Career Development Among College Students: Determining the Influence of Career Services on Student Persistence to Graduation

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the influence of participation in career services activities and selected demographic characteristics on the persistence to graduation among undergraduate students at a research university-very high research activity (RU/VH) in the Southern portion of the United States. The target population was all undergraduate students enrolled at a research university –very high research activity (RU/VH) in the Southern portion of the United States. The accessible population for this study was undergraduate students at one selected research university –very high research activity (RU/VH) in the Southern portion of the United States and the sample included the undergraduate students who entered in Fall 2008. Using a stratified random sampling procedure, two groups of 500 students each (a. 500 students who used career services and b. 500 students who did not use career services) was drawn for analysis. Data were obtained from the selected institution’s office of the registrar and the career center and transferred into a computerized recording form. Descriptive analysis, correlations, multiple regression, and logistic regression analysis were conducted to meet objectives of the study. The findings indicated that a higher percentage of the students who used career services graduated while majority of the students who did not use career services did not graduate. The logistic regression analysis produced a significant model that increased the researcher’s ability to correctly classify 85.4% of the cases of students who graduated or did not graduate. The use of the Careers2geaux system, job search appointments at the career center, college overall GPA, and gender contributed to the model significantly. In addition, the multiple regression analysis produced a statistically significant model explaining 27.4 % of the variance in persistence as measured by time taken to degree completion in months. The variables that contributed significantly to the regression model were the college overall GPA, participation in experiential education at the career center, gender, and the category “Hispanic” in the race variable. It was concluded that participation in career services activities had a positive influence on student persistence to graduation as measured by whether or not the student graduated. Recommendations and implications were discussed