Pathways to a Four-Year Degree: Determinants of Degree Completion among Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Students.

The High School Sophomore Cohort of 1980 followed nine different pathways to a 4-year college degree. These paths were formed by a combination of different levels of academic preparation secured in high school'and the first type of postsecondary institution attended. The pathway most likely to lead to a 4-year degree is one defined by acquiring high academic resources in high school and entering at a 4-year institution on high school completion. Those who followed this path .had a 78% chance of graduating within 11 years. Highest-socioeconomic status (SES) students followed this pathway, resulting in an 81% graduation rate. Not all paths are equally available to all SES groups. Lowest-SES students journeyed on a pathway defined by moderate academic resources and first enrollment in a 2year institution. Only 3.3% of these students earned a 4-year degree. A 44% SES-based degree completion gap separating lowest-SES students from highestSES students found using simple descriptive statistics is reduced to 24% when myriad factors are considered simultaneously. Degree completion is most affected by SES, high school-based academic resources, degree aspirations, enrollment patterns, taking college courses in mathematics and science, financial aid, and having children while attending college. (Contains 10 tables and 152 references.) (Author/SLD) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the ori inal document.

[1]  Don Hossler,et al.  Differences in family influences on college attendance plans for male and female ninth graders , 1988 .

[2]  Kenneth A. Frank,et al.  Students' Characteristics that Facilitate the Transfer from Two-Year to Four-Year Colleges. , 1990 .

[3]  Ernest T. Pascarella,et al.  Voluntary freshman attrition and patterns of social and academic integration in a university: A test of a conceptual model , 1977 .

[4]  J. C. Jones,et al.  Moving on: A cooperative study of student transfer , 1991 .

[5]  C. Scott.  Going to college: How social, economic and educational factors influence the decisions students make: Don Hossler, Jack Schmit and Nick Vesper; Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD, 1999, pp. vii+ 173, Price U.S. $18.95 paper , 2001 .

[6]  P. Thayer.  Retention of Students from First Generation and Low Income Backgrounds. , 2000 .

[7]  W. Vélez,et al.  Two-Year College to Four-Year College: The Likelihood of Transfer , 1987, American Journal of Education.

[8]  Patricia M. McDonough,et al.  COLLEGE RANKINGS: Democratized College Knowledge for Whom? , 1998 .

[9]  Jeff H. Rhodes.  The role of the community college in baccalaureate attainment at a rural public university , 2005 .

[10]  K. Alexander,et al.  Basic Attainment Processes: A Replication and Extension. , 1975 .

[11]  George D. Kuh.  The other Curriculum: Out-of-Class Experiences Associated with Student Learning and Personal Development , 1995 .

[12]  Kenna Ose.  Transfer Student Involvement: Differences between Participators and Nonparticipators in Extracurricular Activities. , 1997 .

[13]  Oscar T. Lenning,et al.  The Powerful Potential of Learning Communities: Improving Education for the Future , 1998 .

[14]  Larry L. Leslie.  The Impact of Need-Based Student Aid Upon the College Attendance Decision. , 1977 .

[15]  Ernest T. Pascarella,et al.  Differential impacts of academic and social experiences on college-related behavioral outcomes across different ethnic and gender groups at four-year institutions , 1996 .

[16]  Anne Baldwin.  Indicators of the University Success of Associate Degree Recipients in the Fields of Business, Computer Science, and Engineering. , 1994 .

[17]  C. Colbeck,et al.  Learning Professional Confidence: Linking Teaching Practices, Students' Self-Perceptions, and Gender , 2000 .

[18]  Amaury Nora.  Campus-Based Aid Programs as Determinants of Retention among Hispanic Community College Students , 1990 .

[19]  A. Cabrera,et al.  Determinants of withdrawal behavior: An exploratory study , 1991 .

[20]  James C. Hearn.  Emerging variations in postsecondary attendance patterns: An investigation of part-time, delayed, and nondegree enrollment , 1992 .

[21]  Stephen S. Ben-Avi.  Graduate record examination , 1988 .

[22]  Jerome Karabel.  Community colleges and social stratification in the 1980s , 1986 .

[23]  Alberto F. Cabrera,et al.  Exploring the Effects of Student Aid on Attrition , 1986, Journal of Student Financial Aid.

[24]  T. G. Davies,et al.  Student Perceptions of the Transfer Process: Strengths, Weaknesses, and Recommendations for Improvement. , 1998 .

[25]  H. Bowen,et al.  Investment in Learning. The Individual and Social Value of American Higher Education. , 1979 .

[26]  D. Ridley,et al.  THE COURSE-BASED MODEL OF TRANSFER SUCCESS: AN ACTION-ORIENTED RESEARCH PARADIGM , 1999 .

[27]  T. Flint.  Parental and planning influences on the formation of student college choice sets , 1992 .

[28]  Trudy H. Bers,et al.  Persistence of community college students: The influence of student intent and academic and social integration , 1991 .

[29]  D. Woodruff,et al.  The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions , 1998 .

[30]  L. C. Attinasi.  Getting In: Mexican Americans' Perceptions of University Attendance and the Implications for Freshman Year Persistence. , 1989 .

[31]  Carol L. Colbeck,et al.  Developing Performance Indicators for Assessing Classroom Teaching Practices and Student Learning , 2001 .

[32]  Lynda Leahy,et al.  Service-learning in higher education: Concepts and practices , 1997 .

[33]  Jay P. Heubert,et al.  High stakes : testing for tracking, promotion, and graduation , 1999 .

[34]  R. Rosenfeld,et al.  Parents and the Process of Gaining Access to Student Financial Aid. , 1984 .

[35]  Susan P. Choy,et al.  Transition to College: What Helps At‐Risk Students and Students Whose Parents Did Not Attend College , 2000 .

[36]  Amaury Nora,et al.  The role of finances in the persistence process: A structural model , 1992 .

[37]  J. King.  The Decision To Go to College: Attitudes and Experiences Associated with College Attendance Among Low-Income Students. , 1996 .

[38]  D. Hossler,et al.  An Exploratory Study of the Factors Associated with Parental Saving for Postsecondary Education , 1993 .

[39]  Susan P. Choy.  Access & Persistence: Findings from 10 Years of Longitudinal Research on Students. ERIC Digest. , 2002 .

[40]  E. Murguía,et al.  Ethnicity and the Concept of Social Integration in Tinto's Model of Institutional Departure. , 1991 .

[41]  W. S. Swail,et al.  Beyond Access: Improving the Odds of College Success. , 2000 .

[42]  Robert Birnbaum.  Why Community College Transfer Students Succeed in 4-Year Colleges--The Filter Hypothesis. , 1970 .

[43]  Michael L. Tierney.  The Impact of Financial Aid on Student Demand for Public/Private Higher Education. , 1980 .

[44]  Susan P. Choy,et al.  Low-Income Students: Who They Are and How They Pay. , 2000 .

[45]  M. Olivas.  Financial Aid Packaging Policies: Access and Ideology , 1985 .

[46]  M. McPherson,et al.  The Student Aid Game: Meeting Need and Rewarding Talent in American Higher Education , 1997 .

[47]  Donald E. Heller.  Student Price Response in Higher Education: An Update to Leslie and Brinkman , 1997 .

[48]  Xianglei Chen,et al.  Toward Resiliency: At-Risk Students Who Make It to College. , 1998 .

[49]  Amaury Nora,et al.  The construct validity of Institutional Commitment: A confirmatory factor analysis , 1993 .

[50]  Frances K. Stage.  College students : the evolving nature of research , 1996 .

[51]  A. Cabrera,et al.  The targeting and packaging of student aid and its effect on attrition , 1988 .

[52]  Laura J. Horn,et al.  High School Academic Curriculum and the Persistence Path through College: Persistence and Transfer Behavior of Undergraduates 3 Years after Entering 4-Year Institutions. Statistical Analysis Report. Postsecondary Education Descriptive Analysis Reports. , 2001 .

[53]  Dawn Wallace,et al.  Clearing a Path for Success: Deconstructing Borders Through Undergraduate Mentoring , 2000 .

[54]  Elizabeth Miller.  Parents' Views on the Value of a College Education and How They Will Pay for It , 1997, Journal of Student Financial Aid.

[55]  Ann Ricks Dailey,et al.  Does Consistency of Parental Educational Encouragement Matter for Secondary Students , 1981 .

[56]  S. Menard.  Applied Logistic Regression Analysis , 1996 .

[57]  Ernest T. Pascarella,et al.  How college affects students , 1991 .

[58]  W. Vélez.  Finishing College: The Effects of College Type. , 1985 .

[59]  Jean J. Endo,et al.  The effect of student-faculty interaction on students' educational outcomes , 1981 .

[60]  Jessica M. Shedd,et al.  Getting through College: Voices of Low-Income and Minority Students in New England. The New England Student Success Study. , 2001 .

[61]  P. Terenzini,et al.  Swimming Against the Tide: The Poor in American Higher Education , 2001 .

[62]  Jeffrey Oescher,et al.  The influence of student aid on within-year persistence by traditional college-age students in four-year colleges , 1994 .

[63]  Graham K. Rand,et al.  Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences , 1983 .

[64]  Kevin J. Dougherty.  Community Colleges and Baccalaureate Attainment. , 1992 .

[65]  Michael B. Paulsen,et al.  Social Class and College Costs: Examining the Financial Nexus Between College Choice and Persistence , 1997 .

[66]  Barbara A. Kraemer.  Factors affecting hispanic student transfer behavior , 1995 .

[67]  E. Pascarella.  Racial differences in factors associated with bachelor's degree completion: A nine-year follow-up , 1985 .

[68]  Cynthia Veldman.  Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study: Second Follow-up Field Test Report, 1996. Technical Report. , 1997 .

[69]  Larry H. Litten.  Different Strokes in the Applicant Pool: Some Refinements in a Model of Student College Choice. , 1982 .

[70]  J. Palmer.  What Do We Know About Transfer? An Overview. , 2000 .

[71]  S. Dworkin.  PERSISTENCE BY 2‐YEAR COLLEGE GRADUATES TO 4‐YEAR COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES , 1996 .

[72]  Michael J. Hilmer.  Does community college attendance provide a strategic path to a higher quality education , 1997 .

[73]  Janyth Fredrickson.  Today's Transfer Students: Who Are They? , 1998 .

[74]  Don Hossler.  Enrollment Management an Integrated Approach , 1984 .

[75]  Ernest T. Pascarella,et al.  Predicting Freshman Persistence and Voluntary Dropout Decisions from a Theoretical Model , 1980 .

[76]  S. Schwartz,et al.  Leaving College: Rethinking the Causes and Cures of Student Attrition , 1987 .

[77]  Arthur W. Chickering,et al.  Education and Identity. Second Edition. The Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series. , 1993 .

[78]  Mary K. Kinnick,et al.  Beyond “front door” access: Attaining the bachelor's degree , 1988 .

[79]  J. House.  The Effects of Entering Characteristics and Instructional Experiences on Student Satisfaction and Degree Completion: An Application of the Input-Environment-Output Assessment Model. , 1999 .

[80]  Don Hossler,et al.  Family Knowledge of Postsecondary Costs And Financial Aid , 1991, Journal of Student Financial Aid.

[81]  S. J. Press,et al.  Choosing between Logistic Regression and Discriminant Analysis , 1978 .

[82]  W. S. Swail.  The Development of a Conceptual Framework To Increase Student Retention in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Programs at Minority Institutions of Higher Education. , 1995 .

[83]  MaryBeth Walpole,et al.  Socioeconomic Status and College: How SES Affects College Experiences and Outcomes , 2003 .

[84]  Jeffrey F. Milem,et al.  Enacting Diverse Learning Environments: Improving the Climate for Racial/Ethnic Diversity in Higher Education. ERIC Digest. , 1999 .

[85]  Jamie P. Merisotis,et al.  Remedial Education in Colleges and Universities: What's Really Going On? , 2000 .

[86]  James C. Hearn.  Attendance at higher-cost colleges: Ascribed, socioeconomic, and academic influences on student enrollment patterns , 1988 .

[87]  Lutz K. Berkner,et al.  Access to Postsecondary Education for the 1992 High School Graduates. Postsecondary Education Descriptive Analysis Reports. Statistical Analysis Report. , 1997 .

[88]  Laura W. Perna.  Precollege Outreach Programs: Characteristics of Programs Serving Historically Underrepresented Groups of Students. , 2002 .

[89]  Richard D. Kahlenberg.  The Remedy: Class, Race, And Affirmative Action , 1996 .

[90]  S. John,et al.  The Impact of Student Financial Aid: A Review of Recent Research , 1991 .

[91]  G. Jackson.  Financial Aid and Student Enrollment , 1978 .

[92]  Susan P. Choy,et al.  How Low Income Undergraduates Financed Postsecondary Education: 1992-93. Postsecondary Education Descriptive Analysis Reports. Statistical Analysis Report. , 1996 .

[93]  A. Cabrera,et al.  Exploring the Effects of Ability to Pay on Persistence in College , 1988 .

[94]  James C. Hearn.  Academic and Nonacademic Influences on the College Destinations of 1980 High School Graduates. , 1991 .

[95]  K. W. Vaughn.  The Graduate Record Examinations , 1947 .

[96]  Laura I. Rendón,et al.  Determinants of predisposition to transfer among community college students: A structural model , 1990 .

[97]  J. Glass,et al.  Length of Time Required to Graduate for Community College Students Transferring to Senior Institutions. , 1998 .

[98]  A. Kemp.  From Matriculation to Graduation: Focusing Beyond Minority Retention , 1990 .

[99]  G. Thomas.  Participation and Degree Attainment of African-American and Latino Students in Graduate Education Relative to Other Racial and Ethnic Groups: An Update from Office of Civil Rights Data. , 1992 .

[100]  M. Keller,et al.  The Relationship between Assessment of Remedial Need and Student Success in College. , 1999 .

[101]  John M. Braxton.  Reworking the Student Departure Puzzle , 2020 .

[102]  Ruth B. Ekstrom,et al.  UNDERGRADUATE DEBT AND PARTICIPATION IN GRADUATE EDUCATION: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EDUCATIONAL DEBT AND GRADUATE SCHOOL ASPIRATIONS, APPLICATIONS, AND ATTENDANCE AMONG STUDENTS WITH A PATTERN OF FULL‐TIME, CONTINUOUS POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION , 1982 .

[103]  E. John.  Price response in persistence decisions: An analysis of the high school and beyond senior cohort , 1990 .

[104]  John H. Aldrich,et al.  Linear probability, logit and probit models , 1984 .

[105]  Alexander W. Astin,et al.  Preventing students from dropping out , 1975 .

[106]  A. Astin.  What Matters In College , 1993 .

[107]  J. Fredericks Volkwein,et al.  Student-Faculty Relationships and Intellectual Growth among Transfer Students. , 1986 .

[108]  Alberto F. Cabrera,et al.  On the Path to College: Three Critical Tasks Facing America's Disadvantaged , 2001 .

[109]  A. E. Eikner,et al.  Comparison of Community College Transfer Students and Native Students in an Upper Level Accounting Course , 1997 .

[110]  David A. Wise,et al.  College Choice In America , 1983 .

[111]  Michael B. Paulsen,et al.  The nexus between college choice and persistence , 1996 .

[112]  Laura W. Perna.  Differences in the Decision to Attend College among African Americans, Hispanics, and Whites , 2000 .

[113]  K. Alexander,et al.  Social Background, Academic Resources, and College Graduation: Recent Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey , 1982, American Journal of Education.

[114]  Brent D. Cejda.  The Role of the Community College in Baccalaureate Attainment at a Private Liberal Arts College , 1999 .

[115]  R. Voorhees.  Toward building models of community college persistence: A logit analysis , 1987 .

[116]  L. Armistead,et al.  Selected General Education Influences Affecting Degree Completion for Community College Occupational Students , 1987 .

[117]  Michael B. Paulsen,et al.  Going to College: How Social, Economic, and Educational Factors Influence the Decisions Students Make , 1998 .

[118]  Trond Petersen,et al.  A Comment on Presenting Results from Logit and Probit Models , 1985 .

[119]  R. Elmore,et al.  Testing, Teaching, and Learning: A Guide for States and School Districts. , 1999 .

[120]  P Edward,et al.  Prices, Productivity, and Investment: Assessing Financial Strategies in Higher Education. ERIC Digest. , 1994 .

[121]  C. Adelman.  Answers In The Tool Box: Academic Intensity, Attendance Patterns, And Bachelor's Degree Attainment , 1999 .

[122]  Thomas A. Flint,et al.  Early Awareness of College Financial Aid: Does It Expand Choice? , 2017 .

[123]  Vincent Tinto,et al.  Classrooms as Communities: Exploring the Educational Character of Student Persistence. , 1997 .

[124]  C. Carroll.  College Persistence and Degree Attainment for 1980 High School Graduates: Hazards for Transfers, Stopouts, and Part-Timers. Survey Report. , 1989 .

[125]  Jeff E. Hoyt.  Promoting Student Transfer Success: Curriculum Evaluation and Student Academic Preparation. , 1999 .

[126]  George D. Kuh,et al.  The Development of Process Indicators to Estimate Student Gains Associated with Good Practices in Undergraduate Education , 1997 .

[127]  Barbara Rickinson,et al.  The relationship between undergraduate student counselling and successful degree completion , 1998 .

[128]  Book Review: Contributing to Learning: The Role of Student Affairs and Student Learning Outside the Classroom: Transcending Artificial Boundaries , 1998 .