About a third of college students have considered “stopping out" by withdrawing from enrollment at their institution, and academic performance, family responsibilities, and changes in career plans were among the most frequently cited reasons cited by students for ultimately doing so.
These are among the findings in the ACE brief
Reasons Students Consider Leaving or Stopping Out, the second in a series using insights from the 2023
Diverse Learning Environments Survey, one of six surveys administered by the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI).
This brief examines why students choose to stop out or leave college by highlighting key factors that influence these decisions, including financial constraints, family responsibilities, and academic challenges. It discusses the considerations students make when deciding whether to stop out; explores drivers for stopping out; and provides considerations for leaders to address this issue.
To better understand stop-out on their campuses, the authors encourage senior leaders to ask themselves:
How does our institution define stop-out? What data does our institution collect on stop-out? How can it be leveraged to inform policies and practices aimed at reducing stop-out?
What mechanisms exist for matching students who are at risk of stopping out with available institutional services and community resources?
How does our institution reengage students who have stopped out?
Additionally, the authors encourage campus leaders to consider resources like the
ACE National Guide and Gallup and Lumina Foundation's
State of Higher Education reports.
“Understanding the reasons why students choose to stop out or leave college is critical to addressing retention and success in higher education," the authors write.
This series of briefs are the inaugural pieces ACE has published since
announcing a partnership with the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies (UCLA Ed&IS) to strengthen and lead HERI, administered by CRESST, a research and development center within UCLA Ed&IS. The first brief,
Sense of Belonging, analyzed students' perceptions of their learning environments to identify potential pressure points against persistence and completion.
Registration is open through October 2024 for one of
HERI's surveys: the CIRP Freshman Survey.
A recent blog post highlights how participating in the CIRP Freshman Survey benefits institutions.
Through their partnership, ACE and UCLA Ed&IS are working to elevate and expand HERI's research and reach through ACE's extensive capacity and expertise in faculty and presidential-level data collection and research. Read more about
the partnership here.