Centering the Marginalized: The Impact of the Pandemic on Online Student Retention

Autor/inn/en	Brown, Joshua Travis; Kush, Joseph M.; Volk, Frederick A.
Titel	Centering the Marginalized: The Impact of the Pandemic on Online Student Retention
Quelle	In: Journal of Student Financial Aid, 51 (2022) 1, Artikel 3 (26 Seiten) PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0884-9153
Schlagwörter	Undergraduate Students; Distance Education; Electronic Learning; School Holding Power; Academic Persistence; College Freshmen; On Campus Students; Pandemics; COVID-19; White Students; Minority Group Students; Student Financial Aid; Time + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Distance study; Distance learning; Fernunterricht; Studienanfänger; Finanzielle Beihilfe; Studienfinanzierung; Studienförderung; Zeit
Abstract	During the pandemic, much of the focus of administrators and scholars has been on its impact on residential students and the sudden shift to online instruction. While justified, researchers have yet to focus on online students--who often represent marginalized communities in higher education--to ask whether they were impacted by factors related to the pandemic other than the modality shift. In this study, we examined how the first-year retention of online students was affected during the pandemic, and whether it differed from first-year residential students who transitioned online. We examined records of two student cohorts (Fall 2017 and Fall 2019) from a university to determine each cohort's retention rate by modality. Holding other relevant factors constant, we found the COVID cohort of students were less likely to persist to the following Fall regardless of modality, although residential students were still much more likely to be retained overall. However, Black and Hispanic students were less likely to be retained across both modalities, and even Black residential students were more vulnerable to not returning than their White counterparts, suggesting that racial inequalities persist across learning modalities. We conclude by suggesting how one retention tool--financial aid--could be used to address the particular needs of online students to improve their retention. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Center for Economic Education at the University of Louisville. Porter Building, 1905 South 1st Street, Louisville, Ky, 40292. e-mail: jsfa@louisville.edu; Web site: https://ir.library.louisville.edu/jsfa/
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01