This study intends to explore factors influencing first-year student persistence at two-year community, and for-profit institutions. Much of the existing retention literature on post-secondary education has mostly centered around traditional four-year institutions, thus this study remedies the limitations with prior literature and provides insight into how to help two-year college officials better understand their students, their mission, and persistence measures at their colleges. Tinto’s Longitudinal Model of academic and social integration was systematically combined with Bean and Metzner’s retention model on non-traditional students to guide this study. A two-stage procedure consisting of descriptive analysis, and regression analysis was performed on all factors to determine their significance in predicting successful retention at the end of the first college year. Students attending two-year institutions are different from traditional students in four-year institutions, thus the results of the study are vital for improving the retention efforts and systems at two-year institutions.
","abstract_html":"<p>This study intends to explore factors influencing first-year student persistence at two-year community, and for-profit institutions. Much of the existing retention literature on post-secondary education has mostly centered around traditional four-year institutions, thus this study remedies the limitations with prior literature and provides insight into how to help two-year college officials better understand their students, their mission, and persistence measures at their colleges. Tinto’s Longitudinal Model of academic and social integration was systematically combined with Bean and Metzner’s retention model on non-traditional students to guide this study. A two-stage procedure consisting of descriptive analysis, and regression analysis was performed on all factors to determine their significance in predicting successful retention at the end of the first college year. Students attending two-year institutions are different from traditional students in four-year institutions, thus the results of the study are vital for improving the retention efforts and systems at two-year institutions.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Woods, Robert L."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"PhD Higher Education Leadership, Management, Policy","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Education Leadership, Management and Policy","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Rong Chen, Ph.D","Martin Finkelstein, Ph.D","Elaine Walker, Ph.D","Dorothy Minkus-McKenna, Ph.D"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2016,"date_issued":"2016-05-16T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2016-05-16T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:33:15Z","subjects":["Student Retention at Two-Year Colleges","Persistence rates at two-year community and for-profit colleges","Nontraditional students at two year colleges.","Community College Education Administration","Higher Education","Higher Education Administration"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarship.shu.edu/dissertations/2177","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Rong Chen, Ph.D","Martin Finkelstein, Ph.D","Elaine Walker, Ph.D","Dorothy Minkus-McKenna, Ph.D"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Woods, Robert L."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2016-06-06T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Education Leadership, Management and Policy"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["PhD Higher Education Leadership, Management, Policy"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Student Retention at Two-Year Colleges","Persistence rates at two-year community and for-profit colleges","Nontraditional students at two year colleges.","Community College Education Administration","Higher Education","Higher Education Administration"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarship.shu.edu/dissertations/2177"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This study intends to explore factors influencing first-year student persistence at two-year community, and for-profit institutions. Much of the existing retention literature on post-secondary education has mostly centered around traditional four-year institutions, thus this study remedies the limitations with prior literature and provides insight into how to help two-year college officials better understand their students, their mission, and persistence measures at their colleges. Tinto’s Longitudinal Model of academic and social integration was systematically combined with Bean and Metzner’s retention model on non-traditional students to guide this study. A two-stage procedure consisting of descriptive analysis, and regression analysis was performed on all factors to determine their significance in predicting successful retention at the end of the first college year. Students attending two-year institutions are different from traditional students in four-year institutions, thus the results of the study are vital for improving the retention efforts and systems at two-year institutions.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Those Who Quit: A Study of Student Retention At Two-Year Community and For-Profit Colleges"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Rong Chen, Ph.D","Martin Finkelstein, Ph.D","Elaine Walker, Ph.D","Dorothy Minkus-McKenna, Ph.D"],"dc:creator":["Woods, Robert L."],"dc:date.available":["2016-06-06T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["This study intends to explore factors influencing first-year student persistence at two-year community, and for-profit institutions. Much of the existing retention literature on post-secondary education has mostly centered around traditional four-year institutions, thus this study remedies the limitations with prior literature and provides insight into how to help two-year college officials better understand their students, their mission, and persistence measures at their colleges. Tinto’s Longitudinal Model of academic and social integration was systematically combined with Bean and Metzner’s retention model on non-traditional students to guide this study. A two-stage procedure consisting of descriptive analysis, and regression analysis was performed on all factors to determine their significance in predicting successful retention at the end of the first college year. Students attending two-year institutions are different from traditional students in four-year institutions, thus the results of the study are vital for improving the retention efforts and systems at two-year institutions.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarship.shu.edu/dissertations/2177"],"dc:subject":["Student Retention at Two-Year Colleges","Persistence rates at two-year community and for-profit colleges","Nontraditional students at two year colleges.","Community College Education Administration","Higher Education","Higher Education Administration"],"dc:title":["Those Who Quit: A Study of Student Retention At Two-Year Community and For-Profit Colleges"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Education Leadership, Management and Policy"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["PhD Higher Education Leadership, Management, Policy"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:33:15Z"}