Persistence and Performance in the First Year

Completing the first year in postsecondary education is related to timely attainment of a degree. Whereas about half of all students who entered postsecondary education in 1989–90 completed a certificate or degree within 5 years, about two-thirds of students who completed their first year attained within 5 years (Horn 1998).

• First-generation status is associated with leaving a 4-year institution (but not a 2-year institution) before the second year.

Overall, 16 percent of those who began their postsecondary education in a 4-year institution in 1989–90 left before their second year—that is, they either dropped out for at least 4 months during their first year or failed to return for their second year (Horn 1998). First-generation students were about twice as likely as those whose parents had bachelor’s degrees to do so (23 versus 10 percent). Other characteristics associated with higher rates of leaving were having low grades (GPA under 2.0), delaying enrollment after high school, working 35 or more hours per week, and having low or moderate participation in campus activities.⁷ After adjusting for these factors and also taking into account others—such as financial aid, attendance status when first enrolled (full- or part-time), race/ethnicity, sex, socioeconomic status, institutional control, and satisfaction with campus life—first-generation status was still a significant indicator of leaving before the second year. In addition, first-generation students were less likely than others to return to a 4-year institution once they left. They represented a larger proportion of those who had left and not returned to a 4-year institution as of 1994 (55 percent) than of those who had left and returned (35 percent) (Horn 1998).

The situation was somewhat different for those who began at public 2-year institutions in 1989–90. Although first-generation students left during or after their first year at a higher rate than those whose parents had bachelor’s degrees or higher (48 versus 33 percent), this difference disappeared when other factors were considered. Only low GPAs, low academic integration index scores,⁸ and having no degree objective were significantly related to leaving before the second year.

• A rigorous high school curriculum helps mitigate the disadvantage of first-generation status.

Among 1995–96 beginning postsecondary students, academic performance in the first year varied with parents’ education under some, but not all circumstances. Specifically, students’ high school curriculum was an intervening factor.⁹

Among 1995–96 beginning postsecondary students at 4-year institutions whose high school curriculum did not exceed the core New Basics, first-generation students earned a lower average GPA in their first year (2.4) than their peers whose parents had bachelor’s or advanced degrees (2.7) (Warburton, Bugarin, and Nuñez 2001). A similar relationship held if the high school curriculum was Beyond Core New Basics I—first-generation students had an average GPA of 2.5, and students whose parents had bachelor’s or advanced degrees had an average GPA of 2.8. This difference did not extend to those who had taken more challenging curricula. Regardless of parents’ education, students earned an average GPA of about 2.7 when their high school curriculum was Beyond Core New Basics II and an average of about 3.1 when it was in the Rigorous category.

⁷These activities include: attending career-related lectures, participating in study groups, talking over academic matters with faculty, and meeting with an advisor concerning academic plans. An index was developed based on the number of times students participated in each of these activities during 1989–90. (back to text)

⁸This index was based on how frequently students did the following in 1989–90: attended career-related lectures, participated in study groups, discussed academic matters with faculty, and met with an advisor. (back to text)

⁹The measures of high school curriculum are described in the technical note to this analysis. (back to text)