Determinants of Systemic Retention: Implications for Improving Retention Practice in Higher Education

Abstract

Drawing on Tinto's (1987, 1993) theory of student integration, this research examines students who withdrew from their original institution prior to graduation. Of this group, some of the students who withdraw do so to transfer to another institution, and it is reasonable to assume that these students are different in many ways from students who withdraw and do not continue their education. Thus, the purpose of this effort is to provide a better understanding of the characteristics of students who leave their original institution so that intervention strategies can be more carefully targeted to the individual needs of these two groups. Results of the logistic regression analysis concur with some aspects of the existing literature on institutional departure; however, this study of systemic departure differs on several key points. The implications for the findings are then discussed in terms of their impact on the design institutional retention programs.