Full Citation
Title: A Longitudinal Analysis of Student Retention Using Neighborhoods as Socioeconomic Proxies
Citation Type: Dissertation/Thesis
Publication Year: 2021
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Abstract: In recent years, higher education researchers and practitioners have increasingly recognized that socioeconomic gaps in degree attainment are of utmost concern. Yet, despite the rise in attention relating to these socioeconomic gaps, the field of higher education continues to face challenges in assessing college access and success for students from less-privileged socioeconomic backgrounds, often relying on narrow socioeconomic metrics such as the Pell grant status, firstgeneration status, and school lunch status. Additionally, scholars must contend with the challenge of generating more accurate socioeconomic metrics while using data which is already available. In other disciplines, such as sociology, psychology, and public health, numerous studies have examined the use of neighborhood-based variables as proxies for socioeconomic status, demonstrating that they may serve as reliable indicators for individuals’ backgrounds. However, in the field of higher education, neighborhood-based variables are rarely utilized, and considerations of place and space are only recently being given their due acknowledgement. This study attempts to fill this gap by examining the use of neighborhood-based socioeconomic variables as predictors of individuals’ retention, success, and status changes in higher education. This study draws on theories that seek to explain factors that impact college student retention/attrition for understanding any possible differences between individuals from different type of neighborhoods. Additionally, sociological theories pertaining to segregation and capital accumulation underlie key assumptions of this study. The site for this study included a large, public, four-year state flagship institution, referred to as Midwest University. This study utilizes the incoming Autumn 2012, in-state undergraduate cohort – a sample of nearly 6,000 individuals – and a series of analyses – including binomial regression and survival analyses – in order to examine how students’ neighborhood-based socioeconomic variables may be correlated with their retention, success, and status changes over a six-year period. As a result of these analyses, I demonstrate neighborhood socioeconomic context (as measured at the census tract and block group levels) to be a valuable indicator of students’ retention and success after enrolling in college and provide implications for future research, policy, and practice.
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Authors: Hallmark, Tyler Scott Lee
Institution: Ohio State University
Department: Education Studies
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Publisher Location: Coumbus
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Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Education, Housing and Segregation
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