: BraxtonJ. (ed.) Reworking the student departure puzzle, Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, pp. 196–212.
30.
LeppelK. (2002) Similarities and differences in the college persistence of men and women. The Review of Higher Education25(4): 433–450.
31.
MeeuwisseM.SeveriensS. E.BornM. P. (2010) Learning environment, interaction, sense of belonging and study success in ethnically diverse student groups. Research in Higher Education51: 528–545.
32.
MumperM.FreemanM. L. (2005) The causes and consequences of public tuition inflation. In: SmartJ. C. (ed.) Higher education: Handbook of theory and research, Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer, pp. 307–361.
33.
MurguiaE.PadillaR. V.PavelM. (1991) Ethnicity and the concept of social integration in Tinto's model of institutional departure. Journal of College Student Development32: 433–439.
34.
National Center for Education Statistics (2014) Digest of educational statistics, 2014, Washington, DC: Author.
35.
NoraA.AttinasiL. C.MatonakA. (1990) Testing qualitative indicators of precollege factors in Tinto’s attrition model. A community college student population. Review of Higher Education13(3): 337–356.
36.
NoraA.CabreraA. F. (1996) The role of perceptions of prejudice and discrimination on the adjustment of minority students to college. Journal of Higher Education67: 119–148.
37.
OsegueraL.LocksA.VegaI. (2009) Increasing Latina/o students’ baccalaureate attainment: A focus on retention. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education80: 23–53.
38.
ParkJ. (2012) “Man, this is hard”: A case study of how race and religion affect cross-racial interaction for black students. Review of Higher Education35(4): 567–593.
39.
PascarellaE.TerenziniP. T. (1977) Patterns of student-faculty informal interaction beyond the classroom and voluntary freshman attrition. The Journal of Higher Education48: 540–552.
40.
PascarellaE. T.TerenziniP. T. (1980) Predicting freshman persistence and voluntary dropout decisions from a theoretical model. Journal of Higher Education51: 60–75.
41.
PascarellaE.TerenziniP. (2005) How college affects students, San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.
42.
PikeG. R.KuhG. D. (2006) Relationships among structural diversity, informal peer interactions and perceptions of the campus environment. Review of Higher Education29: 425–450.
43.
PorterS. R.WhitcombM. E. (2005) Nonresponse in student surveys: The role of demographics, engagement and personality. Research in Higher Education46: 127–152.
44.
Rendón, L. I., Jalomo, R. E., & Nora, A. (2004). Theoretical considerations in the study of minority student retention in higher education. In J. Braxton (Ed.), Reworking the student departure puzzle (Rev. ed., pp. 127–156). Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press.
45.
SaxL. J.GilmartinS. K.BryantA. N. (2003) Assessing response rates and nonresponse bias in web and paper surveys. Research in Higher Education44(4): 409–432.
46.
St. JohnE. P. (1991) What really influences minority attendance? Sequential analyses of the high school and beyond sophomore cohort. Research in Higher Education32: 141–158.
47.
St. JohnE. P.PaulsenM. B.StarkeyJ. B. (1996) The nexus between college choice and persistence. Research in Higher Education37(2): 175–220.
48.
SteeleC. M.AronsonJ. (1995) Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology69(5): 797–811.
49.
StrayhornT.TerrellM. (2007) Mentoring and satisfaction for Black students. Negro Education Review58(1–2): 69–83.
50.
TanakaG. (2002) Higher education’s self-reflexive turn toward an intercultural theory of student development. The Journal of Higher Education73: 263–296.
51.
TierneyW. (1992) An anthropological analysis of student participation in college. Journal of Higher Education63: 603–618.
52.
TintoV. (1975) Dropouts from higher education: A theoretical synthesis of the recent literature. A Review of Educational Research45: 89–125.
53.
TintoV. (1982) Limits of theory and practice in student attrition. Journal of Higher Education53(6): 687–700.
54.
TintoV. (1987) Leaving college: Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition, Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
55.
TintoV. (1993) Leaving college. Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition, 2nd ed. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
56.
TintoV. (2006) Research and practice of student retention: What next?Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory and Practice8(1): 1–19.
57.
TorresV. (2006) Bridging two worlds: Academia and Latina/o identity. In: CastellanosJ.GloriaA.KamimuraM. (eds) The Latina/o pathway to the Ph.D.: Abriendo caminos, Sterling, VA: Stylus, pp. 135–147.
58.
UmbachP. D.WawrzynskiM. R. (2005) Faculty do matter: The role of college faculty in student learning and engagement. Research in Higher Education46(2): 153–184.
59.
WellsR.SeifertT.SaundersD. (2013) Gender and realized educational expectations: The roles of social origins and significant others. Research in Higher Education54: 599–626.
60.
WolniakG. C.MayhewM. J.EngbergM. E. (2012) Learning's weak link to persistence. The Journal of Higher Education83(6): 795–823.
