Factor influencing the recruitment and retention of undergradutes as reported by African-American graduates of Texas AM University between May 1998 and December 2003

摘要

The purpose of this study was to examine the influential effects various factorshad on the recruitment and the retention of African American undergraduates at TexasA&M University, as perceived by those African Americans who had successfullycompleted their plans of study and received baccalaureate degrees between May 1998and December 2003.Data were acquired through e-mail surveys in which three massive e-mailingswere broadcast from the collected files of The Association of Former Students of TexasA&M. In this survey, the questionnaire contained closed-ended questions with five-partLikert-type responses. Additionally, the African American alumni were provided theopportunity to recommend additional practices for future recruitment and retention ofAfrican American undergraduates at A&M.An extensive review of the literature that supports this record of study regardingrecruitment and retention of African American undergraduate students was made, andin the review, family involvement in education and home/school/campus characteristics revealed numerous studies that support the positive relationship between familyinvolvement in education and success. There is, however, evidence of barriers,frustration, and discouragement experienced by these African American undergraduatestakeholders in their campus relationships.Research findings of this study included:1. The research showed that for this population, the academic standing ofA&M is the most influential recruitment practice. Recruitment effortsshould concentrate on the most effective recruitment strategies bydeveloping materials that highlight and focus on academic standing asreported by leading publications indicating how A&M is ranked againstcolleges and universities across the nation.2. The research showed that the available curriculum at A&M is also aninfluential recruitment practice. From data discovered in this research,engineering, computer technology, psychology, and journalism were themost popular curriculum attraction to African American students.Implications from the research include:1. One significant difference was the finding that the African Americanfemales looked more favorably on an institution of higher learning that hada larger enrollment.2. The other significant difference was the finding that African Americanmales looked more favorably at institutions of higher learning that heldhigher national ranking in sports in which they were interested.