Improving College Student Retention Rates

There are different types of students with respect to the time they spend enrolled in a university. Retained or Stayer are two terms referring to those who enroll each semester until they graduate. These are also what you would call full-time students who obtain their degrees without academic delays. On the other hand, there are Dropouts who enter a university and leave without finishing their course. And then there are Transfers who enter school, leave it midway through their course and enroll in another school with the intention of graduating in that new school. An institution can estimate their college retention rate if they know the intentions of their students. Thus, surveys that look into this will be of great help to administrators.
Students leave college before graduation for hundreds of reasons. For example, feelings of fitting in might refer to fitting in with teammates, classmates, faculty members, dormitory roommates and so on. When these factors are being viewed by the students positively, they stay in school. When they view it negatively, they almost always leave and either find another university or stop studying altogether.
There are many reasons why students can continue college including parent's income, parental support, their parents' education, educational goals, precollege academic success and even their closest friends being or not being in the same school. Academic factors influencing student retention include courses offered, general skills programs, advising, positive faculty interaction, campus resources, and academic integration. Social factors can also be a major factor including peer culture and identification with a school organization, among others. Other environmental factors play a role as well, including opportunity to transfer, financial resources, family responsibility, continued parental support and part-time jobs.