Persistence Decisions Research Articles

Educational Self-Efficacy of College Women: Implications for Theory, Research, and Practice

As early as the 19th century, federal laws in the United States designated equal educational opportunity for both males and females; however, women still perceived that a woman's place was in the home rather than in secondary schools, colleges, or professions (Kite, 2001). By the mid-19th century, women's academies began to provide women with secondary and college-level instruction. During the early 20th century, the demand for teachers encouraged large numbers of women to participate in higher education. The women's rights movement gained power through the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Title IX Education Amendments of 1972 (U.S. Department of Labor, n.d.), which prohibited gender discrimination in educational institutions receiving federal aid. Indeed, data reported by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES, 2002) indicate that between 1969 and 1999, the number of undergraduate women increased by 156%, from 2.9 million to 7.4 million, whereas the number of men increased only 37%, from 4.0 million to 5.5 million. According to statistics on education (NCES, 2002), there are now more women than men enrolled in institutions of higher education. Despite women's advances in higher education during the past 30 years, women still face psychosocial disadvantages in educational pursuits when compared with men. For instance, women report lower educational self-efficacy, that is, the belief that one can successfully complete specific educational tasks (Bandura, 1997); have lower self-esteem; experience higher academic stress; and often perceive less support for education. For women of color (who remain underrepresented on campuses), these factors are barriers to educational success (Gloria, 1997). Researchers (Gloria & Robinson Kurpius, 2001; Gloria, Robinson Kurpius, Hamilton, & Willson, 1999) have consistently shown that academic stress, self-esteem, and valuing of and commitment to education are predictive of educational self-efficacy, which in turn is a significant predictor of academic persistence decisions. Academic stress is most prevalent during the undergraduate years (Sher, Wood, & Gotham, 1996) when there is also the highest dropout rate (Daugherty & Lane, 1999). A variety of stressors, such as homesickness and financial concerns, have been linked to nonpersistence (Kirton, 1999; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1980). In addition, gender gaps in academic stress repeatedly have been reported. In a study of students attending orientation and the 1st week of classes, women's stress levels were significantly higher than were men's (Reisberg, 2000). Factors contributing to these women's stress were time spent with student activities, child and home care responsibilities, and volunteering. For racial/ethnic minority students, there may be additional stressors of cultural incongruity (Gloria & Robinson Kurpius, 2001; Gloria et al., 1999), or the experience of one's personal culture not seemingly fitting with the university environment culture. For women of color, dual minority status further adds to levels of stress (Ancis & Sanchez-Hucles, 2000). Studying ethnic and racial minority undergraduates, Gloria et al. (1999) reported that students' self-beliefs (self-esteem and educational self-efficacy) were directly related to academic stress and to persisting in school. Other researchers (Robinson Kurpius, Chee, Rayle, & Arredondo, 2003) have also found that both self-esteem and educational self-efficacy are positively related to persistence decisions, to grades and occupational aspirations (Lent, Brown, & Gore, 1997), and to academic achievement and adjustment (Boulter, 2002). In contrast, self-esteem and academic stress have been found to be negatively related with each other (Abouserie, 1994). Furthermore, Newby-Fraser and Schlebusch (1997) reported that academic stress, as well as self-esteem and educational self-efficacy, can be moderated by social support from friends and family. …

Doctoral Student Persistence in Counselor Education Programs: Student-Program Match

The authors present the findings of a qualitative study (N = 33) of doctoral student persistence in counselor education programs accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (2001). Using in-depth interviews with students representing 17 different doctoral programs, the findings revealed factors that influenced students' decisions to persist or leave their counselor education doctoral programs. A key determinant in attrition or persistence decisions was a match between the students' goals/expectations and the faculty members' expectations and goals for the program. Implications of the findings for program selection, recruiting, and student retention are discussed.

Diversity, College Costs, and Postsecondary Opportunity: An Examination of the Financial Nexus between College Choice and Persistence for African Americans and Whites

Questions about how student financial aid and the costs of attending college influence educational opportunity for diverse racial groups have lurked beneath the surface of the policy debates about higher education for decades. When the Higher Education Act (HEA) was passed in 1965, there was a general acceptance that the federal government had a role to play in equalizing educational opportunity. At that time, the civil rights of African Americans were a concern of the majority of Americans, as evidenced by the many Great Society programs of the period. However, since 1980, the federal commitment to need-based grants has contracted as a result of shifting political priorities (McPherson & Schapiro, 1991), if not as a result of a breakdown in the old consensus about equal opportunity. More recently, the federal courts have narrowed the acceptable remedies in desegregation litigation (St. John & Hossler, 1998) and have brought race into question as an explicit consideration in the awarding of student aid (Strope & Wells, 1998). In this context, it is vital that we begin to build a better understanding of the relationship between the costs of college, student financial aid, and the postsecondary opportunities for racially diverse groups. However, the analysis of the effects of prices and student aid is complicated by a broad critique of the old progressive assumptions. On the one hand, some economists continue to raise questions about the efficacy of student aid (Kane, 1995). Indeed, this line of inquiry has led some to question whether states and the federal government should invest more in student financial aid, even after decades of decline in grant aid (Heller, 1997; St. John, 2003b). In contrast, other economists and higher education researchers, along with cultural-capital theorists, have begun to question some of the basic assumptions behind this position (McDonough, Korn, & Yamasaki, 1997; Paulsen, 2001a, 2001b; St. John & Paulsen, 2001). These newer perspectives offer a different vantage point from which to critique the new direction of public policy in higher education (e.g., decline in affirmative action, merit-based over need-based aid, loans over grant aid), but they do little to combat the decline in federal and state student aid. This article examines the role of the costs of college and student financial aid in promoting postsecondary opportunity for diverse groups. First, we examine theory and research that might inform an assessment of the effects of student financial aid on the educational opportunities for diverse racial groups. Then we describe our methods and present the findings. We used the financial-nexus model (Paulsen & St. John, 2002; St. John, Paulsen, & Starkey, 1996) to assess the effects of student financial aid on college choice and persistence by African Americans and Whites. Finally, based on these analyses, we consider the understanding of the relationship between financial aid and the educational opportunities of diverse racial groups that emerges from this study. Background Previous studies of the financial nexus have examined all students enrolled as undergraduates (St. John, Paulsen, & Starkey, 1996), students enrolled in public colleges compared to students in private colleges (Paulsen & St. John, 1997), and students across income groups (Paulsen & St. John, 2002). This study completes the full set of nexus studies on diverse groups of students enrolled in 1986-1987, by comparing how financial choices made by Whites and African Americans influenced their persistence. Given the age of this data, it is important to reconsider persistence by these populations, an issue we discuss after reviewing our logical approach. The Logical Approach Researchers have started examining the ways perceptions of financial factors (i.e., college costs and student aid) formed in the enrollment process influence eventual persistence decisions. …

The Fallacy of 'Only the Strong Survive': The Effects of Extrinsic Motivation on the Persistence Decisions of Underperforming Firms

According to economic theory, under-performing firms should be selected out of the market. However, research shows that these firms persist, often for long periods of time. In this article we explore the non-firm-performance factors that contribute to the decision to persist with an under-performing firm. Using the escalation of commitment literature we identify seven variables that are associated with the persistence decision: Personal sunk costs, personal opportunities, previous organizational success, perceived collective efficacy, environmental complexity, dynamism and munificence. We reconcile the economic and psychological views by finding that the extent to which some of these non-firm-performance factors influence the persistence decision is, in part, dependent upon the owner-managers' level of extrinsic motivation.

Effects of Coping Styles on College Persistence Decisions among Latino Students in Two Year Colleges

Despite a high college dropout rate for Latino students, much remains unknown about college persistence decisions of these students. The present study examined the influence of stress management styles on college persistence decisions of Latino students. The Persistence/Voluntary Dropout Decisions Scale and the Cope Inventory were administered to 111 students enrolled in two-year colleges. Results of this study identified different types of persistence decisions for Latino students and showed how they were positively versus negatively associated with specific dispositional coping styles. Ways to enhance the college retention of Latino students were discussed.

Environmental, Social, and Psychological Experiences of Asian American Undergraduates: Examining Issues of Academic Persistence

A total of 160 Asian Americans (55 Chinese, 13 Filipino, 27 Japanese, 32 Korean, 15 Pacific Islander, and 18 Vietnamese) completed a series of standardized instruments assessing their environmental, social, and psychological experiences as undergraduates. The purpose of this study was threefold: to provide a composite of student experiences; to investigate the interrelationships of comfort in the university environment, social support, and self‐beliefs; and to examine the influence of these constructs on the academic persistence decisions of Asian American undergraduates. Overall, social support variables were the strongest predictors of academic persistence. Research‐derived implications for university personnel and professional counselors are provided.

Social Class and College Costs: Examining the Financial Nexus Between College Choice and Persistence

During the past two decades there have been fundamental changes in the ways states and the federal government finance higher education (McPherson & Schapiro, 1998; Mumper, 1996; Paulsen, 1998; Paulsen & Smart, 2001; St. John, 1994). The federal government has shifted from using grants as the primary means of promoting postsecondary opportunity to using loans for this purpose. Decreases in state support for public colleges and universities have led to increases in tuition charges, which have shifted a larger portion of the burden of paying for college from the general public to students and their families (Breneman & Finney, 1997; Mumper, 1996; Paulsen, 1991, 2000). Thus, the last two decades of the twentieth century can appropriately be characterized as a period of high tuition, high aid, but with an emphasis on loans rather than grants. How have these changes in the costs of college influenced the opportunities of students in different income groups to attain a higher education? To address this question we examined the ways that college costs affect the college-choice and persistence decisions of students in four different income groups. The idea that research on college students should focus on social class represents a departure from mainstream research on college students, which focuses primarily on students of traditional college-going age and background (Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991) and is centered in traditional values. This study extends an alternative approach to the study of college students based on the student-choice construct that has evolved over the past decade (Paulsen & St. John, 1997; St. John, 1994; St. John, Paulsen, & Starkey, 1996). The new approach presented in this study explicitly addresses the diverse patterns of student choice in its examination of the ways in which the effects of financial factors on students' choices differ across social classes. To provide background for this study, the following sections present the student-choice perspective that guides the study, describe the salient features of the financial nexus between college choice and persistence decisions, and explain why a focus on social class is an important step in efforts to understand the role of finances in student choice. The Research Literature and Conceptual Framework that Inform the Study The Student Choice Perspective Research on college students has been dominated by the research traditions of developmental and change theories (Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991). These research traditions are primarily centered in the values of students of traditional college-going age and background and neither can be easily adapted to the study of the new, contemporary college aspirants, who are increasingly diverse in terms of age, ethnicity, and socioeconomic background. It is important to reflect briefly on the limitations of these traditional approaches before presenting student-choice theory as an alternative. The limitations of traditional models. One of the dominant traditions in college student research is student development theory (Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991), which started with the study of students of traditional college-going age and background (e.g., Chickering, 1969; Perry, 1970). This approach was highly compatible with the characteristics and experiences of traditional students, but is not directly applicable to the college experiences of many of the new aspirants to college, an increasingly-large proportion of whom are minorities and older students. Minority students have different backgrounds and experiences before they attend college, compared to the middle-class students who were used as a basis for the developmental theories, while older students have already experienced and passed through many of the developmental sequences that are the focus of traditional stage theories of development. Developmental theory is also limited because it has few direct linkages to matters of public policy. …

What Influences Student Persistence At Two-Year Colleges?

The Higher Education Act of 1992 increased the availability of student loan funds dramatically. Using the National Student Postsecondary Aid Study, this study examines the difference in effects of background, achievement and aspiration, college experience, price variables, and accumulated debt in 1993 as compared to 1996 on student persistence decisions. In contrast with previous studies using NPSAS:87, the authors find that there is more financial aid available, albeit in the form of loans. Current year subsidies are positively associated with persistence, but the opposite is true for accumulated debt, except for higher debt levels in 1996. The authors provide context and explanation for these findings.

Tuition, Financial Aid, Debt, and Dental Student Attrition

The 1993 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:93) was used to develop a model of dental student within-year persistence that examines the influence of three price and price subsidies (financial aid, tuition, and debt) variations on the probability of within-year persistence of dental students. Results indicate that the amount of financial aid received by dental students may be meeting their immediate financial needs as tuition is charged from one semester to the next. However, debt, a measure of longer-term and accumulative financial burden incurred beginning with undergraduate preparation, may have an intervening influence on the probability of within-year persistence. When considering both debt and tuition costs, the effect of financial aid is reduced considerably. While tuition increases do not appear to have a negative impact on current year persistence decisions, the significant negative coefficient for debt (p < . OS) may indicate that there is a limit to the cumulative debt that a student is willing to assume. By assuming increasingly more debt, dental students are putting themselves at significant risk for dropping or stopping out.

A Comparison of the Influence of Debtload on the Persistence of Students at Public and Private Colleges

This study used the National Postsecondary Student Aid Survey (NPSAS:87 and NPSAS:93) to examine how debtload influences undergraduate persistence decisions at both public and private colleges. Tuition prices continued to have a significant negative effect on persistence; however, that effect decreased from 198 7 to 1993 in all cases. At every level, private school students were more sensitive to the effects of debtload than public school students. This finding was especially significant in the 1993 model.

Factors affecting student retention probabilities: A case study

A comprehensive model of retention based on Tinto’s goal commitment and institutional commitment combined with financial considerations is evaluated for the case of an urban public university enrolling large numbers of non-traditional students. The model was evaluated using data from all freshman and sophomore students over the years 1989–1992. White and minority students were also analyzed separately to determine if there were different sensitivities to various enrollment factors. Academic and social integration factors were found to be the most significant factors in persistence in these years. Financial considerations were of less importance in the persistence decision.

The Validation of the Cultural Congruity Scale and the University Environment Scale with Chicano/a Students

The purpose of this study was to develop, pilot, and validate two measures theoretically relevant to the persistence of Chicano/a students in institutions of higher education. Two scales, the Cultural Congruity Scale (CCS) and the University Environment Scale (UES), were developed and tested. The scales were piloted and then administered to 454 Chicano/a undergraduates at two large southwestern universities. Strong internal consistencies were found for both scales. When used in regression equations, both scales were significant predictors of academic persistence decisions. Implications for counseling psychologists, university faculty and staff and others within the university setting are discussed.

Differential impacts of academic and social experiences on college-related behavioral outcomes across different ethnic and gender groups at four-year institutions

The results of the study indicated that institutional experiences, academic achievement, and environmental pull factors contributed the most to persistence decisions. Furthermore, analyses revealed that differences in the effects of these factors for different ethnic and gender groups were important in explaining persistence decisions. No precollege factors (educational aspirations, prior academic achievement, attitudes toward learning, and support and encouragement to attend college) were found to improve the overall fit of the models for any of the groups in the study. For minorities, the biggest detrimental effects on dropout behavior were derived from pull factors in the form of family responsibilities and working off-campus. No significant positive effects from informal and formal interactions with faculty, close personal relationships with peers, and academic experiences during their first year in college were found to negate the large negative influences from the pull factors. For females, the most significant positive effect on college persistence came from mentoring experiences in the form of nonclassroom interactions with faculty.

The nexus between college choice and persistence

Initial student commitments have long been considered an influence on persistence, but the reasons why students choose to attend a college have seldom been considered as dimensions of initial commitments that could influence persistence processes and outcomes. This study used NPSAS-87 to examine the influence of finance-related reasons for choosing a college on persistence decisions. The findings include (1) finance-related choices have direct and indirect influences on whether students persist in college; and (2) market-based, monetary measures of financial aid, tuition costs, housing costs, and other living costs have a substantial direct effect on persistence.

The Role of Perceptions of Prejudice and Discrimination on the Adjustment of Minority Students to College

College participation by minority students declined in the middle 1980s following a period of sustained growth [21]. This trend was particularly evident among African Americans and Hispanics [46] who exhibited both the lowest participation rates as well as the highest propensity to drop out from college. Porter's [45] analyses of the high-school senior class of 1980, for instance, revealed that Hispanic college students were 13 percent more prone to withdraw from college than were white students, whereas African American college students were 22 percent more likely to drop out than their white counterparts over a six-year period. These low persistence rates (even over extended periods of enrollment in college) are particularly troublesome from a policy perspective given the relationship that the attainment of a bachelor's degree has on subsequent occupational and economic attainment [44]. Several reasons have been advanced to account for these trends. Hauser and Anderson [21] explored the extent to which declines in college participation rates could be attributed to changes in college aspirations as well as to changes in high-school completion rates among African Americans. After analyzing college aspiration trends for both minorities and nonminorities over a period of thirty years and taking into account high-school completion rates and indicators of socioeconomic status, Hauser and Anderson could not find support for this hypothesis. Other researchers have speculated that the decline could be attributed to changes in the composition of federal assistance and to patterns of financing higher education exhibited by minority students. Porter [45] noted that declines in minorities' college participation rates correlated with the growth of student loans at the expense of grants. Olivas [41], Mortenson and Wu [31], and Mortenson [30] observed that African American and Hispanic students were less willing to go into debt to finance their college education than were white students. Moreover, Ekstrom [19] helped to establish and test the proposition that students willing to go into debt to finance their education were more likely to enroll and persist in college. An alternative explanation to the role of finances in the persistence process has stressed the influence of academic preparation for college. Tinto [56] argued that overall differences in persistence rates between minorities and nonminorities were primarily due to differences in their academic preparedness rather than differences in their socioeconomic backgrounds. Tinto further contended that these ability differences arise from prior educational experiences at the elementary and secondary educational levels which tend to favor the educational achievement of nonminorities relative to minorities. Some degree of support has been given to this hypothesis. St. John, Kirshstein, and Noell [50], for instance, reported that the effects of ethnicity disappeared once academic preparation for college was taken into account for the high-school class of 1980. The proposition that a lack of adjustment to predominantly white institutions and that perceptions of prejudice (racial climate) may lower the quality of college experiences of minority students has emerged as a competing explanation for the differences in persistence rates between minority and nonminority college students [for example, 1, 18, 23, 24, 28, 34, 35, 36, 53]. Fleming [18], in particular, has argued that adjustment problems with the curriculum, lack of support services, financial problems and the nature of interpersonal relationships with faculty, peers and academic staff are some of the experiences that negatively impact minority students attending predominantly white institutions. Likewise, Tracey and Sedlacek [57, 58, 59] have contended that noncognitive factors (that is, self-concept, an understanding of racism, and the ability to cope with it) play a more critical role in shaping academic performance in college and persistence decisions among minority students than do cognitive factors such as academic ability and study habits. …

An Alternative to Net Price

The theory of net price, as it applies to student demand for higher education, has become a problematic concept for administrators and policy makers. On the one hand, economic theory on higher education holds that students respond to a single net price [15]. On the other hand, enrollments do not fluctuate with changes in net price, which may influence some policy makers in institutions and government agencies to ignore the impact on enrollments of their pricing decisions. However, there is a growing body of research that suggests that students respond to both prices and price subsidies in their first-time enrollment [24, 34] and persistence decisions [1, 25, 32]. In this article we critically examine the applicability of net-price theory to higher education finance. Specifically, we examine the assumptions of the traditional net-price theory and of an emerging alternative approach to assessing the relationship between prices and student enrollment decisions. First, in a background section we summarize the origins of net-price theory and its uses in higher education finance, consider the emergence of an alternative differentiated pricing concept, and identify the assumptions of both positions. Second, we compare multiple ways of specifying prices for analyses of their effects on persistence. Third, we use the analysis to test both sets of assumptions and consider the implications of the findings. 1. Alternative Approaches to Price Response Over time, a theory of net price has evolved that has provided a foundation for government financing strategies and institutional pricing in higher education. In this section of the article we consider the origins of net-price theory and its application in higher education policy and the emergence of an alternative way of conceptualizing the relationship between prices and student enrollment decisions and compare the assumptions of both ways of viewing the relationship between prices and persistence. The Traditional Approach The concept of net price is embedded in human capital theory, which is integral to most public finance strategies in higher education. In Human Capital Theory, Gary Becker [2, p. 107] argued: Generally, the most important cause of differences in opportunities [to attend postsecondary education] is the availability of funds. He further argued that scholarships and loans are for accessibility. Thus the assumptions that students respond to a single net price and that reductions in net price for some populations can improve access were embedded in the original conceptualization of human capital theory. The Higher Education Act of 1965, enacted about the time Becker's book was first published, included major new loan and grant programs aimed at increasing access to higher education by providing new funds to students with financial need. The student-demand studies conducted in the early 1970s [for example, 3, 23] carried forward the assumption that students respond to net price [18]. The reviews of these studies generally concluded that low-income students were more price responsive to tuition than high-income students [15, 18]. Starting in the early 1970s, a series of planning models was developed so that the federal government and the states could assess the relative tradeoffs between funding institutions (thus providing a tuition subsidy for everyone who attends public institutions) and funding need-based student aid programs (thus reducing prices for those who were thought to be the most price responsive) [11, 21]. These planning models, which used price-response coefficients derived from the early student-demand studies, carried forward the net-price assumptions. Although these early attempts to assess financing strategies by using student price response were criticized [for example, 4, 18], it was not possible to construct an alternative means for estimating the effects of other financing strategies, because the extant price-response coefficients were developed for a single price. …

The influence of prices on graduate student persistence

The topic of how prices influence graduate student persistence has seldom been examined. Using the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study of 1987 to examine the influence of prices on within-year persistence by graduate students, this analysis indicates that graduate students, especially those enrolled in public institutions, are responsive to tuition charges in their persistence decisions. The major implication of this finding is that universities should examine the potential impact of price changes on graduate student persistence when they consider tuition increases each year.

College Persistence

Although several theories have been advanced to explain the college persistence process |6, 44, 45, 50, 52~, only two theories have provided a comprehensive framework on college departure decisions. These two theoretical frameworks are Tinto's |50, 52~ Student Integration Model and Bean's |7~ Student Attrition Model. A review of the literature indicates that the Student Integration Model, for instance, has prompted a steady line of research expanding over a decade |see, for example, 37, 42, 30, 35, 24, 46, 18~. This research has validated Tinto's model across different types of institutions with differing student populations. In turn, the Student Attrition Model |4, 5, 6, 7, 10~ has also been proven to be valid in explaining student persistence behavior at traditional institutions |3, 4, 6, 7, 10, 18~, while modifications to the model have been incorporated to explain the persistence process among nontraditional students |9, 26~. Insofar as the two theories have attempted to explain the same phenomenon, no efforts have been made to examine the extent to which the two models can be merged to enhance our understanding of the process that affects students' decisions to remain in college. However, Cabrera, Castaneda, Nora, and Hengstler |18~ have provided evidence that there is considerable overlap between the two theoretical frameworks. Taking these findings one step further, this study attempts to document the extent to which these two theories can be merged in explaining students' persistence decisions by simultaneously testing all non-overlapping propositions underlying both conceptual frameworks. Theoretical Framework Student Integration Theory Building on Spady's |44, 45~ work, Tinto |50, 51, 52~ advanced a model of student departure that explains the process that motivates individuals to leave colleges and universities before graduating. Tinto's theory attributes attrition to the lack of congruency between students and institutions. Tinto's theory basically asserts that the matching between the student's motivation and academic ability and the institution's academic and social characteristics help shape two underlying commitments: commitment to an educational goal and commitment to remain with the institution. Accordingly, the higher the goal of college completion and/or the level of institutional commitment, the greater is the probability of persisting in college. The Student Integration Model has been subjected to considerable testing, and research findings have largely supported the predictive validity of the model as far as the role of precollege variables is concerned |37, 38~. Results are mixed, however, when the structural relations that the theory presumes to exist among academic integration, social integration, and institutional and goal commitments are subjected to empirical testing |14, 28, 30, 33, 39, 40, 36, 41, 46, 47~. Although contradictory findings have been attributed to type of institution, gender, ethnicity, and inconsistencies on the measurement of the constructs |19, 35, 31~, these mixed results can also be attributed to the lack of control for variables external to the institution. A major gap in Tinto's theory and allied research has been the role of external factors in shaping perceptions, commitments, and preferences |7~. This topic is particularly relevant from both a policy analysis and an institutional perspective, given the different social and institutional programs aimed at stimulating enrollment and preventing attrition by addressing variables other than institutional ones (that is, ability to pay, parental support). In spite of this limitation, researchers have found that the Student Integration Model is useful in exploring the role of such external factors as significant other's influence |30, 35, 19~ and finances |15, 19, 24, 30~. Student Attrition Model Over the years, Bean |3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8~ has advanced an alternative model to explain the college persistence process. …

Price response in persistence decisions: An analysis of the high school and beyond senior cohort

It is well established in the research literature that student financial aid has a positive influence on year-to-year persistence. However, there has been no prior research on price responsiveness in persistence decisions. This article examines the influence of the amounts of student financial aid received and tuition charged on year-to-year persistence by college students in the high school class of 1980. The principal finding is that the persistence decisions of college students in the early 1980s were more responsive to increases in student aid than to tuition increases. This finding suggests that persistence rates can be improved if institutions increase need-based aid for currently enrolled students when tuition is increased each year, or if government student aid increases over the levels provided in the 1980s.

Predicting freshman persistence and voluntary dropout decisions: A replication

This paper describes the results of a replication of a study testing the predictive validity of a 34-item instrument designed to assess the fundamental constructs of Tinto's model of college student attrition. A design, variables, and analytical procedures virtually identical to those of the original study (done at a large independent university) were used, and this research was conducted at a large public university. The five-factor structure, found in the original study to underlie the 34 items, was replicated almost exactly. As in the earlier work, the Institutional and Goal Commitment Scale was a significant predictor of attendance behavior even after controlling for a variety of students' precollege characteristics. Potential institutional differences in faculty members' influence on retention were identified. A cross-validation classification procedure suggests the five factors are reasonably stable predictors of attrition.