Life Happens (Outside of College): Non-College Life-Events and Students’ Likelihood of Graduation

Abstract

Students' lives outside of college can have dramatic effects on academic outcomes (e.g., grades, persistence, graduation). However, the manner in which students' lives outside of college are referenced in college-effects models suggests some uncertainty among scholars as to which, and how, student experiences outside of an institution affect college student outcomes. Using longitudinal data from a racially diverse sample of 3914 students (997 White, 1051 Black, 915 Hispanic, and 951 Asian) attending 28 institutions, this study employs logistic regression models to examine relationships between three types of non-college life-events and students' likelihood of graduation. Specifically, we examine the impact of financial disruptions, grieving a friend's or family member's death, and other family situations that likely cause psychological distress for students. Results suggest that major life-events are both common (i.e., affecting over 52 % of students) and consequential (i.e., negatively affecting graduation rates), thus warranting increased attention from researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners.

The influence of time on the decisions that students make about their academic reading

“…This result can be interpreted in two ways: Students who were less focused on nonacademic activities were more efficient in allocating time toward reading, and students who were more focused on nonacademic activities were less efficient in allocating time toward reading texts. Our findings are similar to those in other studies in suggesting a negative association between participation in nonacademic activities and performance, in this case reading (Lotkowski et al, 2004;Pascarella et al, 2004;Reason et al, 2016). Surprisingly, however, those who felt they "never" managed time well were more likely to believe they were doing the reading that they had been asked to do than those who felt they "always" managed time well.…”

“…An important resource in accomplishing self-regulation is self-rationing of time, yet unfortunately, some, including students, are known to struggle with self-regulation, goal setting, and identifying effective learning strategies (Bembenutty, 2001), which is another reason why there is a need to investigate whether students are efficient in selfrationing their time. Lotkowski et al (2004) found that nonacademic factors had the strongest positive impact on academic performance, yet a study by Cox et al (2016) found that nonuniversity life events had a negative impact on the graduation rates of students. In a study by Pascarella et al (2004), nonacademic activities, such as intercollegiate athletics and work experience, were found to have a significantly negative impact on the academic achievements of students.…”

Meaning Violations, Religious/Spiritual Struggles, and Meaning in Life in the Face of Stressful Life Events

“…More than half of college students experience at least one stressful life event during a single year of college (Cox, Reason, Nix, & Gillman, 2016). Stressful life events can trigger a variety of responses, with the development of post-traumatic stress (PTS) symptoms being a severe reaction on the stressresponse continuum (Long et al, 2008;Ruscio, Ruscio, & Keane, 2002).…”

Gaps in persistence under open-access and tuition-free public higher education policies

“…As can be seen, the estimates remain almost unchanged when applying both models. To ease interpretation, results reported in Table 2 are presented as oddsratios (whereby a ratio of less than 1 reflects a decreased likelihood of graduation) (Cox et al, 2016). From the above table, we can conclude that the likelihood of men leaving higher education studies is 1.42 times that of women.…”