Strategies For Timely Degree Completion

Time to degree is a key factor in institutional productivity and managing the costs of college for students and families. While there is a robust body of empirical and theoretical work addressing baccalaureate degree completion and persistence, much less is known about the factors that affect time to degree. Most importantly, the institutional factors associated with time to degree have been largely unexamined, with a primary focus on the characteristics of students who delay graduation. As a result, it is unclear if students or institutions should be the target of policy interventions. This dissertation is comprised of three quantitative studies that examine supply- and demand-side factors that contribute to timely--or not so timely--completion using statewide longitudinal student-level data from Texas. The first study uses a discrete-time hazard model to analyze a rich set of institutional and student factors that influence the choice between on-time graduation, late graduation, dropout, and ongoing enrollment. The second explores the impact of student transfer on time to degree and one possible mechanism for delay using propensity score matching analysis. The third examines excess credit accumulation, specifically how the number of credits an institution requires for graduation affects student course-taking behavior using fixed effects analysis. Results suggest time to degree is a complex phenomenon and both student and institutional factors are significantly associated with time to degree. Student transfer and credit requirements are associated with excess credit accumulation and longer times to degree. Supply side policy strategies targeting institutional resources, transfer, and graduation credits are promising, although there is evidence that strategies aimed at improving efficiency can be in tension with strategies that improve equity in higher education and degree completion.

Scholarly evidence indicates that almost fifty percent of people who commence higher education delay completing their studies, and other dropouts. Most governments have introduced a policy that requires students to complete their studies within a limited time, especially the research students (master's and doctoral degree students). The implementation of the policy has also caused tension in higher education students' learning and supervision. Academics have debated and written about the problem widely, and it is no longer a discreet encounter for higher education stakeholders. Despite the scholarly effort of disclosing the challenges' depth, no literature has adequately supported students to implement the policy effectively and successfully. This book attempts to fill the gap by guiding higher education students on observing ten major principles for timely and successful completion. If students perceive, learn, and practice the guidance in this book, they will attain their degree anywhere (in a physical setting, online, home, and abroad) worldwide. The principles might be useful in the orientation programs for first-year students in universities and colleges. First, students ought to comprehend factors that might contribute to the delay completion and dropout. Second, they must analyze and communicate their needs and requirements from the beginning of their enrolment while re-examining their association, networking, self-management, and self-leadership. The book also reminds higher education students to build healthy habits to support developing cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains and remain active and creative. Four categories of students' personalities are discussed to urge students to evaluate who they are and whether they are problem solvers, informers, implementers, or workforce to society. The understanding can support them chose the projects that align with what they are to society. Self-awareness and leadership may make the learning task more manageable, enjoyable, and meaningful, and filling the knowledge gap can be realized timely.

The Toolbox Revisited is a data essay that follows a nationally representative cohort of students from high school into postsecondary education, and asks what aspects of their formal schooling contribute to completing a bachelor's degree by their mid-20s. The universe of students is confined to those who attended a four-year college at any time, thus including students who started out in other types of institutions, particularly community colleges.

The most crucial choice a high school graduate makes is whether to attend college or to go to work. Here is the most sophisticated study of the complexities behind that decision. Based on a unique data set of nearly 23,000 seniors from more than 1,300 high schools who were tracked over several years, the book treats the following questions in detail: Who goes to college? Does low family income prevent some young people from enrolling, or does scholarship aid offset financial need? How important are scholastic aptitude scores, high school class rank, race, and socioeconomic background in determining college applications and admissions? Do test scores predict success in higher education? Using the data from the National Longitudinal Study of the Class of 1972, the authors present a set of interrelated analyses of student and institutional behavior, each focused on a particular aspect of the process of choosing and being chosen by a college. Among their interesting findings: most high school graduates would be admitted to some four-year college of average quality, were they to apply; applicants do not necessarily prefer the highest-quality school; high school class rank and SAT scores are equally important in college admissions; federal scholarship aid has had only a small effect on enrollments at four-year colleges but a much stronger effect on attendance at two-year colleges; the attention paid to SAT scores in admissions is commensurate with the power of the scores in predicting persistence to a degree. This clearly written book is an important source of information on a perpetually interesting topic.