FRESHMAN YEAR RETENTION AT THREE CAMPUSES OF A LARGE URBAN COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT: 1983–1986

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Abstract
Most studies of college student retention/attrition are based on data obtained from four‐year residential colleges or universities, and most recent studies attempt to explain retention/attrition within the framework of Tinto's model, or of models derived from Tinto's work. This study first evaluates the applicability of existing retention/attrition models for community/junior college students and then presents the results of a longitudinal study of freshman year retention and freshman year academic performance (using stepwise regression) at three campuses of a major community college system. Results indicate that knowledge of certain pre‐enrollment variables can assist two‐year institutions in identifying potential dropouts and that the addition of first semester academic performance data to this knowledge base can substantially improve an institution's ability to predict dropout behavior.