Title:
Hiatus from college: a quantitative analysis of stopping out, field of study, and re-enrollment
Author:
Sherri Dell
Thesis Advisor:
Mark Fenster
Committee Member:
Angelo Letizia
Committee Member:
Shuang Liu
Degree Granting Institution:
Loyola University Maryland--School of Education
Place:
Baltimore (Md.)
Publisher:
Loyola University Maryland
Date Created:
2023
Type of Resource:
text
Genre:
thesis
Language:
eng
Format:
application/pdf
Physical Form:
electronic
Digital Source:
born digital
Abstract:
Prevention of student withdrawals is an objective for higher education institutions. Once a college student stops out from college, there is the risk that they will not re-enroll. A review of the literature uncovered that there is focus on the first year of college and that several variables are strongly related to stop-out behavior among undergraduates. However, the literature did not uncover an abundance of information that identified fields of study most vulnerable to stop-out behavior, additional periods of stop-out behavior, and how stop-out behavior may affect college graduation. Hence, the purpose of the current study was to explore relationships between stopping out and fields of study, timing of stopping out, and re-enrollment, thereby offering universities insight on early indicators of student stop-out behavior. The current study utilized the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS: 12/17), an existing data set of first-time, beginning undergraduates in the United States between the 2011–2012 and 2016–2017 academic years. A quantitative, nonexperimental design was used, and several statistical models provided some noteworthy findings. The results showed that students with an undecided or undeclared major had the highest stop-out rate. The most prominent time of stop-out behavior over the 6-year period was between the second and third academic years. Results also revealed that several variables, such as race and gender, socioeconomic status, delayed enrollment, grade point average, institution type, field of study, and stop-out behavior, were statistically significant when considering degree attainment. In addition, students were 86.9% less likely to graduate if they stopped out at least one time. Many undergraduates are entering college without academic direction. Stakeholders may use results from this study to better understand (i) the need to assist students in declaring a major before college enrollment, (ii) salient time periods of stop-out behavior, and (iii) student characteristics that could hinder graduation. Application of the results by stakeholders could mitigate stop-out behavior, thereby increasing opportunities to retain more students.
Subject:
Academic theses
Subject:
Electronic dissertations
Subject:
Thèses et écrits académiques
Subject:
Thèses électroniques
Subject:
dissertations
Degree:
Doctor of Philosophy
Level:
Doctoral
Discipline:
Instructional Leadership for Changing Populations
Restrictions on Access:
Author has given permission to make this work available online.
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Identifier:
DellSR-24
