Australian higher education institutions have focused on attrition rates with increased vigour in light of the introduction of a new student success metric tied to attrition rates. Online programs have been of particular concern given persistently high attrition rates, being roughly double that of programs delivered either face-to-face or in…

Of the 3.5 million first-time in college, full time students who began college in fall 2017, 74% returned for fall 2018, with 61.7% retained at their starting institution. Covid-19 has negatively impacted retention; in addition to normal attrition, one of every five students did not return to campus in fall 2020. Researchers have gauged both…

Researchers and policymakers are interested in the pathway to the STEM workforce given projections about a workforce shortage and the underrepresentation of women and people of color in STEM. These examinations often rely on the STEM pipeline model as a framework for understanding STEM persistence, which uses a STEM degree as a proxy for future…

A multitude of online courses are available that provide opportunities for students to meet their higher education needs, goals, and desires in a nontraditional school setting. But, from a content specific perspective, how are students performing in online courses compared to their face-to-face counterparts? This study seeks to examine the…

United States public primary and secondary school attrition rates for African American males were significantly higher than their non-African American peers. The attrition rate disparity persisted through college graduation despite decades long programs and practices to improve African American male graduation rates. The purpose of this…

Although the research methodology literature includes empirical benchmarks for effect sizes and intraclass correlations to help researchers determine adequate sample sizes through power analysis, it does not include similar benchmarks that would assist proper planning for attrition. To help fill this void, this paper describes how researchers can…

The documented study is a phenomenological form of interpretive research examining attrition in doctoral programs for persons from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. It sought to establish how students formulate reasons for quitting doctoral education---the cases being for doctorates in education. The study uses a sample of 33 former students…

Aimed at a massive outreach and open access education, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) has evolved incredibly engaging millions of learners' over the years. These courses provide an opportunity for learning analytics with respect to the diversity in learning activity. Inspite of its growth, high dropout rate of the learners', it is examined to…

This study was designed to determine if a relationship exists between placement assessment scores and student attrition for first year college students at a technical college in the Midwest. The data included de-identified student scores on four standardized assessments used by the school for admissions and course determination, as well as various…

We examined three large freshman cohorts from Texas State University, a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI), to identify risk factors that might affect academic retention. Risk factors supported by empirical studies such as first-generation, ethnicity, gender, financial aid need, high school performance, and living off campus were examined. We also…

This qualitative study aims to provide insight into why teacher candidates, interested in pursuing K-12 teaching, made the decision to leave their traditional teacher preparation programs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The researchers utilized sociocultural theory as the framework to ground the research. The study finds the educational disruption…

This study examined long-term persistence differences between three samples of first-year online graduate students to understand the impact an early intervention had on students who failed the first assignment in their first course. A Fisher's exact test showed no statistically significant difference in the likelihood of remaining enrolled at the…

While no major change in relation to student attrition and retention data has been recorded over the past 20 years, the increasingly neoliberal agenda imposed on Australian higher education institutions has led to increased scrutiny around such data. In this case study, we explore discourses of attrition and retention to understand better the…

While student attrition constitutes a major institutional concern at the undergraduate level, this topic is overlooked at the master's level. Dropout rates have been documented, but no solid predictive models are to be found. Likewise, little is known about students' decision to terminate their studies. With growing enrolment numbers in…

Quality assurance in higher education often emphasises the importance of lowering student attrition. The first year of study is a crucial period for mitigating risks of attrition as this is the time when students develop a sense of belonging, and academic and personal connections. This study explores the long-term effects of the first-year student…