Education Commons^™

Exploring Predicted Vs. Actual First To-Second Year Retention Rates: A Study Of Evangelical Lutheran Church In America Colleges, Brenda Porter Poggendorf

Dissertations

Retention of students is a critical area of much needed attention on nearly every college campus. It is important to students who want to succeed in college and beyond, to institutions that desire high efficiency and prestige, and increasingly to state and federal leaders. Retention of students in college affects a broad range of stakeholders, from the self-esteem and financial stability of students to the fiscal health, well-being and leadership of our country.

Using Astin's model of inputs-environment-outputs (1993) as a guide, this study seeks to understand institutional environmental factors that may impact the retention of students from their first-to-second …

Factors In Destination Decisions For Cuban Study Abroad, Kari Beall

Master's Theses

In January of 2011, the Obama Administration loosened the regulations on academic travel to Cuba, allowing students to travel to this island nation as part of an academic program. These changes have created an ideal environment in which to study the factors that influence the institutional decision to create a new study abroad program. This is an area that has seen very little if any previous research. This study hopes to investigate the connection between the goals of education abroad as a whole and the reasons a study abroad program, in this case to Cuba, is actually created. Studying the …

Identifying Student Perspectives: Addressing The Financial Barriers Facing Low-Income Students In Study Abroad, Lauren Miranda

Master's Theses

International education today is largely concerned with improving diversity throughout study abroad but despite institutional strategies which seek to address the barriers facing underrepresented students, the overall student profile of study abroad remains unbalanced. Cost is continuously deemed the biggest barrier affecting students' ability to study abroad, a burden that is most likely heavily felt by low-income students. Therefore, the focus of this study is to identify the student perspective in relation to the financial barriers affecting low-income students' intent to study abroad. The results of this study will identify necessary student resources which institutions like Loyola University Chicago can …