Attrition among students in adult basic and secondary education programs has been a perennial problem. Conducting research on this population is also problematic once they have dropped out of a program. A study surveyed 76 dropouts and 35 General Educational Development (GED) program completers from two large, multisite programs about factors…

In the last 10 years community college enrollments have leveled off, bringing a new urgency to institutional efforts to retain current students. Obstacles to academic persistence include external factors such as insufficient funds, work demands, social demands, family obligations, housing or transportation problems; and internal problems such as…

The study provides an overview of what national surveys and the literature say about school dropouts, defined as persons who are neither enrolled in school nor high school graduates. For the last decade, the dropout rate for youth age 16-24 has remained roughly the same, about 13-14 percent. Hispanics, Blacks, and economically and educationally…

Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) analyzes graduation and attrition rates of the 1982 graduating class from the district's 49 regular high schools as well as from continuation, opportunity, special education, and alternative and magnet schools. Graduates are senior high school students who earned a diploma, or passed the California High…

In fall 1985, a study was conducted at Broome Community College (BCC) in Binghamton, New York, to determine whether students who added a class on or after the first class meeting (i.e., late admits) were at greater risk of withdrawing or failing than students who registered on time (i.e., regular admits). Final grades awarded to students in ENG…

College attendance patterns for Asian Americans and their academic persistence, choice of study, and sources of financial aid were assessed, based on results of the High School and Beyond Study, a longitudinal study of high school sophomores and seniors in 1980. Findings for the sample of 439 sophomores and 391 seniors include: 86 percent of Asian…

During fall 1983, a study was conducted of the 3,250 first-time freshmen registered at Queensborough Community College (QCC). An academic profile of these students was developed, focusing on demographic background, high school academic profile, results on the QCC placement tests and City University of New York Freshman Skills Assessment Tests,…

A study was conducted of the retention patterns of students enrolled in the Peralta Community College District (PCCD) in fall 1984 using college reports on withdrawals and grade distributions. The study focused on successful retention (i.e., all students who received a passing grade) and on total retention (i.e., all students who received any…

A study was conducted at Sacramento City College to determine the effect of "College Success" (CS), an extended orientation class, on students' academic performance and persistence. The study included three groups of students: 116 students enrolled in CS, 104 students who attended a 4-hour New Student Orientation (NSO), and 84 students who…

A study was conducted at Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC) to determine the relationship between student educational objectives and retention/attrition rates. The study followed 4,502 students who came to the college for the first time in winter 1985 for five quarters, through winter 1986. The students were asked to indicate their…

A study was conducted in the San Bernardino Community College District to discover why some students who were enrolled in the spring 1984 semester did not reenroll in the fall 1984 semester; and to determine to what extent the new enrollment fee affected students' ability to enroll. A sample of 1,011 students was randomly selected from the target…

A study was conducted at MiraCosta College (MCC), in Del Mar, California, to investigate various aspects of retention and attrition and to make recommendations for possible program enhancements. The study sought to determine when students drop out of classes, which students drop out of school completely, and the drop out rate for various…

A study was conducted to determine the success or failure of late applicants and late registrants at Honolulu Community College (HCC) as measured by rate of completion, success in classes, etc., and to investigate ways in which the late applicant/registrant could be integrated into the mainstream of the system more easily. Avenues of recruitment…

The structural relations of the seven non-cognitive dimensions proposed by W. E. Sedlacek and G. C. Brooks (1976) and traditional definitions of academic ability, as indicated by Statistical Aptitude Test (SAT) scores, to first semester grade point average (GPA) and persistence after three and five semesters were examined. Random samples of…

The extent to which educational debt is burdensome for borrowers who are currently in repayment was studied with attention to the actual impact of loan repayment on economic behavior and the perceptions of repayers concerning that impact. Opinions of borrowers concerning the role of student loans in providing access to and choice among higher…