Aspirations Interrupted: Understanding Why Community College Students Leave During the First Year

• In Event: The Persistence Puzzle: Understanding Departures and Designing Effective Support for Community College Students

Abstract

Despite entering with high aspirations, nearly half of community college students leave before the start of their second year (NSC, 2024; CCCSE, 2024). To better understand how students’ college experiences may impact their decision to stay enrolled or leave and what colleges could do to increase persistence, this study examines students’ reports of why they leave during this critical period. We examine multiple dimensions of the student experience to compare students who remained enrolled in their institution with those who left before the start of their second year. These include social and academic engagement (e.g., Hatch & Garcia, 2017; Deil-Amen, 2011), as well as the prevalence of academic, financial, and external factors that contribute to different persistence outcomes (e.g., Ortagus et al., 2021).  This research addresses the following questions: (1)How do first-year experiences differ between continuing and non-continuing community college students? What reasons do students report for leaving or considering departure during the first year? (2) To what extent is student engagement with college resources and supports are predictive of their decisions to stay or leave? Do the predictors of college persistence differ by academic and demographic characteristics?   

Data Collection and Analysis 
We draw on a three-wave survey of over 4,500 first-time-in-college students across four community colleges in Ohio, Texas, Maryland, and California, linked to administrative data. The initial survey (in fall 2023), captures students’ academic and career goals, college experiences, and out-of-college supports. One year later (in fall 2024), we conducted a follow-up survey that included a targeted module for students who have since left college, asking questions about their college experiences, goals, and their intentions to re-enroll. Using these data, we look descriptively at the first-year student experience and estimate regression models comparing students who persist with those who leave to identify factors associated with early departure.  

First, we descriptively examine the first-year student academic and social experiences of continuing and non-continuing students, the reasons for leaving reported by leavers, and the reasons for considering departure reported by those who stay. Next, we use regression analysis to assess how student engagement in classes and with college resources and supports is related to their decisions to stay or leave. The regression model also controls for student attributes (e.g., demographics), pre-college characteristics (e.g., high school GPA), college experience (e.g., academic performance, social and academic experience), student initial college intentions (e.g., academic, program choice), and out-of-college experience (e.g., work and care responsibilities) enabling us to study how these individual and college factors interact with students’ engagement with college resources and supports and contribute to students’ likelihood of persisting. We explore variation patterns across demographic and academic subgroups.  

Findings  
In early descriptive analyses, the most frequently cited reasons for leaving after the first year were financial hardship (30%), academic struggles (28%), changes in career goals (23%), and college-related stress (21%). Factor analysis showed financial barriers as the most prominent theme, including aid issues and missed deadlines. Ongoing work examines how first-year experiences and resource engagement relate to persistence.  

 

Authors

• Rachel Barth Baker, University of Pennsylvania
  Non-Presenting Co-Author

• Hana Lahr, Teachers College, Columbia University
  Non-Presenting Co-Author

• Veronica M. Minaya, Teachers College, Columbia University
  Non-Presenting Co-Author

• Estefanie Aguilar Padilla, University of Pennsylvania
  Presenting Author