TITLE Educational Objectives and Retention at Two Community Colleges.

In fulfilling their mission to provide services to diverse groups, community colleges often find that their retention rates suffer as a result. Current research reviews the theoretical basis of retention, focusing on how it pertains to two-year schools in particular. Numerous variables influence persistence, and there is some support for educational objectives as important determinants of persistence at community colleges. This study examines which student characteristics best predict retention and student outcomes at two community colleges, using regression techniques. Fall 1997 cohorts--1,844 FTIC (first-time-in-college students) from Collin County Community College District (CCCCD) in Texas, and 1,137 FTIC from Richland Community College (RCC) in Illinois--were tracked until spring 2001 and utilized to test the hypothesis that educational objectives are critical in predicting community college retention. For CCCCD, roughly 66 % of the original cohort remained by spring 1998. By fall 1998, 46 % were retained