Student Persistence Through a Different Lens

Abstract

Unlike many earlier models of student persistence that viewed the process of student persistence through the lens of the institution, the model proposed here looks at persistence through the eyes of students. It draws on the research on student motivation, student perceptions, and the impact of student networks on student engagement to propose a model of student persistence that stresses the importance of student perceptions of their engagement with others on campus and the meanings their draw from their engagements to their decisions to stay or leave. In doing so, it argues that to further promote student persistence, institutions should ask how their actions can influence student perceptions and in turn their motivation to learn and persist.