Introduction
There are several studies conducted analyzing the admission, transfer, and retention rates of the students, but these studies are normally focused on the traditional students alone. Traditional students referred to those “full-time secondary students” with ages ranging from 18-24 years old. But what about the non-traditional students? Because the non-traditional students seemed to be always ignored when an analysis about school and student performance is done, this study swerved away from the norm and focuses on “attrition rates of the non-traditional students (such as the transfer students, adult learners, commuters, part-time students, graduate students, students with disabilities and minority students)”.
This research is conducted through qualitative research design within the ethnographic research tradition. The researcher opted to use the ethnographic research method because she wanted to analyze the various human behaviors within a particular university. Specifically, the researcher also opted for this method because she felt the need to understand student behavior from an everyday perspective. As for her data gathering method, a semi-structured survey through in-depth interviewing was done.
Midwestern university
Monroe chose a middle-sized Midwestern university as the foremost location to conduct her research. she particularly chose the school because there is an apparent consistency of the number of students that goes in and out of the school every school term. Thus, her query of how and why students choose to attend and then leave an institution will be readily answered. More so, it was the newly positioned administrator of the school himself who announced that the school must address the issue to significantly increase the number of enrolled transfer students in the next five years.
Results
Based on the results gathered, it cannot be denied that the institutions of higher education must realize that they hold the higher responsibility when it comes to admission statistics of the students. But this does not mean that they are not accountable for the retention rates of the students, because they still do. both the admission and the retention rates are the focal points that measure the overall institutional effectiveness. It is also worth noting that persistence and completion rates and degree accomplishment rates serve as the basis to measure retention level. More so, the presence of decisive examinations in the attrition and retention about the experiences of every student – traditional, non-traditional, and transfer students included – will continue to be important.
“… institutions of higher education can reassess the accuracy of the content they present students, the timeliness of information disseminated, and the venues for appropriate communication” (Monroe).