Microeconometric Analysis of the Relationships Between Early Alert Systems and Student Retention

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to evaluate the relationship between Early Alert Systems (EAS) and student retention. Specifically, the study aims to: (i) examine the effects of demographic, institutional and learning environment variables on student retention, (ii) examine the effects of EAS on student retention, and (iii) assess the financial implications of the interaction between EAS and student retention. Selected microeconometric models were estimated using data for 16,124 undergraduate students extracted from a case study university. The data was captured over three years between 2011 and the beginning of 2014. Key findings of this study show that demographic, institution, student performance and workload variables all exhibit statistically significant relationships with retention measures at the case study institution.