Exploring Retention and Attrition in a Two-Year Public Community College.

Abstract

In an effort to improve retention and accountability at Patrick Henry Community College (PHCC), in Virginia, a study was undertaken to track first-time student cohorts entering in fall 1988 through fall 1992 and gather data on student demographics and outcomes. The study examined data for 721 students entering in fall 1988, 761 in fall 1989, 824 in fall 1990, 801 in fall 1991, and 736 in fall 1992, and included the following results: (1) retention rates after 1 year ranged from a low of 28.9% for the fall 1990 cohort to a high of 34.6% in fall 1988; (2) 407 of the fall 1988 cohort who left after 1 year had no intention of completing a degree or certificate program: (3) retention rates after 2 years were 17.5% for 1988, 18.5% for 1989, and 16.37 for 1990; (4) the most significant predictors of student retention, in order of importance, were stud-nt goals, hours enrolled per semester, number of credit hours completed, semester grade point average (GPA). and overall GPA; and (5) in general, attrition rates after 1 year were higher for female students, black students, part-time students, and those in the age ranges of 23-35 and 45-50. The study recommended that student classifications be taken into account when determining attrition rates and that PHCC should identify students who are first enrolled in unclassified academic categories and target them for retention programs and services. (KP) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ********************************************************************** Exploring Retention And Attrition In A Two-Year Public Community College U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it 0 Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality Points of view Or opinions slated in this docu. ment do not necessarily represent official OERI position Or pOliCy John Mohammadi, Ph.D. PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY J. Mohammadi TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC1. Institutional Planning And Research Information Services Patrick Henry Community College P.O. Box 5311 Martinsville, VA 24115 Phone: (703) 638-8777 Ext. 288/280 BEST COPY AVAILABLE ti EXPLORING RETENTION AND ATTRITION IN ATWO-YEAR PUBLIC COMMUNITY COLLEGE This study is designed to explain the retention and attrition in a two-year public community college in order to: 1) report the results of a longitudinal study on retention and attrition pattern, 2) use the results of this study to improve the retention rate at the college, and 3) help the accountability improvement committee at the state level establish a valid and reliable set of indicators of student retention/attrition for institutional effectiveness among community colleges. The construction of different theories on student retention and attrition has led to some disagreement about the appropriate explanation of student departure (Tinto, 1986). This is particularly true in two-year public community colleges. Most theories on student departure do not take into account the external forces that impact upon student participation in college. Even Tinto's (1982) interactional theories of departure have some limitation on explaining external community forces. Current forms of interactional theory are neither .;iarucularly well suited to the study of non-residential institutions or of departure among community college students. Neither are they easily adapted to the practical needs of two-year college administrative planners (Tinto, 1986, p. 367). There are two main reasons for this argument: 1) demographic and socio-economic factors relating to community college students are somewhat different than those students attending four-year colleges. That is, on the average, community college students are older, attend part-time more often, do not reside on campus, have lower legrees of goals, have lower high school grades, have more modest financial resources, are employed for more hours, have more family responsibilities, have relatively little interaction with other students outside of class, and are not strongly involved in campus activities (Baird, 1991); 2) external forces, particularly those related to community forces in the immediate geographical environment of the college's service area, are also important in understanding Exploring Retentiona rind Attrition in a Two-Year Public Community College and interpreting the retention and attrition patter' cz at two-year public community colleges. For example, the need for training and retraining of the workforce for business, industry, and governmental agencies within any community college service area changes the social composition of student population, thus requiring different definitions and methodologies to study student departure.