Motivation profoundly influences human behavior, shaping skill acquisition and utilization while propelling goal pursuit and success. This study delves into motivation's universality across human endeavors, emphasizing how motivated individuals undertake actions to achieve their objectives. It examines motivation's critical role in enhancing…

As the university student body becomes more diversified and students' lives less linear, student retention carries increased importance for universities, including the conversion of deferrers and the re-enrolment of leave-taking students. This paper is based on a broader research project which explored national patterns of deferral and leave of…

Retention research has resulted in a number of theories, models, and frameworks, and the adoption of related strategies by institutions of higher education to graduate the students they admit. These strategies include programming designed to welcome students, give them a sense of belonging, and involve them in the academic and social realms of the…

Vertical transfers, those who transferred from a 2-year institution to a 4-year institution, often face multifaceted challenges and lower success rates upon arriving at the receiving 4-year institutions. This quantitative study focused on three forms of social capital related to post-transfer adjustment, retention, and success for vertical…

Student retention is a fundamental issue in higher education, with student decision-making and withdrawal at the forefront of examining that issue. Previous research has shown that personal factors are not easily addressed, but institutional factors, such as the course scheduling process, can be modified. This research study examined how the…

College student retention theorists have suggested that improving students' financial literacy may improve student retention and completion rates. Before this important line of inquiry can be thoroughly examined, it is first important to understand if and how major state universities in the United States currently provide students with financial…

Data from a moderately-selective state university in the Midwest is used to cross-examine the most appropriate data analytical techniques for predicting versus explaining college student persistence decisions. The current research provides an overview of the relative benefits of models specializing in prediction versus explanation with particular…

Metacognition involves the monitoring, regulation, and evaluation of one's own cognitive processes and is known to enhance educational outcomes and retention in students (Bruin & Van Gog, 2012). This study assessed metacognitive practices among college students at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus, by administering existing…

It is potentially beneficial for all college students to have perspectives on identity and future connections to develop and maintain academic motivation. However, researchers have yet to examine probationary students' identity-based motivation (IBM) and perceived instrumentality (PI), and how those motivational constructs relate to their academic…

The COVID-19 pandemic created lingering challenges related to enrollment and made transparent the need for institutions to examine processes and remove enrollment barriers. Higher education may be perfectly poised to implement deep and lasting change that could result in increased access and improved retention. As student populations become…

Over the last two decades higher education has experienced continuous growth in online education, with students and faculty enjoying the flexibility. With that flexibility came new pedagogies, new course preps, and a new era of teaching, learning, and academic planning. Just as those in the classroom had to modify behaviors and strategies,…

Enrolment numbers in online higher education courses have continued to increase over the last decade. The challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic have further accelerated the growth in online and blended course offerings. The development of institutional support services, however, does not reflect this growth. Many students are not…

Taking a leave of absence (LoA) has been identified as an important precursor and risk factor for attrition for many university students. This study describes a proactive outreach intervention to students on LoA through the lens of Tinto's theory of student integration. Historical trends in the university of interest indicate just under 9% of…

While loyalty has been the focus of past researchers, this study delved into the relationship between customers and organizations interchanged with commitment through socioeconomics and its impact on retention. The research problem focused on possible explanations of low retention rates at a historically black college and the students' commitment…

Universities aim at increasing student retention, with evidence-based and data-based governance of universities becoming best practice. In this context, managing large amounts of data in university management is a challenge. Sankey diagram visualizations of student flows per time unit (e.g. semesters) have been used as method for structuring but…