Timing of College Dropout: Factors Related to Dropping Out and Persistence in College

• In Event: 25.067 - Roundtable Session 7
  In Roundtable Session: 25.067-12 - Persisting Through and Beyond the College Pipeline

Abstract

Survival and ROC analyses were conducted using a nationally representative sample from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY-97) to investigate dropout from four- and two-year colleges. We found that dropout from four-year colleges seems to follow what may be considered a more “traditional” pattern based on prior literature. Students were less likely to drop out of four-year schools if they had higher high school GPAs and came from families with higher household incomes. Predictors of two-year college dropout are largely different (and sometimes the opposite) from predictors of four-year college dropout, yet the dynamics of dropout follow a similar pattern at both types of schools, with approximately 25% of dropout occurring in the first semester.

Authors

• Allan Porowski, Abt Associates Inc.

• Stacey S. Merola, Merola Research LLC