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FACTORS AFFECTING THE SUCCESS OF OLDER
COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS
by
Lia Lerner
________________________________________________________________________
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION
August 2009
Copyright 2009 Lia Lerner
Object Description
| Title | Factors affecting the success of older community college students |
| Author | Lerner, Lia |
| Author email | llerner@usc.edu; lial@juno.com |
| Degree | Doctor of Education |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | Education (Leadership) |
| School | Rossier School of Education |
| Date defended/completed | 2009-04-23 |
| Date submitted | 2009 |
| Restricted until | Unrestricted |
| Date published | 2009-08-04 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Maxwell, William |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Tambascia, Tracy Bowman, Gregory |
| Abstract | This study indicates the factors that contribute to the success of nontraditional community college students, defined as 25 years of age or older (N = 2068) and their effect upon student success. The dependent variable, success, is defined in terms of the students’ grade point average (GPA) and course completion rate (CCR). Independent variables include family responsibilities, job obligations, and social support. Family responsibilities include factors such as time spent on doing housework or childcare, the presence of children (broken down by age), the presence of other dependents, and marital status. Job obligations included employment status, hours spent at work, and job related responsibilities. Social support was measured using factors such as support by family,friends, instructors, and employers. The TRUCCS (Transfer and Retention of Urban Community College Students) dataset was used representing the nine community colleges of the Los Angeles Community College District. The TRUCCS project is a longitudinal project started in 2001 by the University of Southern California and the Los Angeles Community College District. The dataset is based on a sample of 4,967 community college students of the nine colleges of LACCD. The study found that success (both in terms of GPA and course completion rate) is very slightly affected by family responsibilities or job obligations.; Marriage, one of the factors that made up the independent variable of family responsibilities was consistently, though weakly correlated with GPA and course completion rate, in the sense that married students’ GPA and course completion rate was higher. Social support plays a small role as well. The study was replicated based on ethnicity as well. African Americans, Mexicans, Chicanos and White students’ answers were analyzed and the correlations between the various factors and both GPA and CCR are weak as well. The study is important because it adds new knowledge to the literature about the factors affecting the success of nontraditional community college students, as well as demonstrates the need for more research. A limitation of the study is the fact that quantitative research alone does not give a very clear picture of the issue that is being discussed. |
| Keyword | community college; college students; student success; family responsibilities; nontraditional |
| Geographic subject | school districts: Los Angeles Community College District |
| Geographic subject (city or populated place) | Los Angeles |
| Coverage date | after 2001 |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m2475 |
| Rights | Lerner, Lia |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | http://www.usc.edu/isd/libraries/services/ask_a_librarian/email/ |
| Filename | etd-Lerner-2977 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume17/etd-Lerner-2977.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Full text | FACTORS AFFECTING THE SUCCESS OF OLDER COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS by Lia Lerner ________________________________________________________________________ A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF EDUCATION August 2009 Copyright 2009 Lia Lerner |
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