A correlational study examining retention rates before and after receiving the Title III grant

This quantitative correlational research study examined the relationship between student retention and the impact of Title III funded programs at Mid Michigan Community College. The research consisted of two sections; the first section of the study comprised of archival data and the application of the ARIMA intervention analysis procedure. This procedure was used to forecast the response series and analyze the impact of the intervention, which reflected an increase in student retention after MMCC initiated programs created by the Title III funding. The second section of the study required a minimum of 357 completed surveys by 1,200 randomly selected students; however, the survey yielded 543 completed student surveys. The completed student surveys were divided into two groups of 289 students who had used the services created by Title III funding and 253 students who had not used these services. The independent variable (IV) was the factors of student satisfaction, motivation, time management, and self-efficacy. The dependent variable referenced by the attribution of satisfaction with the education provided at Mid Michigan Community College. Application of the Shapiro-Wilks test for normality had been designed to distinguish each departure from normality and presented the impact of Title III funding on retention, student satisfaction, achievement, and perseverance. Recommendations from the research indicated maintaining the Title III programs after funding has extinguished. Further research should be conducted to determine if the results of this study can be replicated at other community colleges in receipt of Title III funding.