THE RELATION OF SELECTED PERSONAL, ENVIRONMENTAL, AND ACADEMIC CHARACTERISTICS TO STUDENT PERSISTENCE IN DIFFERENT TYPES OF INSTITUTIONS.

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between ten selected characteristics and persistence in different types of four-year institutions. The characteristics examined were divided into three separate clusters: personal (sex, race, religion), environmental (socioeconomic status, parents' educational level, number of children in the family), and academic (aptitude, high-school grades, size, and program). The data were extracted from the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972. The Carnegie classification was used to segregate four-year institutions of higher education into six major categories. Persistence in higher education was defined and examined in two different ways. In the first instance a persister was a student who enrolled in a particular institution in the fall of 1972 and graduated or continued his/her enrollment in the same type of institution according to the Carnegie classification on a full- or part-time basis through the fall of 1976. In the second instance a transfer student was defined as a student who persisted over the four-year period but moved his/her enrollment to an institution in other than the original Carnegie classification. First, data were gathered to examine the rates of student persistence. The resulting information was presented in tabular format. The second objective focused on the analysis of the relationship of the selected characteristics with persistence among and within the six classifications of institutions. The relationship of the selected characteristics and the distribution of persisting students among the six categories were analyzed. Different types of college-attendance patterns (persist, transfer, dropout) were isolated. These groups were compared using chi-square to determine significance of the comparisons. The findings were highlighted by the following statements. The recruitment and retention of black students in Research and Doctoral-Granting Universities were found ineffective. There was little difference between males and females in overall persistence rates. An association existed between religion and persistence in certain types of institutions illustrated by a strong overall persistence rate for Jewish students. High socioeconomic status students had a greater opportunity at institutional mobility by transferring into other classifications and then persisting in larger proportions than students in the low and medium range. As parental education levels increased so did the persistence rates of offspring. Aptitude and high-school grades were found strongly associated with persistence, however, different patterns were found in different institutional classifications.