College Freshmen’S Motives for Going to College and Academic Achievement

Abstract

INSTITUTIONS OF higher learning are con fronted with the task of accommodating qualified stu dents who, in increasing numbers, wish to be ad mitted (7,11). This task is quite formidable in view of the difficulty to select, fairly and efficiently, from among many applicants those who seem best qualified to profit from advanced training (2). More over, it is noted that the attrition rate of college students is distressingly high (6) and that many stu dents who remain in college are underachieving (5, 12). Research in the area of college admission traditionally has focused on relating intellective predictors to intellective criteria but has recently included the consideration of non-intellective pre dictors and their relationship to intellective and/or non-intellective criteria (2). For instance, student perceptions of college (14), motivation for going and remaining in college (3,10), and psychological needs of college freshmen (8) are some of the fac tors which significantly predict academic achieve ment and/or persistence in college (13). The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which qualitative differences in fresh men's motives for going to college are related to their academic achievement, based on instructors' estimates.