Student Retention in Higher Education: Why Students Choose to Remain at University

Abstract

This research captured the voices of 578 current university students investigating whether they have considered leaving university without completing their studies, what caused them to consider leaving their studies, and explored the reasons that led them to stay. The majority of participants had considered leaving university without completing their course. Multiple factors contributed to this consideration, with family commitments, financial strain, time management, expected study load, and work commitments cited most frequently. Similarly, multiple factors influenced participants’ decision to stay at university, with students’ commitment to achieving personal and career goals, and social support received cited most frequently. Thus, for the majority of participants there were multiple factors that caused them to consider leaving university and there were multiple factors contributing to their decision to stay. This novel research contributes to the limited amount of literature that explores the reasons students stay at university despite experiencing multiple challenges.