A STUDY OF COLLEGE STUDENT GRADUATION USING DISCRETE TIME SURVIVAL ANALYSIS
Open Access
Author:
Deike, Randall C
Graduate Program:
Educational Psychology
Degree:
Doctor of Philosophy
Document Type:
Dissertation
Date of Defense:
June 10, 2003
Committee Members:
Dennis Michael Roberts, Committee Chair/Co-Chair Edmond Marks, Committee Member John D Swisher, Committee Member Robert Leslie Hale, Committee Member
Keywords:
retention graduation survival analysis
Abstract:
College student graduation rates are often used as a measure of institutional success, of institutional accountability, and are increasingly tied to resource allocation. Degree completion provides benefits to the student, the institution, and society. Understanding the graduation behaviors of baccalaureate degree seeking students has become critical to the management of institutional enrollments. The study of student graduation behaviors has been plagued with methodological concerns, especially when the inherent longitudinal nature of college student graduation is considered. The purpose of this study was to investigate college student graduation using a technique called discrete time survival analysis. Discrete time survival analysis addresses many of the concerns associated with the longitudinal study of graduation, such as the use of variables that change over time and censored cases, and allows for the investigation of timing of graduation. Preenrollment, enrollment, and financial aid variables were considered in modeling the timing of graduation for a cohort of freshman, baccalaureate students studied over a 12 year period.
