The Impact of Mandatory Student Success Courses on Community College Student Persistence

The purpose of this study was to gauge the impact of mandatory student success courses on community college student persistence at Hispanic-Serving Institutions. The subsequent analysis was conducted in the context of data-driven decision making and student persistence leadership, where student and campus level data can be used by community college leaders to assess the magnitude of the impact of programs on student persistence and design interventions based on immediate student needs.

This study examined the impact of a mandatory student success course on student persistence at a community college in west Texas that is a Hispanic Serving Institution. A nonexperimental quantitative design was used and descriptive statistics were derived for the sample. Binary logistic regression was conducted to determine which independent variables, including passing the mandatory student success course, were predictors of student persistence.

A number of conclusions were drawn from the results of this study. First, the mandatory student success course did not have a direct impact on persistence at this college, but may have impacted other factors known to increase persistence rates. Second, more information and research on the impact of student success courses are needed to better inform the results of this study. Finally, that students' chosen program of study was a major predictor of student persistence was a key finding. The sociocultural dynamics tied to students' program of study choices shed light into the possible impact of program choice on offsetting the impact of pre-college and pull factors on student persistence.