| Terry Ishitani
Indiana State University
The longitudinal impact of "first-generation" on college student attrition
Although going to college may be viewed as a rite of passage for many students, as a college degree becomes a prerequisite for jobs with higher salaries, different groups of students often face unique challenges in their pursuit of a college degree. One group of students that we are trying to gain a better understanding of are "first-generation" students whose parents did not graduate from college. Previous studies suggest that first-generation college students differ from students with both college-educated parents in pre-college characteristics. Furthermore, first-generation students are more likely to drop out of college. However, existing studies on attrition behavior among first-generation students often focused on comparison of descriptive statistics between groups of first-generation students and students with college-educated parents. They failed to examine the effect of being a first-generation student on attrition over time after controlling for other, potentially confounding characteristics. Using data from the NCES NELS:88/2000, the proposed study will analyze the longitudinal effect of being a first-generation student on dropout behavior, after controlling for factors, such as pre-college characteristics and institutional types. The results will provide policy makers with information used to improve retention behavior among first-generation college students.
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