Building upon the research findings in an earlier ACT Research Report (Westrick, 2016), this study used data from 119,131 students at 26 four-year institutions to make comparisons between STEM majors earning semester GPAs of 3.0 or higher and their STEM peers earning semester GPAs less than 3.0. The results indicate that the higher-performing…

This report, an analysis of 1669 U.S. institutions, is a first-time study of the relationship of attrition to revenues lost in four-year public, private, and for-profit colleges and universities on an annual basis. The report is the result of a study investigating the financial impact of attrition on four-year colleges and universities. Other…

This instruction manual explains in detail how to use the Attrition Cost Model program, which estimates the cost of student attrition for a state's higher education system. Programmed with SAS, this model allows users to instantly calculate the cost of attrition and the cumulative attrition rate that is based on the most recent retention and…

Using date from 120,612 students at 26 four-year institutions, this report provides a description of STEM majors entering four-year postsecondary institutions and those who persist through four years of study. The results indicate that persisting STEM majors enter college with very high levels of pre-college academic achievement as measured by the…

The main aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of why students abandon their studies, or perform less well than expected given their high school grades, and to develop predictive models that can help identify those students most at-risk at the time they enter college. This will allow teachers and those responsible for student…

The relationship between college persistence and the receipt of grant aid was studied with full-time students at public and private four-year institutions, based on data from the High School and Beyond (HS&B) study. Two measures of persistence were considered: (1) the percent of students who dropped out during the year and (2) for students who…

This study examined the retention, attrition, and graduation rates of 7,170 freshmen entering the Oregon State System of Higher Education during the 1986-1987 academic year. For the state system overall, 51.1 percent of freshmen received a bachelor's degree. On a school level, the matriculation rate varied from 62.9 percent at Oregon State…

Student attrition at the College of Staten Island was investigated. The 2,786 students who left school from the spring 1979 semester to the fall 1979 semester were selected for analysis using a survey developed by the National Center for Higher Education Management Services. Responses were obtained from 452 former students. Study variables were…

This 2003 study was designed to collect data on the outcomes of short stay students, or former students who leave British Columbia's colleges, university colleges, and institutes after completing between 9 and 23 credits. Out of 2,273 former students eligible for surveying, 871 completed the survey, for a response rate of 38%. The survey collected…

Accomplishments of St. Mary's University Student Retention Task Force are addressed. After reviewing the literature on the correlates of retention and approaches to improving student retention, statistical results of the 1982 administration of the Student Opinion Survey of the American College Testing program are provided. This survey explores…

The relationship between attrition and choice of major was studied at Western Illinois University. A secondary purpose was to determine whether measures of accademic ability, as well as curricular choice, will provide a basis for determining if attrition is likely to occur. Entering freshmen in the summer and fall terms of 1974, 1975, and 1976…

The rapid dwindling of classes in the upper grades of U.S. grammar and high schools has been often noted, and many suggestions as to the improvement of the system of education have been emphasized by reference to this tendency. It is clear that after all that has been done, the attendance of pupils, particularly in the elementary schools, is still…

The status of remedial programs in New Jersey's public colleges is analyzed in this report for fall 1981. Following introductory material on New Jersey's basic skills assessment program, the character of the state's remedial programs is examined, focusing on the number of students tested, identification of students needing remediation, placement…

A reporting and study format for the investigation of university student retention is presented. Student progression and loss is shown graphically and in tabular form to enable ready comprehension and encourage data exploration. Data obtained at Virginia Commonwealth University for 1977-80 are used as illustration. Two ways of viewing student…

Results of the 1985 Attrition and Retention Survey of the State University of New York are presented. After a brief narrative explanation of the report, extensive data on attrition, retention, and completion are provided for full-time, first-time students and full-time, transfer students at the associate and baccalaureate degree levels and for…