When do students add or drop their courses during a term? By Elizabeth Davies, Sr. Data Analyst Roop Prabhu, Sr. Institutional Research Analyst Golden Gate University

Golden Gate University Private, non-profit, since 1901. Downtown SF 5 schools: Undergraduate Tax Accounting School of Business (MBA, H.R., I.T., Psych, Finance, etc.) Law About 4,000 students About 1/3rd of students take classes solely online. Mixture of cohort/self-paced, international, and military Washington Monthly ranked GGU Best College for Adult Learners Graduation Rates (3-year between 35% and 80%)

Add/Drop Analyses: Analyzing Self-paced Tax, Accounting, Undergrad, MBA, HR, and IT Students, 2014 to 2018

Analyzing Self-paced Tax, Accounting, Undergrad, MBA, HR, and Info Tech Students, 2014 to 2018

Academic Years, Terms, and Sub-terms Fall Term Spring Term Summer Term 16 Week Term Sub-term A Sub-term B Sub-term C Early registration begins ~2 months before the start of the A/B term The last day to drop a course with a refund is 3 weeks into the term (census date) First-terms vs. Second-terms for Self-Paced Students Students’ first term: Mandatory scheduled meeting with enrollment counselor, Path-to-Completion discussed Student’s second term Advisors are there to help students register for courses but students register on their own For this study, add and drop curves were assessed on student’s second-term key courses within specific grad and undergrad programs

Some hypotheses about when and which types of students add or drop during their second term (from the Director of Advising) Both Military and International students add earlier and drop less Online only students add earlier since they have less choice in the classes they can sign up for Tax and Accounting courses are harder to get into earlier so students add earlier and drop less Domestic in-person students add later compared to other groups since they have more course flexibility Students who perform better in their first term register earlier and drop less Students who add earlier and drop earlier graduate more and stop-out less

Methods Add and Drop Analyses (Second Term) From the academic years 2014 to 2018, second term enrollment (add/drop) data were compiled for students in self-paced Tax, Accounting, MBA, HR, IT, and Undergrad in their key second term courses. Graph adds and drops over the term Compute medians and averages Times between adding and dropping a course were computed Regression equations were run assessing whether earliest add date, earliest drop date, or maximum time between adding and dropping were predictive of graduation and stopping out.

Methods—Variables Outcomes Assessed (Course specific) Student Level Add Date Drop Date Days between Adding and Dropping Student Level Race Gender Modality Type (Military/International/Domestic) Age Institution Level Program Acad. year/Term End Statuses Assessed (Student specific) Graduating (AY 2014 to 2016) Stopping Out (AY 2014 to 2017) Course Level Second term course Modality (online/ in-person) First-term Success Data Course pass rate (courses passed/ courses taken)

What are the differences in add and drop behavior by school? Start of term Add-drop Registration over the term looks different for the two graduate groups and the undergraduate group Undergrads and Business Grads drop more courses over the term than Tax & Acct Grads Undergrads register farther in advance There are many more C-term UG courses

What about different student types? Start of term Add-drop Domestic students register for courses primarily in the eight weeks before term Military students register further in advance, likely due to the larger number of undergraduate C term registrations, they also drop courses at a lower rate International students register at the fastest rate in the eight weeks before start of term

Do military and international students add and drop earlier? Student Type Avg. Week Added or Dropped Median Week Added or Dropped Course Registrations Added Domestic -5.84 -7 1,957 Military -6.35 437 International -5.87 388 Total -5.92 2,782 Dropped -0.49 -1 376 -1.36 56 -0.36 1 69 -0.57 501 Grand Total   Military students add and drop courses earlier, international students do not drop earlier.

How does add and drop behavior differ between student types? Domestic, international, and military students add courses peaking in the seventh week before term starts with a smaller bump the week before start for domestic and military students Drops peak for domestic and international students the week term starts, while military students drop the week before Start of term Add-drop

Military students are mostly Undergrads C-term classes are mostly undergraduate level To compare like to like we then assessed only undergrad students

Do undergrad military students drop less? Domestic undergrads drop more classes and continue to drop courses later in term than military undergrads Start of term Add-drop

Do undergrad military students add and drop courses earlier? Military Status Avg. Week Added or Dropped Median Week Added or Dropped Course Registrations Added Domestic -6.23 -6 491 Military -6.42 292 Total -6.30 783 Dropped -0.96 -1 120 -1.86 43 -1.20 163 Grand Total

When do undergraduates add and drop courses? Start of term Add-drop Domestic and military students add courses in peaks at 7 weeks and 1 week before the start of term They also both peak in dropping courses the week before the term starts

Course modality

How does course modality affect adds and drops? Start of term Add-drop In person courses are registered for at the fastest rate 7 to 8 weeks before start of term Online courses are dropped more than in person courses

Are online courses added earlier? Modality Avg. Week Added or Dropped Median Week Added or Dropped Course Registrations Added In Person -6.33 -7 1,440 Online -5.49 -6 1,342 Total -5.93 2,782 Dropped -0.99 -1 226 -0.23 275 -0.57 501 Grand Total No, in person courses are added (and dropped) earlier

Do domestic students register for in person courses later? Status Modality Avg. Week Added or Dropped Median Week Added or Dropped Course Registrations Added Domestic In Person -6.28 -7 947 Online -5.43 -6 1,010 International -6.21 322 -4.20 -5 66 Military -6.85 171 -6.03 266 Total -5.93 2,782 No, they add in person courses earlier (but so do International and Military students)

When do students add and drop online versus in person courses? Start of term Add-drop In person and online courses peak in add seven weeks from the start of term Online courses have another bump the week before term start Online courses are most dropped the week before term starts In person classes are most dropped the week after term starts

How does first term success affect drop behavior? First Term Courses Second Term Measures Fail One or More Pass All Count of Students 92 1,570 Drop at least one 2nd term course 27.2% 22.7% Avg. First Add Day -40.8 -41.7 Avg. First Add Drop Day -44.5 -42.9 Avg. First Drop Days 5.6 -7.0 Median First Add Day -42 -45 Median First Add Drop Day -41 Median First Drop Day 1 -2

Regression Analyses Outcome 1 assessed: Ever graduating (using AY 2014 to AY 2016 second term data) Outcome 2 assessed: Ever stopping out (using AY 2014 to AY 2017 second term data) Each of the above outcomes is regressed against each of the following predictor variables Predictor variable 1: EARLIEST week adding a course in the second term Predictor variable 2: EARLIEST week dropping a course in the second term Predictor variable 3: MAXIMUM time between adding and dropping a specific class All the above predictor variables are adjusted by gender, race, age, and modality All the predictor variable above were highly non-normal, and were all standardized. All odds ratios shown are significant and are based upon standardized predictor variables

Regression Results--Graduation Graduation (Outcome Variable) Data Subcategories Overall Online Only In-Person/Hybrid Military International Domestic Undergraduate Tax Accounting Human Resources MBA Info Tech Adjusted Predictor Variables Week Adding First Course 0.85 0.83   0.79 0.65 0.48 Week Dropping First Course 0.69 0.63 0.70 0.46  0.53 MAXIMUM Days Between Adding and Dropping Courses 0.73 0.50 0.16  0.24 0.01

Regression Results—Stopping Out Stopping Out (Outcome Variable) Data Subcategories Overall Online Only In-Person/Hybrid Military International Domestic Undergraduate Tax Accounting Human Resources MBA Info Tech Adjusted Predictor Variables Week Adding First Course   1.24 1.50 2.12 Week Dropping First Course 1.54 1.75  1.58  1.59 8.60 MAXIMUM Days Between Adding and Dropping Courses 5.08

LOGISTIC REGRESSION RESULTS Predicting Graduation Adding early (as opposed to adding later) was positively correlated with graduation. Significantly in these categories: overall, for online students, domestic students, and for Tax and Accounting students Dropping early (as opposed to dropping later) was positively correlated with graduation Significantly in these categories: overall, for online students, domestic students, and for Undergraduate and Accounting students Shorter times between adding a class and dropping a class was positively correlated with graduation Significantly in these categories: overall, for non-online students, military and domestic students, and for MBA students Predicting Stopping Out For domestic students, adding later was correlated with stopping out Significantly in these categories: for online students, and Tax and Accounting students Dropping later was correlated with stopping out Significantly in these categories: overall, for online students, and for domestic students, and Undergraduate and MBA students Longer times between adding and dropping a class was correlated with stopping out Significantly in these categories: for MBA students

How do our hypotheses hold up? 1. Both Military and International students add earlier and drop less Military students drop less, and add and drop earlier Military UG students add slightly earlier than Domestic UG students, and drop earlier 2. Online students add earlier False. Online courses are added and dropped later than in person courses. 3. Tax and Accounting students add earlier and drop less Tax and Accounting students do add earlier and drop less 4. Domestic in person students add later False. Domestic students add in person courses earlier than online courses. This is true for international and military students as well. 5. Students who perform better in their first term register earlier and drop less Students that pass all first term courses add slightly earlier than those that don’t and they drop fewer courses 6. Students who add earlier and/or drop earlier graduate more and stop-out less This is shown to be true overall. For Graduation: especially for online and domestic students, Tax, Accounting, and Undergrad For Stopping out: especially for online, domestic, and MBA students.

Further Research and Analysis Assess add/drop trends for other programs and/or other courses. Assess key courses individually. Look to see if first four hypotheses are true for first term students For the two hypotheses that are false, investigate why Assess Term Type Assess why shorter times between adding and dropping a class are so predictive of stopping out for MBA students. Seek further questions and feedback from advisors

Future Plan: Talk to Advisors More! Meeting more with advisors Working with advisors as a department is very important. They have huge repositories of qualitative/quantitative data and for hypotheses for research. There is a need to onboard advisors for gathering data. What are some ways you have worked with Advisors/Counselors at your institutions?

Questions? Comments? Thanks!