Abstract
This study describes course withdrawal behaviors in the Texas public higher education institutions and examines the predictors of course withdrawal by using statewide administrative datasets. The findings showed that two-thirds of the college students in the sample withdrew from at least one course, highlighting course withdrawal as a prevalent issue among college students. Community college transfer students experienced the highest rate of course withdrawal (three-fourths) throughout their education, surpassing those who remained at a community college or initially enrolled in a public university. Moreover, this study’s findings revealed that various student and course characteristics are related to course withdrawals, such as cumulative college grade point average, summer enrollment, taking 15 semester credit hours, taking online courses, paid employment, and Pell Grant recipient status. Implications for practice, policy, and future research are discussed.
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Notes
Students have to pay back a portion of the Title IV financial aid funds they received if they withdraw from all courses before completing 60% of the semester (U.S. Department of Education, 2021). Subsequently, these students tend to stop attending class sessions altogether and are often burdened with debt due to obligations to repay financial aid grants or student loans (U.S. Department of Education, 2021).
Students are required to remain enrolled in a course and receive a final grade after six course withdrawals. However, institutions may provide exemptions for personal circumstances and health issues. In such cases, course withdrawals are not counted towards the six-course withdrawal limit.
I use community college and public two-year college interchangeably. This study includes technical and vocational colleges under the umbrella of either of those phrases.
Meta majors represent broad fields that include various specific majors (Waugh, 2016). Broad meta major categories include the following fields: Industrial, Manufacturing, and Construction; Natural Sciences; Business; Social and Behavioral Sciences; Communication Sciences; Literature, Linguistics, and Fine Arts; Math and Computer Sciences; Education, Social Services and Policy; Engineering and related fields; Humanities and Liberal Arts; Service Oriented disciplines; Health; and the Undecided/Undeclared category.
I did not include non-credit courses.
Credits refer to semester credit hours.
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Bicak, I. Course Withdrawal Behaviors and Predictors of Course Withdrawal Among College Students. Res High Educ 65, 354–377 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-023-09757-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-023-09757-4