The attention to students' noncognitive attributes has recently flourished within academic research and public discourse. This paper adds to the literature by examining the interrelationships among several key noncognitive attributes as well as exploring direct and indirect relationships between noncognitive attributes and second-year retention.…

The Federal Pell Grant Program is the nation's largest need-based grant program. While students' initial eligibility for the Pell is based on financial need, renewal is contingent on meeting minimum academic standards similar to those in models of performance-based scholarships, including a grade point average (GPA) requirement and ratio of…

This longitudinal study assesses the impact of the University of Arizona's New Start Summer Program (NSSP) on participants' first year GPA and retention, controlling for incoming student characteristics. While programmatic participation significantly predicted first-year GPA and retention, this relationship became insignificant when controlling…

Given the continued issue of student retention for online classes, past research has suggested several "retention strategies" focused on engaging students as a way to reduce their withdrawal rate from these classes. However, a recent study testing the effects of these strategies on retention in online undergraduate business courses…

Researchers investigated the impact that a first-year college experience course had on students' first-year grade point averages (GPAs) and retention rates. A sample of 109 first-year students enrolled in the course was compared to a sample of 326 students from the same university who had not taken the course. The goals of the experience course…

Prompted by the notion of "Transfer Shock", numerous studies examined academic performance of transfer students at senior institutions. However, few studies are found that examine how the varying nature of semester GPAs impact subsequent persistence behavior of transfer students after the initial drop in their college GPAs. Using an institutional…

Studying factors that predict bachelor's degree attainment has generated considerable empirical interest over the past few decades. Relatively few studies, however, have focused on community college transfer students and the unique factors that predict their educational outcomes. Utilizing the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 and…

A study of the persistence behavior of students who drop college courses included predictions concerning which students were most likely to drop courses, which courses were most likely to be dropped, and at what point in the semester students were most likely to drop courses. (Author/MLW)

The structural relation of the seven noncognitive dimensions proposed by Sedlacek and Brooks in 1976 and traditional definitions of academic ability, as indicated by Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores, to first semester grade-point average and persistence after three and five semesters was examined. (Author/MLW)

In a study of the effectiveness of a faculty/student mentoring program at a large urban university, 339 undergraduate students assigned to mentors were matched with nonmentored students based on gender, ethnicity, grade point average (GPA), and entering enrollment status. Results showed a higher GPA, more units completed per semester, and lower…

A four-equation simultaneous equations model was developed to analyze whether college student effort and achievement are jointly determined. Testing with 544 undergraduate students indicated that increased student efforts in working with faculty improved their grades, but course effort and library effort had no significant effect on grade point…

This paper investigates the joint effects of academic self-efficacy and stress on the academic performance of 107 nontraditional, largely immigrant and minority, college freshmen at a large urban commuter institution. We developed a survey instrument to measure the level of academic self-efficacy and perceived stress associated with 27…

Five groups of undergraduate students (academic dismissals, low grade point average [GPA] stopouts, high GPA stopouts, low GPA persisters, and high GPA persisters) were compared in terms of their responses to a checklist of financial sources of support. Clear sex differences were observed in the reliance on financial sources. (Author/MLW)

Path analysis was used to explore the relationships among a number of variables related to student persistence. The subjects were freshmen in the College of Liberal Arts, University of Minnesota. Variables that showed the largest total effects on persistence were college grade-point average and high school rank. (Author/MLW)

Survival analysis was used to model retention of 8,867 undergraduate students at Oregon State University from 1991 to 1996. Attrition increased with age and nonresident status; it decreased with higher high-school and first-quarter grades, and attendance in a freshman orientation course. Retention was also associated with race/ethnicity and…