Persist/Dropout Differences In Pre-matriculation Attitudes Of Freshman Towards College Attrition: A Longitudinal Multiple Group Structural Equations Model

Abstract

This study proposes a structural equations model of college student attrition based on pre-matriculation freshman attitudes. The study uses a survey administered annually from 1995 to 1999 and tracks persistence and dropout behavior for five years until the last cohort graduated. It discusses seven constructs of pre-matriculation freshman attitudes that resemble the Cabrera, Nora, and Castañeda (1993) model of College Persistence that was based on attitudes of first-to-second year enrolled college students. We applied our survey to a Northeastern sectarian private college. Our model includes external factors such as financial attitude, and endogenous variables such as academic reputation, social integration, institutional commitment, goal commitment, academic performance, and intent to persist. In addition to the variables related to the Cabrera model, we added two measures of social integration, “political interests” and “concern-for the disadvantaged” because these were suitable to the type of college which hosted the study. Results provide a multiple group comparative and predictive model of student attrition for annual use by the Dean of Student Affairs in designing proactive plans and implementing intervention strategies to enhance student retention.