Enhancing Student Persistence: Connecting the Dots ∗

Though I have been asked to speak about persistence, I will begin my comments this morning by focusing first on issues of access. Only then will I turn to persistence and policies to promote persistence. I do so because it is impossible, in my view, to separate out issues of access from those of persistence. While it is true that persistence is largely the result of what occurs to students following entry, it is also true that patterns of access also play an important, though indirect, role in shaping persistence.