Institutional Factors Affecting Student Retention

Abstract

INTRODUCTION Since the 1980s, American institutions have experienced a major problem retaining students, particularly under-represented minorities. The loss of students returning to campus for another year usually results in greater financial loss and a lower graduation rate for the institution, and might also affect the way that stakeholders, legislators, parents, and students view the institution. Further, college administrators can attest to the high cost of recruiting in-coming students. Student retention is also an enormous problem in the United Kingdom, where the administrators of academic institutions now focus most of their efforts on decreasing student attrition, because the ability to retain students has become a determining factor in obtaining outside funding (Nash, 1996). In this country, in 1995 the national average four-year graduation rate was only 38%, compared to the five-year and six-year graduation rates of 50% and 54% respectively (Money, 1997). While the average freshman retention rate for 1996 was 75%, studies indicate that colleges with high freshman retention rates tend to have a higher percentage of students graduating within four years; thus, saving the cost of an extra year or more of schooling. Student retention has become a challenging problem for the academic community; therefore, an effective program for student retention must be implemented in order to increase the retention of qualified students. Institutions must work towards providing students with a meaningful learning environment, so that these students will become connected to the institution by developing a sense of belonging within the student body. Therefore, every effort must be made to retain students while they are on campus. REASONS FOR DROP-OUT Research consistently indicates that college students who drop out usually do so by the time they finish their first year (Noel, Levitz, and Saluri, 1985). Unfortunately, the student retention rate usually includes students who were also transferred to other colleges. Therefore, the retention rate does not provide an accurate account of the number of students who actually dropped out of college. Nevertheless, there are several reasons why freshmen do not return to colleges for their sophomore year (Terenzini, et al. 1996). First, some students leave for reasons that may be beyond institutional control, such as lack of finances, poor student-institution fit, changing academic or career goals, or unrelated personal circumstances. Secondly, many more students leave because the institution has failed to create an environment, inside or outside the classroom, that is conducive to their learning and educational needs. These students do not return to their college because they are unhappy with the education that they are receiving. Thirdly, the inability to manage normal school work or to assimilate within the student population could discourage some students from returning for another year of torture. Students who lack the basic and fundamental skills, especially in mathematics and writing, are finding it difficult to cope with the normal course workload. Therefore, it is extremely important for institutional administrators to ensure that students fulfill their prerequisite requirements before taking upper level courses, especially in the areas of writing and computer applications. Fourthly, freshmen might lack the motivation to do well in school, because they do not understand the importance of education, and/or do not know how to apply classroom-learned theories to real life problems. Further, the lack of appropriate role models or mentors in the academic environment could complicate this problem. Finally, during their first year at an academic institution of higher learning, freshmen might be overwhelmed with the transition from high school to college life, and they might become overly stressed by the dramatic changes even before they finish their first year of college. …