Influences on the Educational Degree Attainment of Two-Year College Students

With increasing numbers of students enrolling at two-year colleges, it is clear that additional research is needed to understand and predict the persistence behavior of this group of students. The central purpose of this study was to examine the effects of students' backgrounds, academic and social integration, external influences, and institutional satisfaction on the educational degree attainment of students who began their college experience at two-year colleges. The findings of this study are consistent with previous research and confirm the relationship of college academic activities and college grade point average with student persistence. Students' willingness to re-enroll in their freshman college was also found to positively influence educational degree attainment.