College Persistence Against the Rule: Engagement and Demographics in terms of Comfort Level

• In Event: 378 - Open Refereed Roundtable Session II
  In Refereed Roundtable: B. Table 04. Higher Education

Abstract

This paper examines an exceptional case: higher relative retention and persistence rates for underrepresented groups (African American and Hispanic students) compared to white students, at a racially and ethnically diverse public undergraduate college that is not an HBCU. Applying theories about behavior, norms, culture and the influences of experiences and demographic statuses, this article takes advantage of unique institutional and survey data to examine how, among fall 2013 first-year college students, relationships described in the literature were related. Using a constructed dependent variable, “comfort level,” three factors were found by OLS regression to be most important: the extent to which students reported (1) being able to find something interesting to do on campus, (2) learning something new in class and (3) had out-of-class assignments that were learning experiences. Race/ethnicity, income, high school GPA and contact with faculty had no significant relationship to “comfort level.”

Author

• Jacob Heller, State University of New York-Old Westbury