Re-Evaluating the University Attrition Statistic

Abstract

Following up on the transition to university and university persistence, 119 (44 males; 75 females) students who had not graduated (within seven years) from a large, commuter Canadian university were interviewed. ‘Leavers’ were nota homogenous group but could be divided into categories of departure: transferred to another university (29.4%), transferred to college (29.4%), took temporary leave (11.8%), dropped out (20.2%), and put on academic probation (9.2%). Quantitative analyses indicated that transfer and noncontinuing students differed on previously collected measures of achievement and parental reciprocity (Wintre & Yaffe, 2000). Interview data demonstrated that reasons for leaving were more related to mobility, exploration and career paths, characteristics of emerging adulthood, than to negative university experiences. Furthermore, many former students completed their degrees elsewhere, decreasing the previously reported attrition rate from 42.1% to 22.5%.