One of the most complicated challenges facing higher education institutions focuses on their ability to recruit and retain quality students. This challenge takes on added significance for small, private liberal arts colleges and universities that receive little to no external funding from state governments. The recruitment and retention of first…

Community colleges are Black males' primary pathway to higher education. Less than a third of Black males, however, are likely to attain a certificate or degree within 6 years. Although no single intervention can formally improve their academic trajectory, interventions absent of culturally and gender-specific approaches and institutional…

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…

Enrollment levels and retention rates are two institutional factors that have seen a decline in the last five years and more. Previous research has documented the decline attributed to many different reasons. Resource allocations are a significant reason why enrollment levels and retention rates are declining at many higher education institutions.…

Nationally, retaining students in adult basic education (ABE) is an ongoing challenge for numerous programs. The problem is the low retention rates among adult basic education learners in a non-profit ABE program in a large metropolitan city in Georgia. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore how persistence affects student…

Currently, African American male students' persistence rates in four-year colleges are tremendously low in comparison to students of different ethnicities. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the predictability of selected athletic, demographic, and academic factors on the persistence of African American males attending a four-year…

College persistence rates for students with emotional behavioral disorders (EBD) are lower than same age peers. College students with EBD manifesting internalizing behaviors who graduated from one independent northeastern therapeutic high school (INTHS) had low first-year college retention rates despite high college admission rates. The purpose of…

Purpose: This study explores the challenges facing FGCSs and seeks to provide strategies, opportunities, and novel and actionable insights for increasing retention and graduation rates among FGCSs in community colleges during and post the COVID-19 pandemic period. The study further identifies whether and how the COVID-19 pandemic magnified these…

Many students enter postsecondary institutions looking to further their educational endeavors. These students enter at various levels of preparedness, which can affect their learning experiences, with not all first-semester college students entering postsecondary education prepared to face the challenges of college-level work. Students come to…

Institutions of higher education grapple with low retention rates, including community colleges, which have even lower rates. Historically, retention barriers include financial reasons, transportation issues, or lack of motivation. However, investigating the institution's role is also important. Institutional barriers come in the form of…

Institutions of higher education are under pressure from multiple areas to maintain and increase student enrollment. Low enrollment impacts learning opportunities, campus diversity and institutional funding. The problem addressed in this study was the growing attrition rate among first-year college students leading to low enrollment. The purpose…

In spring 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced educational systems to transition into an emergency remote learning modality. This quantitative study compared retention and productive grade rates of two 16-week academic semesters and compared face-to-face (fall 2019) and remote (fall 2020) emergency remote instruction. The study sample was drawn from…

Student services play an essential role in higher education, not only by reducing student dropout rates but also by increasing student retention. This study explored the role of student services in promoting student retention which in turn addresses the problem of college student attrition at a private, non-profit Ugandan university. The purpose…

This study examines the relationship between retention and customer satisfaction at a historically black college and university (HBCU). Using a mix-methods approach, which includes surveys, interviews, and focus groups with first year college students, we analyze the factors that contribute to student satisfaction and the extent to which…

Demand is high for engineering students and educators must identify factors affecting persistence and graduation of engineers. Retention and graduation rates remain problematic for many institutions. Higher education research focuses on these two issues as many students head to engineering programs with a wide range of attributes, characteristics,…