Times of adversity often require an intentional focus on fostering people's inherent strengths to help them not give up on their life's most cherished aspirations. The outbreak of the Russian war in Ukraine has created unprecedented struggles and uncertainties among the entire Ukrainian population, including college students (Limone et al., 2022).…

For several decades, scholars have been exploring the factors that influence college students' persistence and retention. Several of the retention theories and models have emphasized the role of sense of purpose and degree commitment in contributing to college students' persistence. Students' sense of purpose regarding what motivates them, what…

Research on supportive communication was examined in relation to students' goals of earning a college degree and their intent to persist. Theories of student departure (Bean, 1985; Tinto, 1993) informed research questions assessing the impact of how social support from family members and friends affected commitment to the goal of graduation and…

Native American and First Nations (herein collectively referred to as Indigenous) women college students are faced with the challenge of balancing their cultural imperatives and the demands of the dominant Western culture in family, school, and work/employment roles. In order to explore these women's experiences and perspectives, this study…

The investigators reviewed the retention literature and developed a 53-item questionnaire and tested its validity. Component analysis of the responses of 2,022 students at four schools yielded six reliable factors: Institutional Commitment, Degree Commitment, Academic Integration, Social Integration, Support Services Satisfaction, and Academic…