Community colleges enroll nearly half of the students enrolled in public undergraduate programs and a disproportionate number of first-generation, low-income, underprepared and minority students. The new national completion agenda has brought both visibility and pressure to these open-access institutions, which have completion rates of less than…

Across focus groups consisting of current and former community college students in four states (Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, and Texas), a consistent message resounded: Students want to be more connected to their colleges, from the moment they enter until the day they complete their studies. They want to feel more connected to faculty, staff,…

Of 1,629 students enrolled in the fall semester of 1975 at Allegany Community College, 340 (20.9 percent) did not re-register for spring 1976. Although the fall enrollment contained almost twice as many full-time as part-time students, more than half of the non-returning students were part-time. Attrition also correlated to age of the students,…

Colleges have become aware of two kinds of losses of students: those who enroll and drop out before completing the semester and those who might be called registration drop-outs. The three colleges of the Los Rios Community College District have shared that concern. Therefore, an approach has been made to the problem of the registration drop-out…

The project reported here considers community college students who quit within a semester of study, as opposed to not finishing an entire college program. The latter subject has commanded the better part of the attention devoted to the college dropout. Community college faculty and administrative staff admit to a fairly high dropout rate for…

A random 5% sample of those 6,341 day college students who were enrolled in the fall of 1972-73 but not in the spring of 1972-73 were telephoned to gather followup information. Of the 316 students in the sample, 91 were contacted and provided the following information: (1) most were not currently enrolled in college anywhere; those who were…

Students' reasons for leaving Montgomery College after one semester, dropout trends, current activities of nonreturnees, and the impact that the one semester had on their careers or course of action were elicited by questionnaires mailed to 389 students. A total of 120 usable questionnaires were returned. The data collected showed that: (1) the…

In 1989, staff from Rancho Santiago College's (RSC's) research office conducted telephone interviews with a random sample of 255 out of the 17,359 former students who attended RSC in spring 1989 but did not return for the next semester. The study was conducted to determine why students did not return, whether they accomplished their educational…

A survey was conducted to determine the characteristics and opinions of the non-persisting students at Moraine Valley Community College. A random sample of 500 non-persisting students was selected, with equal numbers of full-time and part-time ex-students. Separate questionnaires were used for non-persisting full-time and non-persisting part-time…

In spring 1984, a three-part withdrawal study was conducted at Glendale (Arizona) Community College (GCC) to investigate reasons for course withdrawal, and official and unofficial college withdrawal. Study findings, based on responses from 138 students who withdrew from courses, 282 students who officially withdrew from GCC, and 9 students who…

This report describes the attrition rate at Johnson County Community College (JCCC) (Kansas). The overall attrition rate for classes starting in fall 2000 was nearly 12%--during the fall semester 4,652 students dropped classes. Useable drop surveys were completed for 93% of those classes. Findings indicated that: (1) the Science, Math, and Health…

Three follow-up surveys were conducted by Greenfield Community College (GCC) from 1979 through 1980 to determine selected information about: (1) "stopouts," that is, students who were enrolled in either a Spring or Fall semester, but who did not reenroll for the subsequent semester; and (2) persons who were accepted for admission, but…

Data from a longitudinal study of freshmen at three California community colleges is presented. This project, the 3-D Project, views freshmen in three colleges on the basis of a construct formulated by Brawer called Functional Potential. Functionsl Potential is a hypothetical construct built on psychodynamic principles which describe the degree to…

A retention study was conducted at Tallahassee Community College (TCC) to determine reasons student withdrew from TCC prior to meeting their educational objectives. The survey population consisted of all students, apart from graduates and those who had been academically suspended, who were enrolled in winter 1981 but had not returned by winter…

Discusses a telephone follow-up survey of individuals who initiated the admission process at College of Lake County (Illinois), comparing students who registered with non-registrants. Reports that job-related, financial, and personal reasons were given for not enrolling. Suggests that poor academic preparation may also have been a factor. (DMM)