COLLEGE STUDENT RETENTION

College Student Retention

College Student Retention

College student retention continues to be a concern to colleges and universities. When students leave college prematurely, they can lose self-esteem and confidence in their abilities. They may not realize the real reasons for their departure and see it as a life failure. Students need to be able to complete programs that they are interested in pursuing. Students who are recruited and admitted to a college should have a reasonable expectation that programs and services will provide them with an opportunity for success. (Ogbu and Simons, 1998)

Racial and Ethnic Minorities

The at-risk population is growing at a far more rapid rate than the rest of the U.S. population. Still, the actual number of at-risk students varies depending on what proxies we use as indicators (Levin, 1989). One growth estimate is based on the increase in the size of the U.S. minority population. From 1970 to 1980, U.S. public school population from the pre-primary level to the twelfth grade declined from 46 million to 41 million, and during that same period the minority student enrollment increased 9.5 million to 11 million (MacLeod, 1987). In the subsequent 2 decades, the minority proportion of public school enrollment has increased even more, with schools in central city areas experiencing the most growth. In 2004, racial and ethnic minorities made up 42% of public prekindergarten through twelfth-grade enrollments, while their overall proportion in the U.S. population is only about 33% (National Center for Educational Statistics [NCES], 2007). Projections indicate that by 2020, these racial and ethnic minority groups will represent 39% of the total population, though some predict that they will constitute almost half of the population (Levin, 1989). Thus, minority students are disproportionately represented in public schools. (Levin, 1989)

Poor or Low-Income Students

Poverty status is another indicator of being “at risk” in school, because poverty is known to influence a child's mental, behavioral, and educational development (Duncan, Brooks-Gunn, & Klebanov, 1994). About 16% of all families with children under 18 residing in the United States live in poverty. Furthermore, poverty intersects with race and ethnicity; certain racial and ethnic minority groups are more likely to live below the poverty line. Overall, the percentage of children living in poverty was higher for Blacks, Native Americans/Alaskan Natives, Latinos, and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islanders (KewalRamani, Gilbertson, Fox, & Provasnik, 2007). The percentages of families in the aforementioned racial and ethnic groups are higher than the percentages for Whites and Asians. (Kozol, 1991)

Single-family, female-headed households are most at risk for poverty. According to reports, 25% of the 38.1 million families in the United States with children under 18 are headed by single female parents (with no male spouse). Meanwhile, almost half (47%) of all single-family, female-headed households with children under 18 live in poverty. Statistics also show interactions between family structure and race and ethnicity. The likelihood of living in a female-headed household is higher for Blacks; 55% are single and female headed, followed by American Indian/Alaska Native (36%), Latino/Hispanic (27%), and ...