Regression analysis was used to study retention and graduation for the fall 1996 entering class of students at a midwestern research extensive university (n = 3,610; 44% female, 8% minority, 77% in-state). Logistic regression was used to predict the likelihood of a student being retained for each of four years, and the outcome of graduation at the end of years four, five, and six. Odds ratios were employed to provide insight into the relative contribution of demographic characteristics (age, gender, ethnicity, in-state residency), ability (high school rank, high school rank 2 , ACT score), environmental (university athlete, university honors program, first-generation student, entering college), and financial aid data (gift, loan, and work-study) characteristics.Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence and determination.-Calvin CoolidgeThe difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes with a strong will, and the other from a strong won't.-Henry Ward Beecher 457 Ó 2007, Baywood Publishing Co., Inc.
Logistic regression models of students' 1-year retention and 6-year retention/graduation for the fall 2000 entering class of students at a research-extensive university in the Midwest were estimated by combining university, financial aid, and Cooperative Institutional Research Program data ( n = 1,905; 45% female, 87% Caucasian, 75% in-state). Statistically significant predictors of retention to the second year were first-year cumulative grade point average, financial aid variables, learning community membership, information technology use in high school, and in-state residence. Six-year retention/graduation was predicted significantly by the students' last registered term cumulative grade point average, number of years living on campus, transfer credits, financial aid variables, gender, ability measures (high school rank, ACT composite score), in-state residence, and female gender.
and ImplicationsStudents undergo a variety of transitions in their lives when they move away from home to begin their studies at Iowa State University (ISU). Altered living arrangements, enhanced level of academic competition, and a new social environment are but a few of the many adaptations that incoming freshmen students face. Although most students successfully make the transition to college life during their first year, approximately 15% of first-year students do not return to ISU for a second year. In order to proactively address students who may struggle during their first year we are exploring the potential use of a commercially available student success program (MAP-Works®) to help identify, early in their first semester, students who may struggle in the academic and/or social transition to ISU. In this study, we analyzed three years of data collected from full-time first-year students enrolled in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences during their first semester at ISU. Students identified by MAP-Works® as having lowest risk for problems with the transition to college life had higher grade point averages and higher one-year retention rates than moderate risk students. In addition, high risk students had lower grade point averages and lower retention rates than either moderate or low risk students. These data show the potential utility of MAP-Works® as a tool for faculty academic advisors to identify students who may benefit from targeted intervention strategies geared toward increasing student success.
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