Factors affecting college completion in a no-racial majority campus

Factors associated with Black and Hispanic students’ low academic achievement and retention in college have been abundantly discussed in previous studies (Allen, 1988b; Bailey & Weininger, 2002; Cooper, Cooper, Azmitia, Chavira, & Gullatt, 2002; Seidman, 2007; Vernez & Abrahamse, 1996). Among them, a strand of research examined how the racial composition of enrolled students relates to racial minority students’ experience of college. Many studies found benefits of enrolling in colleges with large numbers of racial minorities, as opposed to enrolling in Predominantly White Institutions (PWI), in terms of students’ academic gains, social experiences, and psychological wellbeing (Allen, 1988b; DeSousa & Kuh, 1996). Despite this prior research, less commonly examined is the degree to which the racial composition of enrolled students relates to minority students’ college graduation rates. Also, the prior studies were restricted to either PWI or Minority Serving Institutions (MSI), such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Yet, there are colleges that are neither minority serving nor predominantly White, and few studies have investigated minority students’ performance in these settings. Addressing this gap in knowledge, the present study examined student surveys and graduation records from a college where there is no majority racial group. First, student graduation rates in this no-racial majority setting were compared with the national college graduation rates. Second, relative risk factors, in terms of college graduation, associated with Black and Hispanic students in comparison to Asian and White students were examined using multinominal logistic regression analyses. Third, risk and protective factors associated with college completion across the racial groups were identified using binary logistic regression analyses. The findings indicated that, in the No-Racial Majority Campus (NRMC), (1) there were no significant racial gaps in graduation rates, (2) Black and Hispanic students graduated at higher rates than their counterparts in national samples, (3) Black and Hispanic female students graduated at higher rates than Asian and White male students, (4) female-male ratio, household income, parental education, financial resource, commuting length, and hours of study were presented discrepantly in Black and Hispanic students relative to White and Asian students, and (5) high self-reported stress and part-time registration in the early years of college was associated with a lower probability of college completion eight years later.Psy.D.Includes bibliographical reference