Date of Award

4-23-2019

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Education

First Advisor

James VanderPutten

Abstract

This study of Hispanic developmental students attending two-year colleges provides insights into the barriers to persistence for this growing population of students. Four research questions were explored in the study. The first question asked which demographic factors of gender, age, dependent children, and marital status impacted retention. The second question asked which socio-cultural factors of support of friends, support of parents, being a first generational student and social integration impacted persistence of Hispanic students in two-year colleges. The third question asked which environmental variables of working full-time, lack of adequate preparation and lack of financial support impacted persistence. The final research question asked which academic variables of required developmental courses, enrollment status and faculty interaction impacted retention of Hispanic students in two-year colleges. Data for the study were obtained from the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) using the 2012/14 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:12/14) restricted dataset. This study examined students who had entered college in 2012 and followed their retention to their sophomore year in 2014. The conceptual framework for the study was based on research from Tinto’s (1993) Model of Student Retention and Nora’s (2003) Student/Institution Engagement Model. Hofstede’s 1984 research on culturalism vs. individualism informed the analysis of the findings. The binary logistic regression using IBM SPSS 24 found three variables that were significant to persistence. Two of the socio-cultural variables impacted retention: support of parents and support of friends. One of the environmental variables was significant: working while enrolled.

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