The Effects of Part-Time Faculty on First Semester Freshmen Retention: A Predictive Model Using Logistic Regression

Abstract

Part-time faculty clearly serve a valuable purpose in higher education; however, their increased use raises concerns for administrators, faculty, and policy makers. Part-time faculty members spend a greater proportion of their overall time teaching, but the initial evidence suggests that these instructors are less available to students and are less engaged with the campus environment. Recent research attempts to connect part-time faculty utilization to student outcomes. This study explored the effects of exposure to part-time faculty instruction on student retention. Typical first-year students entering the study institution between 1999 and 2003 received over one-quarter of their total first-year instruction from part-time faculty. Furthermore, results show that as exposure to part-time faculty instruction increases, the odds of being retained decrease. Because the use of part-time faculty varies based on institutional type, additional research should focus on diverse institutional settings.