Student success and geography: An analysis of contributing factors that determine college academic achievement and persistence of Black males

The purpose of the study was to analyze the relationship between academic and nonacademic determinants of academic achievement and persistence and to identify how university geographic location influences the likelihood of Black male persistence. Quantitative data was drawn from the 2012/14 Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS) Longitudinal Study (BPS: 12/14) conducted by the U.S. Department of Education National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) to explore third-year academic achievement and persistence for Black males. This study identified two research questions, guided by the theoretical frameworks of Tinto’s student institutional departure model and Astin’s Input-Environment-Output model to assess Black male decisions to stay or leave college. Descriptive statistics were used to calculate the means and percentages for all independent and dependent variables included in this analysis. Additionally, a multiple regression was used to predict the relationship between academic and non-academic determinants of academic achievement for Black males. Furthermore, a binomial logistic regression was used to predict the probability that university geographic location influences the likelihood of Black male persistence. The findings from this study indicated that when controlling for academic achievement (third-year), high school GPA had a positive effect on Black male third-year persistence, while financial aid (federal and private student loans) had a negative effect on Black male GPA their third year of college. Additionally, this study indicated that geographic location did not influence the likelihood of third-year persistence. In fact, the findings in this study demonstrated that having a job on campus during the first year of college positively influenced Black male thirdyear persistence