An Examination of Factors that Influence Graduate Student Degree Completion Rates

• In Event: Opportunity, Persistence and Completion in post-secondary education

Abstract

The intention of this quantitative research study was to determine if a significant relationship existed between the distance a graduate student traveled to Governors State University and the time it took the student to graduate. This study also aimed to examine the relationship between degree completion and cohort programs as well as how various student demographics such as age, ethnicity, and gender impacted degree completion. The research published on completion rates focuses on undergraduate students, so this study serves an important role to enhance the literature on graduate student degree completion rates. For this study an existing database containing 654 graduate students who were admitted between fall 2004 and fall 2013 was analyzed using a correlation research design. A logistic regression model was also developed. Overall, distance and start age were not statistically significant to degree completion, but ethnicity and gender were significant along with being part of a cohort.

Author

• Jennifer Davidson, Illinois State University