Factors associated with student withdrawal from community college

Community College Enterprise, The, Spring 2006 by Scoggin, Donna, Styron, Ronald A

The study also provides insight into relationships of certain variables by frequency to the identified reasons for withdrawal. The results of the first analysis (Table 6) reflect an evaluation of reasons for withdrawal by gender. As the overall results had initially indicated, personal reasons were the number one reason cited by both males and females for withdrawal. The second highest frequency of reason for withdrawal was work for the males and financial reasons for the females, closely related issues that the financial aid office could address to help resolve some of the financial barriers for students who attend college.

Another leading reason for withdrawal cited by females was health. Many times, health issues that lead to withdrawal are beyond the scope of college assistance. However, the researchers propose that a college nurse could help students by conducting health fairs, providing in-services focused on wellness promotion, and providing screenings for early detection of commonly occurring problems such as hypertension, diabetes, and gastrointestinal complaints.

When race was used to explore relationships among the reasons for withdrawal identified by frequency, the results indicate that the leading reasons are the same for African Americans and Whites (Table 7). The top two reasons reported are personal and financial issues, which further stresses the importance of addressing them from a college-wide standpoint. The findings of the study indicate that African Americans also report health issues as a leading reason for withdrawal.

Analysis of the data in Tables 8-11 identifies the reasons for withdrawal based on the classification of the students and the degrees they seek. Personal reasons remain the number one reason for all classifications presented and in all categories for degree being sought. Other factors identified by the classifications and degree options with higher frequencies are similar to the previous comparative analyses. Financial issues, work, transportation difficulty, and health are again identified as reasons for withdrawal. A leading reason for withdrawal identified by the students seeking an Associate in Applied Science degree was relocation. As America has become an increasingly mobile society, relocation as a reason for withdrawal may be expected with growing frequency. Some of the relocation issues could potentially be reduced if increased community efforts provide incentives to attract the students as potential employees. If college administration works closely with business and industry and provides a liaison who places students in a business for a time of mentoring or external experiences, students might remain in the area for future employment. A liaison could also inform business contacts of the students who will be completing programs of study or who will be furthering their education in a particular field.

Table 12 reflects relationships between the frequency of reasons for withdrawal and plans for re-enrollment. Among all three time options by which students reported planning to re-enroll, the leading reason for withdrawal was personal reasons. Once again, the same leading reasons for withdrawal found in other areas of the study were identified by the students who reported that they did plan to reenroll in college- work, financial issues, and health. Relocation was the leading reason for withdrawal by those who did not plan to return, a logical finding considering that relocation often involves distance to the college which would make travel unreasonable.