Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

King, Stephanie B.

Committee Member

Coats, Linda T.

Committee Member

Molina, Danielle K.

Committee Member

Fincher, Mark E.

Date of Degree

4-30-2021

Original embargo terms

Worldwide

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

Major

Community College Leadership

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

College

College of Education

Department

Department of Educational Leadership

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to determine if participation in a TRIO program at the community college would lead to academic success for transfer students at the 4-year university. Specifically, the researcher collected data for students who participated in a TRIO program at a community college from 2010-2020 to see if they had higher rates of graduation, higher rates of enrollment and completion, and higher GPAs as compared to similar students who were not involved in TRIO at a community college. The independent variables were TRIO participation, gender, first-generation status, Pell status, transfer GPA, and transfer credit hours earned. A total of 2193 transfer students from two community colleges in the southeastern region of the United States were included in this study. There were 77 transfer students who were involved in a TRIO program at a community college and 2116 transfer students who were not involved in a TRIO program. There were 8 students who were involved in a TRIO program at both institutions. A binary logistic regression was run to determine how TRIO participation affected graduation, enrollment and completion, and GPA for transfer students at the 4-year university. Transfer TRIO participation, gender, and Pell status were not significant predictors of graduation. First-generation status, although research has shown that continuing-generation students graduate at higher rates than first-generation students, was significant in terms of graduation for transfer students. Transfer GPA, and transfer credit hours earned were also found to be significant predictors of graduation for transfer students at the 4-year university. Transfer TRIO participation and Pell status were not significant predictors of enrollment and completion. Gender, in terms of females when compared to males, was a significant factor for whether a student was still enrolled or completed their degree. First-generation status, transfer GPA, and transfer credit hours earned were also significant predictors of enrollment and completion. Transfer TRIO participation, gender, Pell status, and first-generation status were found to be significant for GPA.

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