Browsing by Subject "College student success"

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Course withdrawals and college student success
(2021-12) Bicak, Ibrahim; Schudde, Lauren; Giani, Matthew S; Cullinane Hege, Jenna; Reyes, Pedro
Course withdrawals may lead to financial burdens for students, institutions, states, and the federal government. Understanding the predictors and consequences of course withdrawal are key to understanding its implications and developing interventions to improve student success. Since no research has examined course withdrawal behaviors and their relations to student degree outcomes within a statewide or nationally representative sample, I addressed this gap by using statewide administrative data from the Texas Education Research Center (ERC). The study sample comprises four fall cohorts of first- time degree-seeking college students attending any public two-year college or public university in the state of Texas. This dissertation describes course withdrawal behaviors in the Texas public higher education institutions (broken into analytic samples of students who attended only community colleges, transferred from community colleges to public universities, and attended public universities), examines the predictors of course withdrawal, and estimates the relationship between course withdrawal and student outcomes. I found that two-thirds of the college students in the sample withdrew from at least one course, highlighting how common course withdrawal is among college students. Community college transfer students experienced the highest rate of course withdrawal (three-fourths) throughout their education, compared with those who started at and remained at a community college or started at a public university. Moreover, this study’s findings revealed that various student and course characteristics are related to course withdrawals, such as cumulative college grade point average, summer enrollment, taking 15 semester credit hours, online courses, paid employment, and Pell grant recipient status. Finally, the findings from this study demonstrated that credit withdrawal rates (total withdrawn credits divided by total attempted credits) are usually consequential for time to degree and degree attainment. Among students who completed a degree, time to degree increased as withdrawal rate increased in all three analytic samples (community college, transfer, and university students). However, there is nuance in findings for degree attainment. Up to about a 4% withdrawal rate (one or two course withdrawals), each additional withdrawal rate was associated with a higher probability of earning a degree among community college-only and university samples. However, further course withdrawals diminished a student’s probability of earning a degree. I conclude with discussions of implications for theory, practice and policy, and future research.