Higher education has established a historical base of research related to college student retention. This essay examines research especially focused on the retention of community college students who have been underrepresented in the literature (Fong et al., 2017). Retention equates to success. The essay reviews developmental instruction,…

College student retention is an important concept in higher education. For individuals, college retention translates to earning a degree, and for institutions, it translates to maintaining revenue. Many factors put college students at risk for withdrawing from college, including being a student from Appalachia, being considered a first-generation…

In a study exploring how organizational identification impacted college retention and performance outcomes at a university in the United States, we found the mere act of taking the survey emerged as an unexpectedly strong result. Using propensity score matching, we found that those who took the voluntary survey during the first week of school were…

Why do college students persist with their education, especially when facing challenges? We answer this question by exploring the complexities surrounding college student retention, using the organizational research lenses of job embeddedness, normative pressures, and the unfolding model of turnover. We first developed a college embeddedness scale…

The Ascender program was created in 2012 by Catch the Next Inc., to address the challenges of increasing community college retention and transfer rates, especially among Latinx students in developmental education. This study looks at the experiences of participants in this program and how it provided validating experiences and fostered their…

College student retention theorists have suggested that improving students' financial literacy may improve student retention and completion rates. Before this important line of inquiry can be thoroughly examined, it is first important to understand if and how major state universities in the United States currently provide students with financial…

This paper explores the factors of freshman year college retention by using a unique data set tracking the participation of a cohort of 1,800 students in a public state college system through 2011 from their freshman enrollment at a community college in 2006. The focus is on prevalent factors in the college retention literature, including…

This longitudinal study examined the relationship between two content formats of the basic communication course (BCC) and first-year college student retention over a 4-year period (N = 5,653). Chi-square and logistic regression models indicated students who completed the BCC were more likely to be retained than those who did not complete the BCC.…

This article describes a revision of a first-year writing program curriculum using the pillars of the Reimagining the First-Year Program. The authors adapted principles related to mindset and habits of mind from both college retention scholarship and composition scholarship. After developing a research project in order to understand what elements…

The purpose of this qualitative investigation was to discover personal reasons Millennial college freshmen, between the ages of 18-20, stated as obstacles to college retention. Fourteen students from a private college in the Midwest were selected to participate in an interview process. These students were asked a series of open-ended questions…

This qualitative case study focused on the perceptions of challenges and experiences of African American males who attended community college and participated in mentoring programs. Involvement in a mentoring program can help African American males develop a greater sense of racial identity and increase commitment to achieving the academic goals…

Theoretically grounded in Tinto's model of retention and Braxton and colleagues' revisions , this study is designed to examine the applicability of the integration model to students of different racial backgrounds. Results from a sample of full-time undergraduate students at a research-extensive university suggest that (a) academic and social…

College student adjustment, success, and retention have been a focus of college administrators and student development professionals for decades. However, national college retention and graduation statistics are typically focused on full-time residential college populations. The purpose of the current study was to examine more closely the…

American Indian and Alaska Native students experience the lowest rates of college retention and graduation at four-year institutions in the United States. They often face a variety of barriers to completing their education that may be similar to other ethnic groups while also overcoming obstacles that are culturally specific. However, AIAN…

Although a significant amount of research has been invested in examining various retention theories, a limited amount of research exists regarding Bible colleges, particularly in relation to retention. While Bible colleges are a niche within the Higher Education sector, they serve an important function of training ministry leaders who have…