College Attrition at American Research Universities - Comparative Case Studies.

Undergraduate attrition is an issue of growing concern in the field of higher education - it now even has its own scholarly journal. This work is the first book on college attrition to present case studies based on specific institutions of higher learning, examining in detail the practical concerns that cause students to drop out and what can be done to cut the drop-out rate. The book adds an important voice from the students themselves, whose views have often been omitted from the discussion.College Attrition was written as a result of the author's scholarly interest in the question of Why students quit, combined with the concern expressed by the leaders of the four institutions in the study. While responding to and building on trends in existing work in this field, the current work departs from existing literature both empirically and theoretically. The book studies university drop-out rates, looking at quantitative data but also, and primarily, relying on qualitative interviews with students who have left school. Students' accounts, most often the unseen side of the equation, reveal extraordinarily consequential insights into the attrition process itself and to what interventions can be effectively introduced to stem it.Theoretically, the work is set in a context that is enlarged by examining attrition within the organization - right in the schools in which it is found. Most previous research has treated attrition as an abstract process.While the data are based on and are primarily focused on research universities, the findings and many of the conclusions are germane to a host of other institutional types. College Attrition was written as a result of the author's scholarly interest in the question of why students quit, combined with the concern expressed by the leaders of the four institutions in the study. While responding to and building on trends in existing work in this field, the current work departs from existing literature both empirically and theoretically. The book studies university drop-out rates, looking at quantitative data but also, and primarily, relying on qualitative interviews with students who have left school. Students' accounts, most often the unseen side of the equation, reveal extraordinarily consequential insights into the attrition process itself and to what interventions can be effectively introduced to stem it. Theoretically, the work is set in a context that is enlarged by examining attrition within the organization — right in the schools in which it is found. Most previous research has treated attrition as an abstract process. While the data are based on and are primarily focused on research universities, the findings and many of the conclusions are germane to a host of other institutional types

Hermanowicz asks an important question: Why do college student departure rates vary among elite institutions of higher learning in the United States? This book breaks new ground as this question has not been previously explored in an empirical way. An empirical treatment of this question is important both theoretically and practically. This volume makes a substantial contribution to the voluminous body of literature on college student departure.

Why do some colleges exhibit higher student attrition than expected? This is the first work to present case studies based on specific institutions; it also adds an important voice from the students themselves on the practical concerns that affect attritio..