Abstract:
Students often have difficulty completing their college
education. Some leave during their freshmen year, others
later in their careers. Many factors contribute to the
decision to withdraw, often relating to the individual
student, or the institution. Literature indicates that the
decision to withdraw is frequently based on student involvement.
This study, conducted at Oregon State University,
utilized the revised third edition of the College Student
Experience Questionnaire by Pace, (1990) as the instrument
for assessing student involvement. The study groups consisted
of all freshmen students admitted in 1992 from rural
resource dependent communities (RRDC) in the state of
Oregon (N=37), a like sample of non-RRDC students (N=37)
selected from the balance of the freshman class that year,
and natural resource (NRH) majors (N=26) and non-NRH
(N=128) selected from a random sample of all students
admitted to the university in 1990, 1991, and 1992.
This study postulated that students socialize differently
in RRDC and, consequently, differ in their
involvement in academic and social activities on campus.
Further it posited that departments vary and consequently
students in NRM would exhibit more involvement in the
college experience.
No significant difference in involvement was found
between RRDC students and their cohorts. However, ninety-four
percent of the non-RRDC students lived in college
housing during their freshmen year, while forty percent of
the RRDC students lived off campus. About twenty-two percent
of RRDC students indicated that they were not planning
to return to O.SU. in the Fall, while less that seven
percent of the non-RRDC students planned not to return.
Quality of effort varied significantly between NRX and
non-NRM students, however no consistent difference was
found. Non-NRM students rated higher factors about Art,
Music and Theater, Student Union and Personal Experiences,
while NRM students rated higher factors about Science and
Technology, Relationships with faculty members, and gains
in understanding science and in specializing for further
education.
A discriminant analysis done on the entire response
group (N=l54) to determine which of the variables best
discriminated those who intended to return and those who
did not resulted in supporting the hypothesis that satisfaction
is a powerful discriminator of intent to return.
