Short-Term Enrollment in Postsecondary Education: Student Background and Institutional Differences in Reasons for Early Departure, 1996-98. Postsecondary Education Descriptive Analysis Reports

摘要

This report builds on previous studies of early attrition from postsecondary education by providing a more comprehensive look at students reasons for early total departure from postsecondary education. Using the 1996/98 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:96/98) to examine attrition in the first 3 years of postsecondary education, this study addresses two main issues: student background characteristics associated with departure without a credential from postsecondary education, and among students who did leave, the reasons they gave for their departure. With respect to both issues, this report focuses on understanding how the process of departure from college differs for students who begin at 2-year compared with 4-year institutions. The analysis includes only students who began at these two types of institutions, and it is also restricted to students at public or private not-for-profit institutions, rather than for-profit institutions.