This meta-analytic path analysis presents evidence that first-year academic performance (FYAP), measured by first-year grade point average (FYGPA) plays the major role in determining second-year student retention and that socioeconomic status (SES), measured by parental income, plays a negligible role. Based on large sample data used in a previous…

Noncognitive attributes as the researchers have measured them do correlate with college GPA, but the incremental validity associated with these measures is relatively small. The noncognitive measures are correlated with other valued dimensions of student performance beyond the achievement reflected in college grades. There were much smaller…