| My dissertation focuses on an important higher education policy issue: college completion of nontraditional-age students and the role that individual and institutional attributes play in support of their outcomes. To address this area of concern, my dissertation examines the effects of student background characteristics, collegiate and noncollegiate experiences, financial aid programs, and institutional characteristics on nontraditional-age students' college persistence and completion. Building upon the Nontraditional Student Attrition Model (Bean & Metzner, 1985) and the Ecological Human Development Model (Bronfenbrenner, 1979), I propose the ecological nontraditional student persistence model as a conceptual framework to examine the topic. I use data from the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09). Adopting descriptive and logistic regression analyses, my dissertation illuminates how persistence and degree attainment are associated with the aforementioned variables. Findings suggest that female nontraditional-age students are disadvantaged in college completion while nontraditional-age students with higher family incomes and who are frequently involved in social activities on campus report are advantaged, as are federal and institutional grant recipients. Because nontraditional-age students are a particularly underserved student population at four-year institutions, academic programs and student services should be tailored to their needs. I also suggest revisiting a matrix for financial aid programs for working nontraditional-age students, and awarding credits for prior learning. |
