Predicting Retention from Students' Experiences with College Processes

Abstract

Over the past decade, retention was studied at this college by a variety of methods. Although valuable information resulted from these studies, a major limitation has been the difficulty in identifying specific, focused changes in college processes that have “leverage,” that is, high potential for having an impact on retention patterns. A prospective study of students was conducted. Data was gathered shortly after students' encounters with key college processes in order to determine which components of those processes predict student retention. The results identified a small set of process characteristics (both administrative and instructional) that differentiated between returning and nonreturning students.

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