High Risk Factors for Retention Freshman Year Experience Review of the Literature Review of Preliminary Data

Strategy team:  Dr. Conley Winebarger  Bill Harris  Rhoda Bliese

What does the national data say about the risk factors for dropping out of college?  The U.S. Department of Education National Center for Educational Statistics lists seven risk factors.  We will consider each of them.

Risk factor #1:  Being an independent student  Independent students receive little or no financial assistance from their parents  Often, they have dependents themselves and are more likely to work full time.

Dependent students  Dependent students receive the bulk of their financial support from their parents  Across all income categories, dependent students fare better than independent students in persistence.

Why do dependent student persist?  Dependent students usually have two support systems: Financial support from parents Emotional support from family

Risk factor #2:  Students who work full time are at greater risk of dropping out of college.  Regardless of income, students working full time were less likely to be retained.

Risk Factors #3 and #4:  Having dependents, particularly being a single parent  Nearly three out of four low- income independent students are supporting dependents

Risk factor #5:  Delaying entrance to college after high school This often translates to a lowered “intent to get a degree.”

Risk Factor #6:  Not having a traditional high school diploma They may have a GED, “modified” diploma, or no diploma at all.  This usually translates into the student being underprepared for college.

Risk factor #7:  Attending college part time

Literature on Income and Persistence  Many studies indicated the strong connection between income and persistence.  Students from the lowest income category were three times less likely to gain a Bachelor’s Degree than middle income students, and six times less likely to receive a Bachelor’s Degree than high income students.

 Low income was strongly correlated with parental education and whether the student was a minority.  As parental education increased, the percentage of low income decreased.

 Low income students are less likely to persist to graduation than middle income students, even when other factors such as family background and GPA are controlled.

Financial Aid and Persistence  All of the financial aid programs had a positive effect on persistence.  Work study students have the greatest likelihood of within-year persistence  However, students at the lowest level of income, receiving the greatest amount of financial aid, were still more likely to drop out.  It is suggested that these students had a greater amount of unmet need than was covered by the financial aid.

Persistence in Two-Year Colleges  For two-year colleges, the best predictor of persistence is an interaction between Whether the student is committed to the goal of attaining a degree, and High school GPA.

Putting the pieces together:  Who is likely to drop out?  Students who are not committed to the goal of a college degree  Students with lower high school GPA’s  Low income students, particularly those living independently and having dependents themselves  Students who work full time  Part-time students

Freshman Year Experience  The most important fact to come from the literature on the Freshman Year Experience is that there must be a carefully coordinated, organized, integrated freshman program.

Start with Demographic Data  Gather demographic data on characteristics of students who are at risk at MECC.  Then, develop processes for identifying individual students at risk.  Then, develop specific strategies for working with students who have been identified as being at risk.

Draw data and intervene at three times in the semester:  First, do an admission’s survey prior to registration.  The results of the survey should set in motion a series of steps designed to help at-risk students make a successful transition to college.

Second intervention point:  After the last day for drop/add, identify students who have registered who are at greatest risk.  Do intrusive advising or counseling with those students.

Third intervention point:  At the end of the semester, identify students whose grades put them at risk for returning.  Develop interventions to work with those students.

Freshman Orientation Class  Another key factor in a coordinated Freshman Year Experience is a strong, semester-long, project-based Freshman Orientation class.

Key aspects of Freshman Orientation:  It should offer opportunities for the students to work together and share ideas, discussing campus issues.  It should give students access to several caring faculty, staff members, and sophomore student mentors--not just the class instructor.  It should have a strong career development aspect.

Other key aspects of the Freshman Year Experience:  Effective advising  Instructional strategies for involving the students, such as Learning Communities  Targeted learning support for classes that register a high number of freshmen students

Preliminary data on MECC students:  Initial data was collected related to four factors:  % of successful and unsuccessful students in these categories: Age Income Gender Level of Preparedness

Level of preparedness is defined as how far removed the developmental course is from a standard college-level math or English course in his/her program.  In the following charts, “one below,” “two below,” or “three below” indicates the gap between the developmental placement and the required college-level course.

How did we define success?  Successful students received grades of A, B, C, D, S, or R.  Unsuccessful students received grades of F, U, or W.

MECC age data closely matches national data.  Students who delay their entry into MECC tend to be less successful than students who enroll directly out of high school.  This is particularly true in math.

There is less age effect in English.

MECC income data in developmental classes matches national data.  Developmental students with lower incomes are less successful than students with higher incomes.  The chart at left is a typical example. The effect is true for all developmental math and English courses.

There is little or no income effect if students test directly into college math or English. o This is a key finding: o If a student is well prepared for college, income has little effect.  It is the poorly- prepared, low- income student who is at greatest risk.

Males tended to be more successful in higher level developmental math courses, such as Algebra I and II.

Females are more successful at the lowest levels in English and math.

 If you would like more information on this presentation, please contact any of the strategy team members:  Conley Winebarger  Bill Harris  Rhoda Bliese