An Explanatory Model of First Year Retention: Application and Adaptation of Braxton, Doyle, Hartley, Hirschy, Jones & McLendon's Rethinking College Student Retention

Abstract

On average, more than a quarter of all entering first-time, full-time students do not return to their institution for a second year. One in five fail to persist at all. Yet, “of the 45 percent of students who start college and fail to complete their degree, less than one-quarter are dismissed for poor academic performance. Most leave for other reasons” (Kuh, et al., 2006). Central Methodist University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, with its residential undergraduate enrollment of 1,900 students and a first-year retention rate of 66%, is emblematic of hundreds of small to mid-sized liberal arts colleges and bachelor-degree granting universities dotting the landscape of higher education. Based heavily but not exclusively on Braxton, et al.’s Rethinking College Student Retention (2014), this study focuses on Central Methodist University against which established theory is applied in search of pragmatic, actionable strategies supportive of student retention.