A National Study of Retention Efforts at Institutions of Higher Education with Baccalaureate Degree Nursing Programs

This study is concerned with the problem of determining the status of.specific student retention efforts at the departmental and institutional levels in institutions of higher education offering baccalaureate degrees in nursing. The purposes of the study include (1) the determination of the percentages of those institutions which have specific programs to increase student retention in place and functioning at the various administrative levels, (2) the determination of those aspects of the many possible retention efforts that are being utilized, (3) identification of those retention efforts which may be most effective, and (4) comparison of retention rates between those institutions with organized retention programs and those without these programs. The population of the study is composed of all 430 of the National League for Nursing (NLN) accredited, Registered Nurse Baccalaureate Degree programs in the United States. The specially designed survey instrument produced a 62 percent response return. Response frequencies and percentages were calculated to show the relative success rates of various retention efforts. In addition, the data were subjected to several statistical procedures to determine if there were statistically significant differences between the various types and levels of retention efforts. The findings indicate that the presence of an organized and functioning program to increase student retention does produce a statistically significant increase in the mean retention rate for those institutions with such programs as compared with those institutions without organized retention programs. This significant increase was constant across the three types or levels of retention programs surveyed (departmental level only, university level only, both university and departmental levels). The majority of the respondents (55.5 percent) do have retention programs in place and functioning at some level in their institutions. Of the six major areas of retention efforts listed on the questionnaire, the area dealing the "Administrative Activities" to increase student retention was present most often among that group of respondents with the highest retention rates