Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Retention in higher education is an ongoing challenge in America. Traditional research claims a multitude of reasons for freshman college students to stop out, drop out, or transfer colleges. The term sophomore slump was created many years ago as an all-encompassing phrase for the large amount of students who do not return to campus for their sophomore year or end up leaving during the sophomore year. Institutions of higher education are on a continuous journey to retain students and to understand what the cause of students leaving their university is. Campus housing has morphed through the years to provide programming that bonds academics with residency. This quantitative study is to examine whether campus residency, major declaration, and campus engagement are predictors of retention in freshman students. Utilizing historical data from a regional comprehensive university in the mid-south of the United States the variables of campus residency, major declaration, and campus engagement were studied using linear regression analysis. These variables were measured to see if they were predictive of retention at this particular institution.

Year manuscript completed

2021

Year degree awarded

2021

Author's Keywords

retention, freshman, campus residency, higher education, college, university

Dissertation Committee Chair

Teresa B. Clark

Committee Member

Landon Clark

Committee Member

Brian Bourke

Document Type

Dissertation

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