Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Pre-College Predictor’s Impact on College Graduation

This study assesses the impact of cognitive and noncognitive pre-characteristics on college graduation in Tennessee. The State of Tennessee has applied multiple campus-based interventions at the Tennessee Board of Regents and the University System of Tennessee to increase graduation rates. This study is driven by three concepts and investigated by two main research questions: (1) To what extent do cognitive and non-cognitive pre-college experiences college impact a student’s propensity to graduate college at a mid-sized public university? (2) What cognitive/non-cognitive pre-college characteristics impact a student’s propensity to graduate college at a mid-sized public university? While cognitive and non-cognitive factors impacting college graduation are relatively new research areas, this study aims to add to the literature by measuring the extent. The null Hypotheses explored the negative significance of impact and extent on college graduation. Vincent Tinto has pioneered and steered the area of student retention for nearly five decades. Evolving models of Astin’s 1980 Involvement Model or, more recently, Swails’ 2004 Student-Centered Model, student retention remains an area of interest for colleges and universities, families, and public officials. This examination included descriptive statistics for variable exploration and Binary Logistic Regression Analysis for the overall model and significance. The results found significance in five of the cognitive and one of the non-cognitive variables selected with a positive-to-very positive impact on college graduation. Contrary to the researcher’s previous belief, non-cognitive variables could not reject the null hypothesis but encourage additional research by utilizing diverse and relevant variables