| To improve college retention and graduation rates, university administrators and researchers have sought to discover those predictors that are present in successful college freshmen. The purpose of this study was to identify the importance and supporting data regarding dual and concurrent enrollment programs as they relate to students' ability to persist and graduate from college, in addition to reducing the number of years of college enrollment before earning a bachelor's degree. The data for this study were obtained through the Institutional Analysis and Data Administration Department at Arizona State University (ASU). The target population for this study was all first-time freshman students with dual or concurrent enrollment credits who enrolled at ASU during the fall of 1998.; For purposes of this study the independent variables examined were gender, ethnicity, SAT scores, transfer credit type (dual/concurrent enrollment), AP credits, housing, degree type, and high school GPA. In this study, the independent variables acted as controllable variables in relationship to their influence on the dependent variables of first-year persistence, successful graduation, and time-to-graduation of the students with and without dual/concurrent enrollment credits.; The results revealed that students who did participate in dual and concurrent enrollment did have a better persistence, better graduation, and a shorter time-to-degree. These students also had a better preparation in high school overall as evidenced by their high school GPA and SAT scores. In addition, the majority of these students chose to live on campus their freshmen year. A logistic and linear regression analysis revealed a positive relationship between dual/concurrent enrollment and persistence, graduation rate, and time-to-degree. The findings revealed that dual and concurrent enrollment do provide insight in the ability to predict students who will persist, graduate, and graduate early. |
