Date of Award

3-21-2013

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Mark Fincher

Abstract

The purpose of the secondary data analysis was to examine the attributes of students who intend to persist at the same religiously affiliated institution. The review of literature indicated that persistence has been studied extensively, but there has been only limited investigation of persistence focused on religiously affiliated institutions. The study examined the demographics, academics, social involvement, spiritual growth, and university environment factors of freshmen and the impact these attributes had on their intent to persist to their sophomore year. This study examined data obtained from religiously affiliated institutions that chose to participate in the 2007 CIRP Freshman Survey and the 2008 Your First College Year (YFCY) survey. These surveys are administered by the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) at the University of California-Los Angeles. The study analyzed the effects of background and experiences of students prior to college and also the first year experiences of students on retention and persistence. The survey responses were analyzed using logistic regression analysis as the statistical tool for the research. The findings of the study indicated that students, whose parents attended the same institution, who were strongly satisfied with the quality of instruction, who strengthened their religious convictions during the first year of college, and felt a sense of belonging with the college, were more likely to intend to persist to their sophomore year at the same religiously affiliated institution.

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