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BACCALAUREATE DEGREE PERSISTEN CE AMONG ADULT LEARNERS:
THE CASE OF FEMALE AF RICAN-AMERICANS

By

Nickolas Fleezanis

A DISSERTATION
Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirement
for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education

2001

ABSTRACT
BACCALUAREATE DEGREE PERSISTENCE AMONG ADULT LEARNERS
THE CASE OF FEMALE AFRICAN-AMERICANS
By

Nickolas Fleezanis

This study focused on adult learner persistence to baccalaureate degree completion.
By applying Howard S. Becker’s construct of situational adjustment to understand the
adjustment to the academic requirements of degree completion, this study’s purpose was
to gain a student’s perspective in defining and understanding persistence. Through the
interview process, students’ reflections on and perceptions of the motivation, learning
and performance that they felt were required to persist were probed.

Five African-American adult learners were selected from a group of seniors
completing their bachelor’s degrees based on age, minority status and proximity to
degree completion. They attended a medium-sized urban, private university specializing
in business related programs. The data collected from the interviews with the five women
indicated the importance of the motivational aspects of persistence, which included
established goals and commitment to degree completion, and the effects of external
relationships, and the resiliency, independence and pride of these women.

The effect of grades and GPAs on persistence was a significant part of this study. The
subject’s resiliency when faced with performance that did not meet their expectations was
critical to their persistence. Their ability to deal with grades and how grading

pressure affected their ability to persist is discussed.

The data collected also indicated the importance of learning to assess the performance
that each of the women had to elicit in order to complete their degrees. Learning to
assess their performance dealt with such factors as learning to deal with time constraints,
learning institutional rules and learning to deal with grades and GPAs.

The study also points out the limited influence the institution of higher education had
on these particular students and their persistence to degree completion. The study
exposes the fact that these particular African-American females brought with them the

necessary attributes to complete their degrees.

Copyright by
NICKOLAS FLEEZANIS
2001

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This study could not have been completed with the help of many collaborators both
professional and personal. Dr. Kathryn Moore was responsible for bringing me into the
doctoral program at Michigan State University challenging me to become a scholar. Dr.
Steven Weiland became my dissertation chairman and with his sense of humor and great
talent became my most important mentor. Dr. William Darby, Dr. Nancy McGee and Dr.
Keith Sheppard were all extremely helpful with their editing and advice which made this
project seem possible. I must also thank the other members of my Dissertation
Committee, Dr. Walter Hapkewicz, Dr. Manette Benham and Dr. John Dirkx. I thank Dr.
Julia Davis and Dr. Robert F unaro, for allowing me time from work to finish this study.
A very special thanks is owed to Dr. Rosemary Bartolameolli whose help with writing
and critical thinking got me through the course work before her untimely death.

I must thank my family: my wife Elaine without whose continued love, support and
pestering this would never have been written; my three children Paris, Melissa and
Jonathan who put up with neglect and missed time; my sister Jorja and brother-in-law
Michael Steinberg who were always there with words of encouragement and advice. And
most important, my thanks to the five women who let me see through their eyes what

persistence means.

PREFACE

As an observer and participant in the lives and experiences of students who have
completed the journey to degree completion, I feel both excited and privileged in being
able to add their voices to the understanding of this process. Many of these students have
allowed me to share their joys as they participated in commencement and afterwards
when they received their diplomas.

For nearly three decades I have been allowed to become a part of this process of
degree completion in the lives of many women and men who have come to me both for
guidance and help. All to often, many of us in academia become callous toward and
insulated from the students who look to us for direction on their journey to earning their
baccalaureate degree. They are not numbers, random samples, variables or things to be
counted. We forget that, like us, they need guidance and encouragement as they move
toward a new sense of life, its meaning and purpose.

Throughout my own journey to degree completion over the past eight years as a
commuter student, I found few fellow students or faculty who could be called true
mentors. My own experience leads me to believe that facing the challenges of
completing a degree is a solitary business. Those of us who find mentors to help us with
the struggle are fortunate. What we need to remember is that education is a human
enterprise that requires people from the presidency to the classroom who are able to give
of themselves.

For the past 28 years, I have devoted the majority of my professional life to the
education and advising of adult learners. l have chosen the topic of adult learner

vi

persistence in the hopes that it will not only shed light on the topic, but also allow those
who read it to gain a sense of the compassion that stimulates people to change. Educators
are in the business of changing people’s lives, often improving their quality of life

and their appreciation of what being educated really means.

Attempting to gain an understanding of how these five African-American women
were able to persist and change themselves to adapt to the academic situation that they
faced was truly a challenge. However, through open and honest dialogues and sharing
our own experiences and reflections as students, I feel that there was a bond that formed

among us. My problems and experiences were not that different from their own.

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

A Different Look at Persistence .................................................................... 1
Rationale for the Problem .............................................................................. 13
Statement of the Problem .............................................................................. 15
Significance and Implications of the Study .................................................. 15
CHAPTER TWO

What does Past Research Tell of Persistence ................................................ l8
Characteristics Associated with persistence .................................................. 19
Tinto’s Model of Persistence ........................................................................ 33
Research on Adult Learner Persistence ........................................................ 36
Research on African-American Persistence ................................................. 43
CHAPTER THREE

Conducting the Research .............................................................................. 48
Design of Study ............................................................................................ 49
Function of the Researcher ........................................................................... 51
Ethical Issues ................................................................................................ 53
Data Collection and Verification .................................................................. 53
Data Analysis ............................................................................................... 55
CHAPTER FOUR

Findings from the Interviews ........................................................................ 57
CHAPTER FIVE

Conclusion ................................................................................................... 106
Appendix A

Interview Protocol ........................................................................................ l 19
Appendix B

Subject Release Agreement .......................................................................... 121
Appendix C

Document Release Agreement ..................................................................... 122
Appendix D

Public Institution Dropout Rates by Highest Degree

Offered and Admission Selectivity .............................................................. 123
Appendix E

Private Institution Dropout Rates by Highest Degree

Offered and Admission Selectivity .............................................................. 125

viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Appendix F
Total Undergraduate Enrollment 1963-1997 ............................................... 127
Appendix G
Subjects Grades by Quarter Attended ......................................................... 128
Bibliography ................................................................................................ 13 1

ix

CHAPTER ONE

A Different Look at Persistence

The American College Testing (ACT) Corporation recently reported the number of
students who complete a baccalaureate degree within five-years from four-year colleges
and universities has steadily dropped to an all-time low of 52.1 percent in 1998 (ACT,
1999a). Analogous to this decrease in degree completion is the fact that “among these
four-year institutions, public institutions experienced considerably lower graduation rates
after five-years (42.9%) than private institutions (56.2%)” (Mashbum, 2000). ACT also
reports that the numbers of students who drop-out between the first and second year has
shown a steady increase over the past 15 years. ACT also reported that in 1998, more
than one-fourth of freshmen (26.4%) failed to return to the institution they were first
enrolled at for their second year (1999b). Appendixes D and E show non-returning rates
of freshman among private and public institutions from 1983 through 2001.

Adults find themselves under increasing pressure from both the public and private
sectors to become credentialed in order to maintain or advance their careers. Ever-
increasing numbers of adult females, who make up the majority of the non-traditional re-
entry student population, are pursuing degrees to gain employment or improve their
career prospects (Caracelli, 1986). Appendix F displays a table that indicates the increase
in the number of women that are attending institutions of higher education from 1969
through 1997 enrolled both part-time and full-time in public and private institutions.

Holliday’s research on women re-entering higher education indicates the following.

The re-entry woman today is no longer just the middle class, middle-

income, middle-aged woman with time on her hands for enrichment courses.
Re-entry women are represented more and more by minority, lower-income
women who are single parents and heads of households and single women
interested in career advancement. These women are serious, determined,
enthusiastic, highly motivated, eager to learn and academically successful” (as

quoted in Apps, 1988, p. 177).

Industry pressures to obtain degrees and increasing numbers of females seeking
degrees, coupled with technological advancements that have displaced workers, have
produced much of the current rise in numbers of adult learners returning to college
campuses to obtain degrees (Ackell, 1982; Apps, 1988; Conrad, 1993). However, a
disturbing fact still remains: the rate of persistence to degree completion among college
students, especially among minority adult learners, has not increased over the last 30
years and has shown a decline in the past ten years (NCES, 1999).

In order to understand the nature of this project and to have a better grasp of the
subjects selected for this study, the terms non-traditional student or adult learner must be
defined. Jan-Marie Spanard, who has studied re-entry learners in higher education, gives

a definition:

The average adult student has been defined as being older than 25, taking a

half-time course load or less, living off-campus and commuting to classes (or

studying through distance learning means), working part-time or more, and
generally having some responsibility for contributing to family finances

(1990, p. 311).

Bean and Metzner have extended this definition:

A non-traditional student is older than 24, or does not live in a campus
residence (e. g. is a commuter), or is a part-time student, or some combination
of these three factors; or is not greatly influenced by the social environment of
the institution; and is chiefly concerned with the institution’s academic

offerings (especially courses, certification, and degree) (1985, p. 489).

Adult learners are less concerned with the social and political realms of college life
than are younger students; indeed, they simply wish to complete the institutional
requirements for the degrees they seek (Bean and Metzner, 1985). Adult learners who
return to higher education as commuter students are not generally interested in
extracurricular activities, because in many cases, they have established personal lives
which may include their own groups of friends and families. Their interests are in the
academic areas of college life and the completion of degree programs (Ackell, I982;
Bean and Metzner, 1985; Apps, 1988; Conrad, 1993).

This study attempts to link the construct of situation adjustment to the problem of
persistence among female African-American adult learners. Situational adjustment

promotes the idea that change does occur during adulthood as opposed to many theorist

who believe that change in adulthood is an anomaly to be explained by earlier childhood
development.

One of the earlier constructs that attempts to address the problem of change in
adulthood, which also is the basic premise for this research, is taken from what Howard
S. Becker calls “situational adjustment” (1964). Its implications for persistence will
become the lens through which this research will be focused. Becker’s basic assumption
is that change in adulthood is not an aberration or, as he calls it, an “anomaly” from the
established elements of personality or self (1964, p. 40). Change in adulthood is not
merely an elaboration of the existing structure of norms, attitudes, values, and beliefs
established in childhood and adolescence. Rather, such change should be viewed as an
individual’s ability to learn the requirements of a situation and assess the performance
required to succeed within that situation (Becker, 1964).

The problem of persistence among adult learners who attempt to complete
baccalaureate degrees needs to be studied within a socially constructed context that
embraces the following overarching concept: "one of the most common mechanisms in
the development of the person in adulthood is the process of situational adjustment"
(Becker, 1964, p. 44). Becker admits that this is a rather gross conception, one whose
underpinnings are grounded in an individual’s motivation, ability to assess and learn the
requirements of a situation, and ability to deliver the performance to succeed within it
(1964).

According to Becker, "If he has a strong desire to continue, the ability to assess
accurately what is required, and can deliver the required performance, the individual turns

himself into the kind of person the situation demands" (1964, p. 44). Becker’s construct

will allow the examination of the ways in which five female minority adult learners
adjusted to the academic challenge of an institution of higher education (IHE) and
successfully assessed and delivered the performances essential to completing
baccalaureate degrees.

Becker’s construct can be considered analogous to Brim’s concept of learning adult
roles. Becker describes the difference between role learning and situational adjustment in

the following manner.

One learns to be a doctor or a policeman, learns the definitions of the statuses
involved and the appropriate behavior with respect to them. But the notion of
situational adjustment is more flexible than that of adult role learning. It
allows us to deal with smaller units and make a finer analysis. We construct
the process of learning an adult role by analyzing sequences of smaller and
more numerous situational adjustments. We should have in our minds the
picture of a person trying to meet the expectations he encounters in immediate
face-to-face situations: doing well in today’s chemistry class, managing to be
poised and mature on tonight’s date, surmounting the small crises of the
moment. Sequences and combinations of small units of adjustment produce

the larger units of role learning (1964, p. 44).

The construct of situational adjustment, embedded within five qualitative case studies,
should enable the reader to view degree completion from a broader perspective rather

than from a viewpoint that Rubenson (1982) describes as “reductionist” in character,

specifically, “studies in which the social context is treated secondary [sic] to individual
psychological variables” (p. 62). By employing ethnographic techniques it was possible
to understand what the five individual subjects faced in completing baccalaureate
degrees. This understanding may stimulate institutional change that creates environments
that improve the retention of adult learners. In his study of persistence among Hispanics
in higher education Attinasi has urged, “what is needed are naturalistic, descriptive
studies guided by research perspectives that emphasize the insider’s point of view” (1989,
p. 250). The current study proposes to be just that.
The Broader Context of the Study
At this point it is beneficial to define the broader context within which the specific

situation to be studied exists. The University and the five women chosen to be part of
this study are located in a large mid-westem metropolitan area composed of a city of just
under a million people, within a county of more than two million people. The city has an
83% African-American resident majority (US. Census, 2000). The US. Census reports
that within the county the University resides, single females make-up 13% of the home
owners; while in the city the University is located, 13% of the home owners are single
females. The entire demographic distribution of inhabitants in the southeastern region of
this state is highly segregated by race and socioeconomic classifications. The river front
of the city has been. redeveloped by large corporate concerns and wealthier non-minority
city dwellers, while many of the surrounding neighborhoods of the metropolis are in
economic distress and decay.

The automotive industry and its suppliers dominate the area’s economy. The largest

percentage of the minority population is employed in non-skilled or semi-skilled jobs

related to the automotive industry, health-related industries, banking and insurance
industries, a decaying public school system, governmental agencies, and public utilities.
The latest attempt to diversify the economic base of the metropolis has been the
introduction of three separately owned gambling casinos.

Postsecondary institutions available to residents within the city consist of one large
public research university, a public community college, a private religious affiliated
university, and a variety of both public and private vocational schools. Three other large
public community colleges and the independent non-profit university that the subjects of
this study attend also serve urban and suburban residents.

The institution that the study’s subjects attend is an independent, open enrollment,
non-profit university offering associate’s, bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business-
related fields. The campus that the subjects of this study attended has a student body of
3100 composed predominantly of African-American women. Seventy percent of the
students attend with the assistance of some form of financial aid, either from state or
federal funding agencies (Stingel, 2000). Many of the minority women who attend the
University are working with incomes that put them out of reach of federal and state grant
programs. This forces them to be dependent on student loans to pay for tuition, books
and fees, which adds to the personal debt of an already financially over-burdened single
head of the household.

The Academic Situation Defined
Defining the academic situation is crucial if it is to become the focal point through

which the conceptualization of situational adjustment can be applied to understand adult

learner persistence. Becker, Geer, and Hughes give the following definition of students’

perceptions of the academic area of college:

The most important features in students’ definition of the situation are the
following:

A statement of the goals one can reasonably strive for in the situation; a
description of the organizations within which action occurs and the demands
they make on participants; the rules, both formal and informal, by which
one’s action is constrained; and the rewards and punishments one may look

forward to as a consequence of his performance (p. 29).

The academic situation of college life, this study’s focus, is controlled by the faculty and
administration. Programs of study, with their systems of courses, credit hours,
examinations, and grades are conditions set by the faculty (Becker, Geer, and Hughes,
1968). Various administrative departments within the institution establish the policies,
rules and regulations, such as residency, graduation requirements, tuition, and fees.
Given their complexities, these conditions often represent a formidable array of obstacles
to which students must adjust.

In this realm of academic challenges and requirements, students exist in a state of what
Becker, Geer, and Hughes call “subjection” (1968, p. 7). Students are relatively
powerless to change or deviate from the traditional academic curriculum and the grading
system that acts as its reward system. This rigidity in itself represents a unique, or at least

unusual, situation for adults who are accustomed to having power and negotiating or

controlling the terms within the work and personal situations in which they find
themselves.

Since many adult learners who return to higher education tend not to be affiliated with
any institutionally sponsored group or organization, they are often faced with mediating
the academic rigors that confront them on‘their own. Typical adult learners commute to
campus in just enough time to attend class, have very little time to interact with faculty
members outside the classroom, and, unless small informal support groups are
established, face the requirements of the course work and institutional policies and
procedures alone.

Murray described the older commuter student as experiencing what he called an
“environmental press” (1938). In describing Murray’s “environmental press”, Bean and

Metzner indicate that non-traditional students have

(a) less interaction in college environment with peers or faculty members and
less interaction through extracurricular activities and the use of campus
services, (b) class-related activities very similar to traditional students, and (c)
much greater interaction with the noncollegiate, external environment (1985,

pp. 489-490).

If the conceptualization of situational adjustment is to be applied to adult learner
persistence within the academic area of college life, a clear understanding of how

students assess their performances and gauge their levels of learning is essential. The

traditional means by which students judge their own performances and the performances
of their peers are grades and grade point averages.

Within the academic area of college life, grades are viewed as the “chief
institutionalized value and the institutional basis of punishment and reward in academic
pursuits” (Becker. Gerr, and Hughes, 1968, p. 33). As students adjust to the academic
situations that confront them in completing degree programs, they form what Becker and
his associates (1995) call the “grade point perspective.” This perspective is acquired due
to the placement of such a high value upon grades by the institutional culture that exists
within formalized education.

This method of determining performance is universal within academia, with the
exception of a small number of institutions that use the narrative portfolio method of
academic evaluation. The letter grade remains the favored symbol indicating academic
performance, with a few schools using numeral grading scales.

The grade point average is calculated by summing the total number of credit hours the
student has attempted and dividing that sum into the sum of the grade values or honor
points the student has achieved. This grading system is applied to the academic situation
to evaluate individual projects, written assignments, examinations, entire courses, and is
finally the summative or overall performance indicator in the form of the cumulative
GPA.

Another defining element of the academic situation is the credit hour. The majority of
institutions of higher education determine an exact number of credit hours that must be
earned by students in their pursuit of degrees. Students determine their progress to

degree completion by the credits that are earned within a variety of prescribed academic

lO

areas, including general education, core courses, major requirements and elective courses.
By receiving passing grades in these prescribed course areas students determine their
success or failure toward their ultimate goal of degree completion.

Within the two standard types of course lengths, semester and quarter, there
are total numbers of credit hours that must be earned. These credits are earned by
receiving a passing grade of D or better. Within the semester system, usually with 15 to
18 week courses, the total number of credit hours that must be earned to achieve the
baccalaureate degree is commonly 120. In the quarter system, with courses traditionally
10 to 12 weeks in length, the total number of credits needed for degree completion is
commonly 180. These totals may vary from institution to institution.

A definitive explanation of the credit hour is given by the National Center for

Educational Statistics:

Credit Hour: The unit by which an institution may measure its course work.
The number of hours per week in a class and the number of weeks in the
session usually define the number of credit hours assigned to a course. One
credit hour is usually assigned to a class that meets fifty minutes a week over a
period of a semester, quarter, or term; in laboratory, fieldwork, drawing,
music, practical arts, physical education, or similar type of instruction, one
credit hour is assigned for a session that meets two or three hours a week for a

semester, quarter, or term (1968, p. 15).

There are two components to this time-to-credit ratio, lecture and non-lecture
course delivery options, with a third determining component based on the amount of time
spent by the student outside of the classroom. C. James Quann (1979) gives an

authoritative and comprehensive definition of all three components:

Credit Ratios: Academic credit is a measure of the total time commitment
required of a typical student in a particular course of study. Total time
consists of three components: (1) time spent in class; (2) time in laboratory,
studio, field work, or other scheduled activity; (3) time devoted to reading,
studying, problem solving, writing, or preparation. One quarter or semester
credit hour is assigned in the following ratio of component hours per week
devoted to the course of study: (1) lecture courses — one contact hour for each
credit hour, two hours of outside work implied; (2) laboratory or studio course
— at least two contact hours for each credit hour (one hour of outside
preparation implied); (3) independent study — at least three hours of work per

week for each credit hour (p. 192).

As students matriculate through their degree programs they must maintain certain
standards in order to proceed. Minimum grade-point-averages must be achieved at
specific levels (freshman, sophomore, junior, senior or credit hour ranges) or students are
put on probation or eventually dismissed from the institution. For high achievement,
rewards are given in the form of placement on deans’ lists or awarding of scholarships,

which afford the recipients a higher status among their fellow students. Students become

12

keenly aware of their academic standing as a performance criterion and how it may affect
their reaching the goals they have set.
Rationale for the Study

It is clearly to the benefit of academia and society to understand the dynamics of adult

learner persistence to degree completion. As William G. Tierney puts it

the successful retention of students offers at least three benefits: the student
will be able to reap the rewards that a college degree affords, the college or
university will be able to maintain the income that derives from the student’s
attendance, and society will be able to utilize the skills of students in

becoming more productive (1992, p. 604).

Since adult learners account for nearly half of all enrolled students attending college
(N CES, 1999), it is essential to know more than the individual statistics, demographics,
and the levels of social and academic integration that students must achieve in order to
complete baccalaureate degrees. Adult learners generally do not face the same needs that
adolescents do for socialization and maturation experiences to beprovided by the
colleges they attend. Most adult learners are part-time students, commuting to college
campuses for the express purpose of attending classes to obtain credentials. In most cases
adult learners, unlike adolescent resident students. do not have the luxury of large blocks
of time to interact with faculty and peers one-on-one or in small groups. Bean and
Metzner correctly argue that the adult leamer’s challenge in collegiate life is not one of

social integration or socialization by the institution of higher education (1985). Adult

learners come to the college campus having much of their socialization of norms,
attitudes, values, and beliefs already formalized. Chickering and Havighurst indicate

that adult learners

usually have little interest in eStablishing new relationships with fellow
students because they already have an existing range of fiiendships. They will
have little interest in extracurricular activities, special interest groups, and the
like because they already are overcommitted to school, church, and/or

community groups and projects (1990, p.37).

Adult learners often come to the college environment already participating in a variety
of social roles; indeed they are usually connected to many social institutions, such as
education, families, the economy, and the political/legal system (Elder, 1978, 1980). As
adults reassume the roles of students, they face situations that place these newfound or
reacquired roles in conflict with the other roles in their lives. Studies conducted at
Empire State College in New York (1984) and by Apps (1986) describe the conflicts
between student and non-student roles and the available time to cope with the situations
these conflicting roles impose.

Being a student is a socially constructed phenomenon that must be looked at from
within the confines of the social and academic situations created by the college or
university. The multiplicity of social roles and situations that adult learners must cope

with and adjust to makes the construct of situational adjustment not only appealing as a

l4

lens through which to view adult learner persistence to completion of a degree program

but also as a means to look at this process from the individual student’s perspective.

Statement of the Problem
Although adult learners make up nearly half of the students entering colleges and

universities across America, less than half of these reentering adults persist to complete

baccalaureate degrees, a rate consistent with traditional student persistence rates (NCES,

1999). In an attempt to investigate this problem, this study will describe the experiences

of five minority female adult learners whose perceptions about completing baccalaureate

degrees will be framed within Becker’s construct of situational adjustment.
Three major research questions will be examined:

1. As African-American female adult learners struggle to succeed in the academic
situations they face, what attributes do they bring to the academic situation that allows
them to be successful?

2. As African-American female adult learners face the challenges of degree completion,
what essential factors are learned in their adjustment to the demands of the academic
situation?

3. As African-American female adult learners strive to adjust to the academic situations
they face in the completing degrees, how do they assess their performance in the
academic situation?

Significance and Implications of the Study
A theoretical shift in the research is necessary if academia is to understand adult

learner persistence to degree completion. This theoretical shift can occur only when

educational researchers begin to view adults as capable of changing their behaviors based

15

on the experiences they have in adulthood rather than being permanently tied to the deep-
seated components of personality and self developed in childhood and adolescence.

As has been noted earlier, adults do not need the broad socialization experiences that
adolescents require (Ackell, 1982; Bean and Metzner, 1985; Apps, 1988; Conrad, 1993).
Thus, adults are less likely to feel the need to integrate socially into the institution’s
cultural life. Instead, many adults must adjust to the academic situations created by
colleges and universities in order to complete the requirements necessary to earn a
degree. This necessity makes the construct of situational adjustment a more effective
means to examine adult learner persistence, for it enables researchers to see how adult
learners determine and succeed at demonstrating the acceptable behaviors and skills
required of the particular degree programs they seek to complete.

Socialization is a learning process, according to Bragg, in which one must acquire the
“acceptable behavior, values and attitudes for the performance of a particular role” (1976,
p. 6). Bragg goes on to explain that these behaviors, values and attitudes “are not
inherent in an individual, but must be acquired” (1976, p. 6). Therefore, if socialization is
a learning process for adolescents who enter college life, it must be broad ranging and
encompassing the academic, socio-political, and personal areas of their lives. For adult
learners, the emphasis of any socialization process must be on releaming and further
developing the role of student. Their pursuit of degrees requires them to adjust primarily
to the academic area of college life and the situations that lead to degree completion.

The theoretical underpinnings of Howard S. Becker’s construct of situational

adjustment stem from the social psychological domain, specifically that of symbolic

l6

interaction. Becker, who attempts to explain the “development of the person in

adulthood,” continues his explanation of situational adjustment:

If we view situational adjustment as a major process of personal development,
we must look to the character of the situation for the explanation of why
people change as they do. We ask what there is in the situation that requires
the person to act in a certain way or to hold certain beliefs. We do not ask
what there is in him that requires the action or belief. All we need to know of
the person is that for some reason or another he desires to continue his
participation in the situation or to do well in it. From this we can deduce that
he will do what he can to do what is necessary in that situation. Our further

analysis must adjust itself to the character of the situation (1964, p. 44).

Becker’s construct of situational adjustment is used to frame the process of
persistence to degree completion which include what motivated these five subjects to
return and complete a degree; the critical learning occurred during the degree completion
process that allows these subjects to succeed; and what performances were necessary in
completing their degree programs. Thus, situational adjustment focused on the academic
area of college, is used to bring to light the students’ perspectives in understanding the
process of degree completion. Linked to the concept of situational adjustment is the

resiliency that each of the subjects displayed throughout the degree completion process.

CHAPTER TWO

WHAT DOES PAST RESEARCH TELL OF PERSISTENCE?

We learn from the literature, a great deal about the psychological and
social characteristics of students: their personality traits, their attitudes on
a variety of subjects, their social class, religion, and ethnicity. We can
learn how these attributes are related to one another and how, taken singly
or in combination, they correlate with student academic performance in
school and their adjustment in later life. But we will not learn much about
what they do, how they feel about it, what they think they are doing and
why.

Becker, Geer, and Hughes, 1995

The current concept of student persistence in higher education has been shaped by
several stakeholders deeply committed to the processes and missions of academia.
Administrators of colleges and universities, especially since the 19708, have been keenly
interested in the phenomenon of persistence due to the projected declines in traditional
college-age populations and the changing composition of student bodies. Trying to
keep more students in school suddenly became an answer to the projected problem of
declining enrollments. Thus works by researchers like Astin, Tinto, Chickering, Cope,
Lenning, Terenzini, Pascarella, et al, which tried to determine who stays in school and
why they stay became of great interest to academic stakeholders. However, this past

research on persistence was driven by many theorists who took a narrow view of

18

what it means to persist. This narrow view only saw a single outcome to persisting:
degree completion. But positive outcomes from persistence for adult learners do not
necessarily result in earning a degree. They may result in completing a course or series of
courses, either for certification or just for the sake of learning.
Characteristics Associated with Persistence

The preponderance of research on attrition has been focused on a population sample
composed primarily of residential, predominantly white, male students aged 18 to 24
years old (McNeely, 1937; Iffert, 1958; Summerskill, 1962; Chickering, 1969; Feldman,
1969; Spady, 1970, 1971; Feldman and Newcomb, 1970; Tinto, 1975, 1982, 1987;
Cope and Hannah, 1975; Pascarella, 1980, 1986; Raimst, 1981; Pascarella and
Terenzini, 1983, 1986; Pascarella and Wolfle, 1985). This narrow sampling of higher
education’s student population and the theoretical premises that have evolved from
research on this narrow sample have limited application to the diverse and older
population of students who attend colleges and universities today.

A significant portion of the research done over the past 60 years dealing with
persistence was focused on traditional 18 to 24 year old, middle class, white, male,
residential students. In all fairness to earlier researchers, however, the vast majority of
college students were white males ages 18-24 throughout much of the first half of the
twentieth century. Moreover, college was and still is in many quarters perceived as a rite
of passage from adolescence to early adulthood (F eldman and Newcomb, 1970;
Kasworm, 1990; Pascarella and Terenzini, 1991; Tierney, 1992).

This youth orientation in much of the past research makes it difficult to rely on when

confronting issues of persistence and change among adult learners (Pascarella and

19

Terenzini, 1990). Indeed, to draw meaningful inferences about the 25 to 65 year old re-
entering students who face academia today requires research centered in the realities of
adult students.

Much of the research conducted in the 1960s and 19705 on student persistence
analyzed characteristics focused on four major issues, as reviewed by Lenning, Beal, and
Sauer (1980): student characteristics, institutional characteristics, interactions, and
external forces and variables.

Student Characteristics

Five student characteristics are noted: academics, demographics, aspirations and
motivations, finances, and employment. All correlated to student persistence. Academic

factors include such characteristics as high school grade point averages and academic
aptitudes as measured by such tests as the SAT, ACT, GRE, GMAT, TABE, and entrance
examinations. Poor study habits, first-term grades and the academic rating of high
schools are additional academic measures of persistence to degree completion. These
academic factors remain the strongest predictors of persistence.

Demographic factors, included but were not limited to, age, sex, socioeconomic
status, ethnicity, and even hometown location and size of high school. All of these
variables were studied to determine persistence rates and causal effects on attrition among
traditional, residential college students. These factors have been found to have less
predictive value and have even given conflicting results when applied to both traditional
and nontraditional student populations (Astin, 1964, 1972, 1975; Albino, 1973; Pedrini,
1976; Pantages and Creedon, 1978; Brabant and Garbin, 1976; Pascarella and Terenzini,

1979; Cope, 1971; Stark, 1975; DiCesare, Sedlacek, and Brooks, 1972).

20

The third group of causal factors under student characteristics contains,
student aspirations and motivation. Pantages and Creedon (1978) in their review of the
research on persistence concluded that the evidence “failed to establish relationships
among levels of motivation, commitment to the college, the strength and content of
educational goals, and attrition” (p. 71). However, there are research findings dealing
with commitment by Hackman and Dysinger (1970) the effect of clear-cut goals on
persistence by Angers (1961) and the relationship of career and college affiliated to goal
certainty by Abel (1966) and Demitroff (1974) that demonstrate a positive effect on
persistence. These variables encompass issues such as level of degree aspiration, transfer
plans, commitment to the institution, peer-group influences, vocational and occupational
goals, and satisfaction and dissatisfaction with the college experience. Motivation plays a
significant role in the construct of situational adjustment as conceived by Becker and
employed in this study.

The fourth set of variables under student characteristics identified by Lenning, Beal,
and Sauer was financial factors. Insufficient finances is usually the most quoted reason
for students’ leaving higher education. Even a misconceived perception of financial
problems may cause some students to withdraw. Financial aid and how the various forms
of aid are applied can have different effects on how students persist. Scholarships and
grants used to finance education as opposed to loans, especially large loan amounts, have
a positive impact on persistence. Astin (1975) claims that the type of financial assistance
can influence persistence; for example, “loans work negatively when combined with
grants, work study is best with no grants, and any type of aid is best if not combined with

other forms” (as cited in Lenning, Beal, and Sauer, 1980).

71

b

Research that looked at employment while participating in higher education found
that working part-time, 25 hours or less a week, improves persistence rates, even in the
freshman year (Astin, 1975). Working at a non-campus-based job has a positive effect on
persistence unless the off-campus job is related to a career opportunity and is held for a
long period of time. F ull-time employment has been found to have a detrimental effect
on persistence (Tinto, 1993). But not enough research has been done to confirm this
factor’s importance when applied to adult learners, many of whom attend part-time while
working full-time.

The research on student characteristics shows a wide variety of factors that have been
isolated and studied in terms of their relevance to student persistence. Academic factors
still remain the most significant element in predicting how well a student does, but many
adult learners return to colleges and universities with average to low-average previous
academic performance and achieve average to above-average grade point averages and
complete degrees. Demographic factors have little if any correlation to adult learner
success; Becker dismisses these factors as irrelevant to an adult’s ability to adjust to new
situations. However, motivation did play a significant role in how the five adults learners
in this study adjusted to the academic situation they entered in order to complete their
degrees.

The last two student characteristics mentioned in this section, financial and
employment factors, have both positive and negative effects on persistence among
traditional students, but the adult learner seems to persist while employed either full or
part-time and manages the burden of cost if sufficiently goal oriented and motivated.

Institutional Characteristics

22

The next group of factors isolated by Lenning, Beal and Sauer, deals with
the institutional characteristics and their effect on why students leave college. Only in the
last 15 years have researchers concentrated their efforts on the college environment and
how it affects persistence rates (Pantages and Creedon, 1978). Lenning, Beal and Sauer
(1980) divide these environmental influences into three areas: the objective environment;
the environment created by student involvement; and the codified administrative policies
and procedures of an institution.

The objective environment is comprised of institutional characteristics and services
that create the situations within which students exist. These institutional characteristics
were identified as (1) image, (2) public versus private status, (3) religious affiliation, (4)
housing, (5) student services, (6) academic advising and orientation programs, and (7)
institutional mission.

The institution’s image creates an aura that can influence retention. More prestigious
schools have higher retention rates partly due to the “perceived benefits for a student that
outweigh the dissatisfactions” (Lenning, Beal, Sauer, 1980). The level of selectivity is a
major factor in both the school’s image and its ability to retain students.

Whether an institution is public or private has a bearing on its rate of retention and the
numbers of students who complete their degrees. Highly selective four-year private
schools have the highest degree completion rates, followed by highly selective four-year
publics. Two-year public schools have fewer students who persist to degree completion.

Students who attend two-year private schools may have differing educational goals and
are more likely to leave school before they finish programs. Four-year institutions have

advantages that do not exist at the two-year institutions in that they can offer a

23

greater array of services, including residence halls, financial assistance, employment
opportunities and academic prestige.

Students attending institutions that have religious affiliations tend to persist to a
greater extent than those who attend non-religiously affiliated institutions. Roman
Catholic colleges show a greater degree completion rate than Protestant colleges. Astin
(1975) related this phenomenon to Protestant parental attitudes as reported by students.
However, Astin also found that both Catholic and Protestant affiliation had a positive
effect on the probability of graduating (1975).

The cost of completing a college degree has a definite positive correlation to degree
completion. The most expensive institutions retain the most students. It is important to
keep in mind that students will suffer the high costs and other institutional flaws because
of the prestige and power the institution’s name exerts once they have completed their
degree programs and moved into their careers (Astin, 1975; Nelson, 1972; Panos and
Astin, 1968).

Housing is another institutional characteristic that affects retention or degree
completion rates. Students who live on campus as compared to those who live off
campus or at home had higher rates of retention (Alfert, 1966; Nasatir, 1969; DiCesare,
Sedlacek, and Brooks, 1972; Chickering, 1974; Astin, 1975; Velez, 1985). There is a
positive correlation to increased persistence for men who live in apartments off campus
and a negative correlation for women. Fraternity or sorority housing has a stronger
correlation to persistence than on-campus dormitory housing (Nasatir,1969). Students
who live at home through their freshman year and move into dormitory living on-campus

their second year show more persistence than those living at home over the four to seven

24

period of degree completion. Living on campus facilitates the potential for more
interaction between faculty, peers and extracurricular activities allowing for the social
integration that Spady and Tinto allude to in their research on persistence. However,
higher education demography has changed. It is estimated that nearly 60 percent of the
total enrollment in higher education is composed of commuter students living at home or
with parents (Stewart, Merrill, and Saluri, 1985).

Student services are also grouped under the objective environment when considering
their effects on persistence relating to institutional characteristics. Since Lenning, Beal,
and Sauer wrote their essay on persistence, in which they stated that little research had
been done on the effect of student services on retention, there has been increased research
on student service initiatives tied to the concept of enrollment management (Hossler,
1984, 1986; Hossler and Bean, 1990).

The research done in the area of student services, according to Lenning, Beal and
Sauer, consisted largely of studies on counseling services. In general the findings
indicated that effective counseling services increased retention rates and numbers of
students who persisted to graduation. The unfortunate reality is that many students are
unwilling to take advantage of counseling services. Therefore, it is essential that these
counseling services either become more intrusive or students be made more aware of
them if they are to improve retention.

Academic advising and orientation programs are effective ways to improve retention
and graduation rates when employed in an enrollment management program. The
positive effects of academic advising and orientation programs can be amplified further

when combined with what Lenning, Beal and Sauer call learning-assistance centers.

25

These centers can be of a developmental/remedial nature, as most were when Lenning,
Beal and Sauer wrote their synopsis of retention and attrition research in 1980 under the
auspices of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems. Today most
learning-assistance centers are still remedial, offering reading, mathematics and study
skills sessions. as well as writing seminars and tutoring to underprepared or academically
at-risk students.

Another factor isolated under institutional characteristics and the objective
environment is institutional mission. Lenning, Beal and Sauer indicate that institutions
with well-defined mission statements have higher rates of retention. Institutions with
well-defined mission statements attract students who fit the institutions’ academic and
campus cultures and persist to graduation at much higher rates. The authors feel that the
consistency and accurate communication of a college’s mission through its marketing
strategies to prospective students and stakeholders is crucial to the retention of its
students.

The second grouping of factors that falls under the heading of institutional
characteristics, as outlined by Lenning, Beal and Sauer, is student involvement. Student
involvement includes such factors as extracurricular activities, close friends, student-
faculty relationships, and academic programs. Student involvement or what Tinto (1975,
1987) calls “student integration” has evolved from the work of Spady (1970) and Astin
(1975, 1977), who claim that student interaction at all levels of the institution is critical to
the persistence and retention of students.

Involvement in extracurricular activities reflects an individual’s interpersonal

involvement while attending college. Any positive effect of involvement in

26

extracurricular activities could be attributed to the student’s participation in an
“influential peer group” (Pascarella and Terenzini, 1991). Students who are involved in
extracurricular activities tend to have high educational aspirations according to Pascarella
and Terenzini, who in turn made the assertion that association with this peer culture and
its group norms produces beneficial effects on its members.

Similarly, students who develop close relationships with other students or members of
the institutional culture have a higher propensity to persist. A retention study reported by
Cope (1978) was designed to cultivate bonds between students and “significant others”.
These “significant others” could have been faculty, staff and other students who formed
“meaningful relations” with certain students. The results of studies by Husband (1976)
and Pascarella and Terenzini (1979) support the contention that close fi‘iends do
positively influence persistence.

The third factor isolated by Lenning, Beal and Sauer under the heading of student
involvement is student-faculty relationships. Pantages and Creedon (1978) indicated
that “the quality of the relationship between a student and her or his professors is of
crucial importance in determining satisfaction with the institution” (cited in Lenning,
Beal and Sauer, 1980). Studies done by Pascarella and Temzini 1978, 1979 support the
Tinto model that indicates the frequency and quality of student contact with faculty is a
contributing factor in retention. This emphasis on student-faculty interaction has led to
the current concept of learning communities that emphasize the amount and quality of
contact that students have with both faculty and institutional staff as means of fostering
learning and upgrading retention. Tinto has also modified his model to emphasize the

influence of faculty on student retention.

27

The fourth factor that Lenning, Beal and Sauer categorize under student
involvement is academic programs. Alexander Astin (1975) pointed out that retention
could be positively influenced when students are involved in honors programs, foreign
study programs and by challenging courses through credit-by-examination. Astin’s
reasoning is that “students who are involved in the academic life of the institution are
more likely to expend the effort necessary to get good grades than are students who are
not involved” (as cited in Lenning, Beal and Sauer, p. 21).

Students who are allowed to work within the institution as work-study employees,
research assistants, peer tutors, or peer counselors are all more likely to persist.

Lenning, Beal and Sauer’s final institutional characteristic is administrative policies
and procedures. The three authors indicated that research was lacking in the
understanding of how institutional policies and procedures influence student willingness
to stay in school. They have indicated, however, that the punitive nature of many
administrative policies and procedures has a definite negative effect on retention and
persistence to degree completion. Pantages and Creedon (1978) referred to a greater
humanizing of the interactions between students and institutional staff members as
resulting in benefits for both the institution and its students. The less the policies and
procedures of an institution impede student matriculation, the more likely it is that
students will remain. Therefore this phenomenon of stopping out should be made less
painful and punitive since it is a circumstance that occurs more frequently with adults
who intend to complete degree programs. Some institutions penalize adult learners who
stop out either by making them repeat courses they have had or by reviewing their

programs of study and adding courses to their curriculum if the program is not

28

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completed by a certain time.
Interactions
The next major set of variables related to student persistence as outlined by Lenning,
Beal and Sauer is interactions. The 19803 saw much research on persistence and attrition
focused on the outcome of the interaction between students and institutions of higher
education. “The characteristics of the interaction, not the student or institution alone,
affect a student’s decision to stay or drop out. Students remaining in school and attaining
goals or completing a program represent a fit between a variety of factors relating to both
the student and the environment” (Lenning, Beal and Sauer 1980, p. 43). Those students
who leave an institution are said to suffer from lack of fit (Spady, 1971; Tinto, 1975).
Lenning, Beal and Sauer attribute a wide range of variables to the term fit, which can
include both “moral and social integration, meaningful contact between the student and
the faculty, development of relationships between students and those who care about
them, and the responsiveness of the institution to the need students feel” (1980, p. 21).
Other issues that relate to student/institutional fit are values and attitudes, expectations
and their fulfillment, student/faculty intellectual interaction at the individual course level,
and meeting the demands of the institution while gaining satisfaction in doing so. All of
the variables that relate to interactions between the student and institution can either
enhance or exacerbate persistence.
External Variables
A shift in emphasis occurred during the mid-19805 that highlighted environmental
or external variables in the research on persistence or retention (Metzner and Bean,

1987; Bean and Vesper, 1992; Hanniford and Sagaria, 1994; Kasworm, 1990;

29

Spanard, 1990; Tinto, 1987). This shift in emphasis looked at large scale societal
influences dealing with national economic trends, attitude shifts toward higher education,
and governmental mandates. Lenning, Beal and Sauer list this shift as the fourth and last
major category of factors that can influence persistence.

These external forces and variables can be broad national occurrences such as
recessions or local economic disruptions such as the loss of a major industry. Such
negative economic phenomena can have positive effects on enrollments and persistence
rates by increasing the number of individuals able to take advantage of higher education
opportunities or encouraging those already enrolled to persist in completing their degrees.
On the other hand, positive economic forces such as boom times and low unemployment
rates can negatively affect retention by drawing students out of the classroom into the job
market.

Another external variable that has affected enrollment and retention is the military
draft. For example, during the Vietnam era many males who were eligible for military
service remained in school to avoid being drafted. If compulsory military service were to
be reinstated, there could well be a similar increase in both the enrollment and retention
of male students looking to avoid mandatory enlistment assuming that full-time student
status caused one to be exempt from military service.

The nation’s attitude toward college attendance and its implications for employment
and cost can have a direct bearing on the retention of students. As long as the perception
that a college education is crucial to obtaining better paying jobs persists, students will
enroll and attempt to complete degrees. Here again, both national and local phenomena

can affect attitudes concerning the value of a college education and one’s willingness

30

to stay in school (Apps, 1988; McPherson and Schapiro, 1991).

With the publication of the report A Nitiongt Riskin 1984, attitudes toward education
took on a negative posture influencing federal and state governments and the national
media to portray the nation’s educational system in a negative light. This change in
attitude has prompted the demand for more accountability from institutions of both
secondary and postsecondary education from all levels of government and accreditation
commissions. Yet, despite this negative national attitude, enrollments in colleges and
universities continue to increase.

Much of the research reviewed by Lenning, Beal, and Sauer leads to a profile of
separate qualities, characteristics, and circumstances, which may predict students’
abilities to persist and complete degree programs. But in spite of these predictive factors
of persistence, many adult learners who do not fit the successful persistence profile
overcome the obstacles that confront them and complete their degrees.

Lenning, Beal and Sauer (1980) reviewed 20 years of research directed at issues of
retention within higher education. Three other notable studies critique the large body of
knowledge dealing with attrition and retention in higher education, which was gathered
over different periods of time. Feldman and Newcomb published the Impact of College
on Students in 1969; Pantages and Creedon wrote a comprehensive article, Review of
Educational Research in 1978; and Pascarella and Terenzini published their major work
How College Affects Students in 1991. These three works chronicle research from the
mid-19203 to the 19805, nearly 60 years of research that dealt with the effects of college
on students and the factors that may be associated with why students leave or stay in

college. In spite of all this research, in 2001 academia still suffers the same attrition

31

rates that existed for over 60 years.

Gekowski and Schwartz (1961) in their research on student persistence and related
factors, critiqued earlier research which focused on student attrition by pointing out that
such studies dealt either with students who persisted or those who dropped out. No
comparisons were done, especially in retrospective studies, and so the findings from these
research studies are suspect because of their lack of control groups. Gekowski and
Schwartz also pointed out that these studies focused on too few variables at one point in
time.

Pascarella and Terenzini (1991) critiqued the applicability of most of the research,
theories, and models that have arisen over the past 60 years in explaining issues of
retention, persistence and change among a more diverse and older population of students
entering higher education in the 19905. These two authors also observed that “the
absence of rigorous research on the effects of college on. . .older students is particularly
embarrassing to the higher education research community” (p. 90).

The majority of the research reviewed in this chapter has dealt with the analysis of
isolated or grouped variables and their effects upon attrition of traditional students at
residential institutions. What all of this research has accomplished is to give us a profile
of what an individual who persists to degree completion in higher education should be.

The complexity of the interactions among student, environmental, and institutional
characteristics is so complex that no single study could possibly account for them all in a
coherent and rational manner. In an attempt to describe the complexity of interactions
and the multitude of intervening variables involved in researching attrition, Spady (1970)

admitted, “since no one theoretical model or research design could possibly

32

systematize or operationalize the specific relationships among all of the variables. . .,
we do not attempt the absur ” (p. 77).
Tinto’s Model of Persistence

The most widely implemented model of retention and attrition, the Tinto Student
Integration Model of social and academic integration, is based on the premise that
students with greater social and academic integration, are more likely to stay in college
and finish degrees than students with lesser degrees of integration. “As initially
conceived by Tinto, the model was designed to identify and understand the collegiate
processes that facilitate or impede baccalaureate-degree completion at a four-year
residential college” (Grosset, 1991).

Tinto borrows from Van Gennep's research on the rites of passage in tribal societies
and Durkheim's social theory of suicide (Ashar and Skenes, 1993). Tinto uses these two
theoretical frameworks of Van Gennep and Durkheim that both point to the social and
intellectual integration of the individual into society to develop his theory of student
social and academic integration into the social structure of institutions of higher
education.

Tinto uses Van Gennep to develop an analogy between the passage to adulthood in
tribal societies or cultures and persistence in college. "In order to enter adulthood or
persist in college, individuals need to move through and complete the three phases of
separation, transition, and incorporation" (Ashar and Skenes, 1993. p. 91). Tinto uses
Durkheim to create a second analogy between a specific type of suicide, characterized by
Durkheim as egotistical suicide, and a student's leaving college. Egotistical suicide, as

described by Durkheim, results from one's inability to integrate with or establish

33

membership within a community or society (Ashar and Skenes, 1993). Clearly, Tinto
builds his model of student persistence on the framework of social integration within the
culture of the institution.

Tinto’s work is also based on that of Spady (1970) and corroborates the research of
Astin (1975. 1977), which focused on the importance of involvement for later college
outcomes. specifically completions of degrees. Methodologically, much of the research
based on Tinto’s model was of a short-term nature, looking at'causal relationships from
term to term. Such work is of little help when examining a more longitudinal outcome
such as degree completion.

Much of the research arising from Tinto’s causal model of integration deals with
traditional students who matriculate at residential four-year institutions. This research
has generated certain institutional initiatives that have reduced attrition while increasing
retention among this traditional cohort of college students attending residential
institutions. However, Tinto’s model has produced mixed results when applied either to
institutions other than four-year residential colleges and universities or to adult learners
(Weidman, 1985; Stoecker, Pascarella and Wolfle, 1988; Starks, 1987; Walleri and
Peglow—Hoch, 1988; Metzner and Bean, 1987; Lichtrnan, Bass, Ager, 1993). Indeed, an
increasing amount of research points to the ineffectiveness of this emphasis on social
integration when applied to the adult learner.

According to Pappas and Loring (1985), "The concept of persistence or retention must
be thought of differently for adults" (p. 139). Adult learners come to college not only
with a broader range of experiential learning but also with external life situations and

roles that affect their involvements with the cultures of institutions of higher

34

education. In many cases being a student is a secondary or tertiary role for an adult
learner.

Although researchers have found the Tinto Model has some bearing when tested
against the persistence of adult learners in terms of academic integration, specifically
grades and the formal and informal interplay with faculty, its influence is not as profound
in the areas of extracurricular activities and fellow student interplay (Ashar and Skenes,
1993; Cabrera, Nora, and Castaneda, 1993). Because adult learners often have external
pressures and responsibilities as parents and employees that have an effect on college
involvement (as shown by Metzner and Bean 1987), Tinto incorporated an external
commitments component to his revised 1986 model of student attrition.

However, Tinto’s model still has a traditional-residential student focus, as does much
of the research on student persistence. Indeed, many educational researchers continue to
apply these models to educational settings that have drastically changed over the last
twenty years. With 37% of the total postsecondary enrollment concentrated in
community colleges (Chronicle of Higher Education, 2000), augmented to a lesser extent
by enrollments in urban commuter colleges and universities, it becomes clear why Tinto’s
Model based predominately on traditionally aged residential student experiences shows
mixed or contradictory results when applied to the adult learners who commute to non-
residential and residential colleges and universities.

Research on Adult Learner Persistence
The stark fact remains that there is a limited pool of research on adult learner
persistence toward degree completion. Bean and Metzner (1985), in reviewing the work

of Spady, Tinto, Pascarella, and Bean in terms of why traditional students drop out

35

of college, proposed a lessening of emphasis on social integration as a key element in
adult learner persistence. They also support the claim that little research has been done
with adult learners and their persistence to degree completion, especially at non-
residential institutions. In a follow-up study, Metzner and Bean (1987) stressed the
necessity of additional research encompassing adult learner attrition.

Although older part-time students have sometimes been included with traditional
students in studies of persistence, little research has been devoted exclusively to these
non-traditional students beyond a simple tabulation of dropout rates. For example, in an
extensive literature review based on several hundred studies (Bean and Metzner, 1985),
only four specifically examined persistence for part-time commuter students, and just five
studies provided separate analyses for older commuter students.

There are clearly differences in how adults perceive the college experience as
compared to l8-year-old freshmen who reside on campus. A growing number of
researchers have looked at these differences and have developed a core of knowledge that
begins to explain attrition and persistence of the adult learner (Brown and Robinson,
1988; Caracelli, 1986; Grosset, 1991; Hu, 1985; Joseph, 1980; Metzner and Bean, 1987;
Staman, I980; Starks, 1987). Still, an urgent need exists to study and develop new
perspectives that more accurately examine the broader contextual issues that affect adult
learners matriculating toward degree completion. These broader issues include
institutional, personal, and external societal factors that negatively or positively affect
adult non-traditional student persistence.

What is currently known about adult learners and the factors that discourage or

support their persistence to the completion of baccalaureate degrees? The vast amount of

36

research done with traditional students has given us myriad characteristics and traits that
typify the individual who completes a college degree. The current study will take from
this vast array of research variables that deter or enhance adult learner persistence.

Adult learners who complete degrees possess a definite goal orientation or
commitment, either personal or career directed (Weidman, 1985; Metzner and Bean,
1987; Walleri and Peglow-Hoch, 1988). The greatest number of reentering adult learners
on college campuses today are returning to complete degrees started when they were
younger. "They are seeking not only an institutional credential but also new careers or
job promotions, enhanced life competence, or simply to continue their love of learning”
(Kasworm, 1990, p. 366).

Age is also a factor of adult learner persistence to completion of degrees; indeed,
"students who entered postsecondary education at age 18 or younger were more than
twice (51 versus 19 percent) as likely as those who entered between the ages of 20 and 29
to have reported completing a baccalaureate degree within five years, and five times more
likely than students who entered at age 30 or later" (NCES, 1996, p. 1). This information
poses a real challenge for higher education since the majority of students entering
postsecondary education are now non-traditional, adult learners, with women comprising
the largest sector of this pool of students (Caracelli, 1986).

However, research coming from the community college sector stimulates some
questions about previous findings that indicate older students are less likely to persist
than younger students (Price, 1993; Windham, 1994). At one community college, a
sample of 1,140 first-time students found that students ages 20-24 were at a higher risk of

dropping out and not finishing a degree program than any other age group (Feldman,

37

1993). Another study by Mohammadi conducted at Patrick Henry Community College in
Virginia, found attrition rates after one year of attendance to be highest for students ages
23-35 and 45-50 (1994). This finding may be explained by the fact that community
colleges and other institutions of higher education have not created situations that lead to
degree completion for present-day adult learners. Low persistence or degree completion
rates can be partially attributed to insufficient efforts by “universities to understand the
educational needs and wants” of this returning pool of students aged 25-64 (Hu, 1985, p.
201)

F ull-time attendance, which amounts to three or more classes per term and is also
referred to as the level of intensity of enrollment within a college setting, has been one of
the most significant characteristics of persisters (Windham, 1994; Moore, 1995). Indeed,
part-time attendance has been identified as characteristic of non-persisters (Lanni, 1992;
Feldman, 1993; Price, 1993). "Half of baccalaureate degree seekers (52 percent) who
first enrolled on a full-time basis reported having completed that degree within five years,
compared to less than 15 percent of those who first enrolled as less than full-time"

(N CES, 1996). Both intensity and continuity of enrollment have effects on students’
persistence to degree completions. Continuity of enrollment refers to the cominuous
nature of a student's enrollment pattern throughout the period of degree completion.
Faculty in many instances view part-time attendance as a lack of commitment, especially
among female students (Hall, 1997).

F all-time employment has a definitely deleterious effect on degree completion
among males pursuing baccalaureate degrees and females seeking associate degrees

(Hanniford and Sagaria, 1994), Hanniford and Sagaria also found that a change
, ‘ w. I

38

in relationship status or the birth of a child often act as incentives to completing
degree programs (1994).

The likelihood of students (including adult learners) persisting to completion of
baccalaureate degrees is significantly higher depending on the type of institution at which
they began. The National Center for Educational Statistics reported a 57 percent
completion rate for students beginning their baccalaureate degrees at four-year
institutions in contrast to 8 percent at two-year institutions (1996). Of course, this finding
could simply reflect the fact that community colleges are traditionally open enrollment
institutions, while many four-year institutions are more selective in their admissions
procedures. However, a matter for serious consideration remains in that more minorities
and women in lower socio-economic levels look to community colleges as their gateways
to degree completion.

In the limited amount of research done on adult learners pursuing college degrees,
support from spouses, family members, employers, and, to a limited degree, peers, has
been documented as having positive effects on their persistence to degree completion
(Bean and Metzner, 1985; Spanard, 1990; Van Stone, Nelson and Niemann, 1994).

Cabera, Nora, and Cataneda (1993) have proposed a merging of the Tinto and Bean
models of student persistence in an attempt to broaden the research base. Their work is
more inclusive of adult learners and the obvious differences in their needs and the
demands they make upon higher education. Although these researchers still maintain a
positivistic-experimental approach to studying persistence, they try to include the
growing cohort of adult learners in their research. 1

A growing number of studies (Starks, 1987; Walleri and Peglow-Hoch, 1988;

39

Van Stone, Nelson, and Neiman, 1994) taking a naturalistic-qualitative approach to
examining adult learners have attempted to utilize a more comprehensive approach to the
problem of why returning adult learners do not complete baccalaureate degrees.

Starks (1987) did qualitative research to determine the variables that influence high
risk adult females in persisting to graduation, as well as the variables that influence low-
risk adult women to drop out of college. Although Starks’s findings support Tinto’s
assertion that academic and social integration are the primary elements in retention of
students, her qualitative interview techniques of exceptional cases highlighted new
dimensions in the form and context of this social integration (1987).

It is Stark’s contention that

The limitation of the quantitative studies on Tinto’s theory is that by nature of the
research techniques utilized, they result in models of risk where the statistics are
calculated on averages. Characteristics of persisters and leavers are based on
common patterns. The outliers or exceptions to the rule are discounted since
quantitative results are often measured by scores of frequency and rely on the mean
or mode to derive relationships or to describe characteristics. Thus the predictive or
high risk models resulting from the quantitative methodology describe relationships
of events, characteristics, outcomes and backgrounds of students derived from
patterns of what is most common--what is most typical--what is most frequent. And
when these models are used in general practice there is a danger of mislabeling
students, of misplacing students in courses or programs, or of missing relevant

information that may cast a student in an entirely different light.

40

Starks (1987) also found that Tinto’s academic integration was not the same for the
adult females she interviewed. This difference points to the need for more reflective and
personalized analyses of how students perceive the issues of persistence in completing
degree programs.

Walleri and Peglow-Hoch (1988) did a qualitative case study analysis of under-
prepared non-traditional students in the Guided Studies Program at Mt. Hood Community
College. Although their findings generally supported Tinto’s contention that academic
and social integration are paramount to success and persistence in college, such qualities
may only be true for certain segments of the non-traditional student population and far
less important for other segments. “Academic and social integration have a strong
influence on student persistence when the students have definite goals and share values
with the institution” (Walleri and Peglow—Hoch, 1988, p. 13).

Van Stone, Nelson, and Niemann (1994) conducted a qualitative study of poor single-
mothers, college students and the effects of deeply-held social and psychological beliefs
on their academic success. Through the interview process, these researchers were able to
discover more deeply held perceptions of students and to begin a more comprehensive
dialog on what it takes to complete a program from the students’ point of view. Their
conclusions and methodology have led to the belief that educational researchers must
approach the problem of minority-female adult learner persistence from new perspectives.
For example, the female students interviewed by Van Stone, Nelson, and Neimann
commented that though psychological beliefs about effort, task difficulty, ability and luck

might result in academic success, “they more often cited and provided greater

41

detail regarding the influence of sociological factors on their performance” (1994, p.
580).

The subjects of Van Stone, Nelson, and Neimann’s study were poor single-mothers
who became college students and conveyed through the interview process the importance
of sociological factors to their academic success. These participants mentioned the
importance of the support of other students, faculty, and university services to their
academic success. As was found in other studies of students of color (Loo and Rolison,
1986 and Tracey and Sedlacek, 1987) the participants of the Van Stone, Nelson, and
Niemann study spoke of the importance of the understanding and acceptance of other

students to their own academic success (1987). The authors suggest

This supports some researchers’ assertions that women may perceive learning
in a different context than men, evaluating the quality of the experience in
relation to their connection with others rather than the extent to which the
experience provides knowledge and skills. This is not to say that women do
not seek competence, rather they include the quality of their social

interactions in their evaluations of the educational experience.

The culture of the classroom itself has also been a challenge for women, in that
they feel they must compete with male peers and challenge faculty to be successful in
meeting the demands of the academic situation (Guinier, Fine, and Balin, 1994). The
competitive environment in the classroom and impersonal climate may be mitigating

factors in causing women to doubt their abilities as learners. Jill Taurule (as cited by

42

Hayes and F lannery, 2000, p.73) has found in her studies in higher education that this
competitive and often impersonal climate within classrooms has “played a role in
fostering self-doubt and silence among women”.

After reviewing selected research that parallels this research on adult learners, it is just
as important to look at research dealing with African-American student persistence in
higher education.

Research on African-American Persistence in Higher Education

The degree completion rates for African-American students lag behind all racial
groups except American-Indian students. The following three tables show degree
completion rates for men and women over intervals of four, six, and nine years, as well
as, degree completion rates for racial groups over the three periods of time studied. These
three tables were taken from research done by Astin, Tsui, and Avalos, under the auspices
of the Higher Education Research Institute (1996, p. 6, p. 7, p. 8). Table 2 shows
baccalaureate degree completion rates for men and women over four, six, and nine year
periods of time. The data represented in the three tables below was derived from the
Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP), which is a longitudinal study of the
American higher education system. CIRP was established in 1966 by the American
Council on Education and is the largest and longest standing empirical study dealing with
higher education. The CIRP was assumed by the Graduate School of Education at UCLA
in 1973.

The findings of the CIRP indicate the women complete bachelor’s degrees at a higher
rate then men over all three time periods of 4, 6, and 9 years. This has significant social

import since women make-up 56% of the enrolled student population nationally

43

according to the US. Department of Education (1999). The incidence of degree complete
does increase over the nine year period from 39 to 45.7 percent for both men and women.

The CIRP data also indicates that African-Americans and American-Indians display
the lowest rates of degree completion. African-American students do show a marked
increase in degree completion over the 9 year period studied from 19.4% after four years,
to 31.2% after 6 years, and 33.9% after 9 years of attendance. However, this is below the
completion rates for Asian and White students, whose completion rates are 57.6% and
47.3% respectively. African-American women show one of the lowest rate of degree
completion in the CIRP study of all racial groups after nine years of attendance 35.7%,
with Puerto Rican-American women having the lowest rate of degree completion at 35%.
Even more disturbing is the fact that African-Americans, American-Indians, along with
Mexican-American and Puerto-Rican-Americans are underrepresented in the population
of freshman entering college (Astin, 1982, 1996). Considering the fact that these
minority groups will become a significant portion of our nation’s total population in the
coming decades, we will see more of these potential students needing the skills,
knowledge, and degrees offered by higher education.

Of more importance to our nation as stated in a report, One Third of A Nation,
published by the American Council on Education and the Education Commission of the
States (as cited in Holmes, Ebbers, Robinson, and Mugenda, 2000), it was estimated that
by the year 2010, “one third of all school-aged children in America will represent
members of ethnic minority groups (African-American, American-Indian, Asian-
American, and Hispanic people), and that approximately twenty-two million of the

nation’s labor force will be minority workers” (Holms, Ebbers, Robinson, and

44

Mugenda, 2000, p. 42).

A sizeable amount of the research that has dealt with African-American persistence in
higher education has focused on such factors as academic preparedness, discrimination
and prejudice, institutional size and fit, and a body of research on minority persistence as
it is related to attendance at historically black colleges and universities.

There is a widely held concept that academic preparedness at the point of high school
graduation is a key factor in the persistence of African-American students in higher
education (Tinto, 1987, 1993). Nora, Terenzini, Pascarella, and Hagedom (1999) found
no support for the claim that academic unpreparedness explained why African-American
students persisted at a lower rate than whites. Even though Afiican-American students
admitted less preparation for college, at most, it has an “indirect effect” on their decision
to leave higher education (Nora, Terenzini, Pascarella, and Hagedom, 1999). Other than
large scale variances in academic ability, those factors that affected African-American
students were no different then those affecting white students who chose to persist.

Even though a significant number of African-American men and women still select
historically black institutions, the majority of black students in the United States select
colleges and universities with predominantly white study bodies (Pascarella and
Terinzini, 1991). However, this increase in minority attendance at predominantly white
institutions has come with negative effects for African-American students. As minority
students are exposed to prejudice and discrimination in classrooms and campuses, they
experience greater levels of social isolation, alienation, personal dissatisfaction, and overt
racism at colleges composed of predominantly white students as opposed to their

counterparts at historically black colleges and universities (Allen, 1987; Bean and Hull,

45

1984; Bennett, 1983; Hurtado, 1992, 1994; Smedley, Myers and Harrel, 1993).
Examining the findings fiom this research, it is easy to hypothesize that attending a
historically black college increases both persistence and academic achievement for black
students. and much of the evidence in the research does support this hypothesis
(Pascarella and Terenzini, 1991).

Anderson (1985) concluded that attendance at a predominantly black college had as an
outcome higher levels of academic achievement for black students. Higher levels of
academic achievement resulted in greater numbers of black students completing
baccalaureate degrees. One hypothesis as to why black students achieve higher grades at
predominantly black, as opposed to predominantly white, institutions is the fact that the
former are not as endowed with educational resources or as academically competitive as
the latter (Bowles and DeCosta, 1971; Sowell, 1972). A contrary view is taken by
Fleming, (1984), Nettles, Thoeny, and Grossman (1986) and Willie and Cunnigen (1981)
who make a strong case for black students at predominantly black colleges and
universities who benefit from a supportive social, cultural, and racial environment that
enhances their successful adaptation to the demands of the academic situation of degree
completion. Therefore, African-American students experience higher academic
achievement at black colleges and universities due to the fact that the social
environment enhances their academic success not the ease of getting above average
grades.

Another interesting finding was isolated by Astin, Tsui, and Avalos (1996) when they
attempted to control the effects of college environmental characteristics at Historically

Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). When Astin, et al. (1996) controlled for

46

institutional size, which negatively affects degree completion among African-American
students, “the positive effects of attending an HBCU disappeared. This suggests that the
positive effects of HBCUs on degree completion can be entirely explained in terms of
their relatively small size” (1996). In other words it appears that there is nothing inherent
in HBCUs environment that enhances degree completion rates among African-American
students other then their small size.

The majority of the characteristics uncovered from this research point to adult learners
and African-Americans being faced with significantly greater numbers of disabling
features that hinder them from earning baccalaureate degrees. However, African-
American adult learners do earn these degrees. The purpose of this study is to look at
persistence to degree completion from a new theoretical viewpoint. By viewing the
concept of persistence through the lens of situational adjustment, knowing that change
does occur throughout an adult life, it is the intent of this study to focus on the students’
changing themselves to adapt to the challenges of the academic requirements of degree

completion.

47

CHAPTER THREE
Conducting the Research

From a practitioner’s point of view, the situational adjustment concept of change in
adulthood offers a far more pragmatic approach to understanding why adult learners
persist to degree completion. In order to be successful, adult learners have to adjust and
change themselves to meet the demands of the academic situations that confront them as
they attempt to complete college degrees. The question of what defines persistence then
becomes one that differentiates between the integration of the student into the academic
and social life of the institution as opposed to the student changing herself to be what
collegiate academic life requires.

In approaching the problem of persistence from the sociological domain, and in
particular from the construct of situational adjustment, it is the purpose of this study to
obtain the reflections of five adult learners who are minority females in order to uncover
their perceptions in relation to persistence to degree completion.

In the college or university environment adult learners must create their own reality of
what academic life is in order to adjust and persist. Leaving college means they could not
create an effective reality that allowed them to adjust to the academic demands and
expectations being made upon them. Persistence occurs when adult learners adjust to the
contextual realities of college life as they perceive them and make them part of their own
lives.

This study attempts to confirm the usefulness of situational adjustment as a

mechanism by which adult learner persistence can be understood. Thus, through an

understanding of the adjustments that adult learners make as they pursue college degrees,

48

educators and researchers will gain insiders’ views about how these particular students
persisted to degree completion.
Design of the Study

A qualitative approach will be applied to the research problem of adult learner
persistence. Qualitative research assumes that there is more than one objective reality in
our understanding of any phenomenon that we experience. The qualitative researcher
also assumes that there can be multiple realities that need to be interpreted, in contrast to
being measured only by a hypothesis to be tested. Within qualitative inquiry, "there are
no predetermined hypotheses, no treatments, and no restrictions on the end product"
(Merriam, 1990, p. 17). The researcher does not manipulate isolated variables or
administer a treatment; instead, the researcher observes, intuits, and becomes aware of
what is happening in a natural environment.

How adult learners adjust to the academic situations required in completing a
baccalaureate degree is the issue to be investigated. By studying the success of five
students, more understanding will be generated as to how these particular adult learners
persisted to achieve their goal. The unit of analysis is the individual who is completing
the degree program. This investigation relies on the data collected from interviews with
five subjects who were near completion of their baccalaureate degrees.

As has been mentioned in this study, the issue of degree completion by adult learners
needs to be viewed contextually and not separated into isolated variables or groups of
variables that for the most part cannot be controlled in the real world. Merriam (1998)
describes the case study as seeking a broader description and explanation. She adds that

O

Yin (1984) observes, "case study is a design particularly suited to situations where it is

49

impossible to separate the phenomenon’s variables from their context" (p.10). As

Merriam so aptly puts it

The case study offers a means of investigating complex social units consisting
of multiple variables of potential importance in understanding the phenomena.
Anchored in real-life situations, the case study results in a rich and holistic
account of a phenomenon. It offers insights and illuminates meanings that

expand its readers’ experiences (1990, p. 32).

The study examines the reflections of five subjects who were near completion of
their baccalaureate degrees at the time of the interviews. They were students at a large
independent institution of higher education located in the Midwest. Each woman was a
commuter student who worked full-time attending college on a full-time or part-time
basis. All of the respondents were African-American females between the ages of 35 and
45, who compose a large portion of the student body on the campus from which the study
was done. They were selected from a list of 300 potential graduates from the academic
year 2000-2001. From this list of 300 potential graduates, who were of various ages and
racial backgrounds, l2 African-American candidates were selected that fit the profile
based on the age range sought and the necessary requirements for graduation. These
graduation requirements are a cumulative GPA of 2.00 and a 2.5 GPA in major required
courses. Introductory interviews with the 12 potential candidates reduced the list down to
the five subjects that became part of the study.

A structured interview protocol was used for the initial one-hour interview.

50

The interviews were tape recorded and transcribed later as a means of increasing the
trustworthiness of the notes that the interviewer took during the interview process. The
data was triangulated for further trustworthiness by collecting academic transcripts for
each subject. A second one-hour interview was conducted with each of the subjects to
verify initial comments and reactions to interview questions and probes that were used in
the introductory interview, as well as to expand on the reflections of the subjects
wherever possible.
Function of the Researcher

Qualitative case studies are limited by the sensitivity and integrity of the investigator
(Riley, 1963). The researcher is the single actor in collecting information and in the
subsequent analysis of the data collected. "The amount of description, analysis, or
summary material is basically up to the investigator" (Merriam, 1990, p. 33). The level
of sensitivity and honesty of the researcher affects qualitative case studies. In this study,
the researcher is also an authority figure within the institutional context, which might
serve to dampen or discourage the candor of the subjects. It will therefore be necessary
for the researcher to conduct the interviews in a fashion that does not create the
impression that the information is being gathered to make decisions that may affect other
participants known to the subjects or reflect negatively on their roles as students within
the institution. It was also be necessary to have the subjects understand that what they
divulged to the researcher concerning the institution would not create negative reflections
upon them or their accomplishments.

Professional biases which might predispose the researcher to expect certain cause

and effect relationships must be avoided when analyzing the data collected from the

51

five subjects. This will be accomplished by focusing on the subjects’ reflections through
the lens of the situational adjustment model. The data generated from this study will
inform the reader of the essential factors that were reported by the subjects as significant
in the degree completion process.

The act of interviewing is complex and filled with traps that often hinder the
researcher’s ability to find the truth from the subject. It will the researcher’s
responsibility to disarm the subjects and create a situation in which they feel confident
enough to explain their honest reflections and experiences in the process of earning their
baccalaureate degrees. This process will be further complicated by the fact that the
subjects are all female. Care was be taken to avoid a paternalistic attitude toward the five
women within the study and the social context of the situation being studied.

This bias was avoided by the researcher’s paying close attention to the following
precautions. It was be essential that the interviewer pay close attention to the concerns
and attitudes of the subjects and defuse any possible assumed gender bias. Sensitivity to
the subjects’ emotional reactions, if any, was of the utmost concern. A concerted effort to
remain sensitive to the subjects’ feelings and emotional reactions became very important.
The use of gender neutral language in the interview protocol and the exchanges between
the researcher and the subject is one mechanism that helped avoid gender bias in the
study.

All of these women represent success stories in that they have persisted to complete
their baccalaureate degrees. As a result, the researcher in this study acts as a critical
advocate for each subject, seeking to understand each subject’s adjustment to the

academic situation created by the institution they attended.

52

Ethical Issues

It is of utmost concern that the anonymity of the subjects who were selected for this
qualitative study be assured and maintained. Each informant was given an informant
release agreement and documents release agreement that note the confidentiality of both
the information gathered during the interviews and the information collected from
supporting documentation about her collegiate experience at the selected institution of
higher education (see Appendixes B and C).

The subjects were given the address and telephone number of the researcher in the
event they had questions or wished to withdraw from the research project. The subjects
were also apprised of the purpose of the project and the procedures by which the project
was to be conducted.

All statements or other identifying items that might be related to the subjects were
disguised through the use of pseudonyms, or conunon and generic identifiers rather than
specific names, titles, or locally used jargon. This procedure further protected the
anonymity of the subjects and the institution that the subjects attended while pursuing
their baccalaureate degrees.

Access to the institution of higher education from which the subjects will be
selected for this study will be approved by appropriate administrators, as will access to
any documents gathered.

Data Collection and Verification

The data collection for this study was primarily focused on the interviews of the

subjects selected. By listening to the tape recordings, reading the notes taken by the

researcher and the transcripts of each interview, it was possible to identify themes and

53

recurrences of concepts and ideas expressed by the subjects. The subsequent interview
acted to clarify or reinforce initial comments, ideas, and expressions of the subjects. Key
terms were identified and isolated to determine their significance to any important themes
or realities that were being expressed by the subjects.

Since observation of the subjects was not possible during the process of degree
completion, the researcher relied on the recollections and anecdotes of the subjects.

Another means of verifying the data was the collection of documents that pertain to
the subjects’ interactions, accomplishments, and difficulties during the period of degree
completion. These documents included academic transcripts from high schools and
previous colleges attended, the college catalog, and the academic record of each subject at
the University that might shed some light on the reality or experiences involving the
subjects during the period of degree completion.

An initial introductory interview was conducted with each informant to gather
personal data. This procedure was followed by a structured one-hour interview, with the
researcher asking questions that established issues that probe the model of situational
adjustment dealing with motivation, learning, and performance (see Appendix A for
complete interview protocol). A second one-hour interview was conducted which was
more open-ended, with the intent of probing the comments, reflections, and anecdotes
made during the initial interview session. The subjects were given the opportunity to
review the transcript of the initial one-hour interview prior to coming to the second one-

hour interview session.

54

Ultimately the interpretations and intuition of the researcher emerge from the
interviews and records collected on each subjects that will determine applicability of the
situational adjustment construct to persistence.

Data Analysis

The purpose of the collection of data in this study is not to generalize or develop a
theory; the main emphasis is on describing and understanding the experiences offered by
the subjects. In this study, the subjects represent students who have successfully
completed the requirements for the baccalaureate degree. Each subject is a success story
at the institution selected for the study since only 20 percent of all degree-seeking
students at the University complete baccalaureate degrees.

Within a qualitatively-oriented descriptive case study, data analysis is an ongoing
process. As Lincoln and Guba argue, the researcher determines whether particular
“units” of information as they appear throughout the interview process and the notes
taken during each interview are significant (1985, p. 344). The researcher is not in a
position to know what will develop from the interviews with the subjects of the study.
The data that was collected and any analyses of such data will determine the final
outcome of the study. It is therefore critical to maintain ongoing analyses of the data
from each interview and each document reviewed.

Note cards will be used to collect and arrange similar units of data gathered from the
subjects. These similar units of data may be phrases, key terms, concepts, ideas, or

e xperiences that shed light on the understanding of the subjects’ expressions about the
realities of degree completion.

The analysis of the data was done by reviewing the audio-tapes of each

55

subjects interview, looking for recurrent themes or critical issues. The transcripts of each
interview were also reviewed in conjunction with the researchers notes and audio-tapes to
confirm the recurrent theme or critical issue that emerged. The subject’s academic
transcript was then reviewed as another means of confirming the existence of critical
events and occurrences that were discussed in the individual interviews.

These units of data will be placed into categories based on what Guba and Lincoln
call divergent and convergent thinking. In this study, convergence refers to those units
that fit together, or those bits of data that converge into a particular category or idea.
Divergence, on the other hand, reflects the ability of the researcher to tease out the
various categories once they have been established. It is the researcher’s responsibility to
analyze these bits of data and fold them into these emerging categories. “The categories
that one constructs should be internally homogenous; that is, all items in a single category
ought to be similar” (Merriam, 1990, p. 135). Categories should also be heterogeneous,
“differences among categories ought to be bold and clear” (Guba and Lincoln, 1981, p.
93).

Giving the subjects the opportunity to review and comment on the transcripts of their
first interviews enabled each subject to expand on or clarify statements or issues that
surfaced during that first one-hour session. This process served as a check on the
researcher’s interpretations of the statements about the realities of the degree completion

process as expressed by the subjects.

56

CHAPTER FOUR

FINDINGS FROM THE INTERVIEWS

Each of the five women in this study came to the academic situation with certain
qualities that were instrumental to their success in completing a baccalaureate degree
program. This study differs from Becker’s belief that what the individual brings to the
situation is unimportant. Each of these women succeeded because they brought to the
University the necessary traits that allowed them to adjust to and meet the challenges of
degree completion. The study also uncovers what the five women learned in adjusting to
the academic situation. Each woman assessed her performance primarily via the grades

and GPAs that they earned while completing their baccalaureate degrees.

The Subjects’ Personal Profile

Each of the subjects attended formal educational settings prior to entering the
University to pursue a baccalaureate degree. Previous collegiate experience was not a
criterion sought out intentionally, since each woman was selected from a list of
graduating seniors on the basis of such variables as ethnicity, age and proximity to
completion. Jewel, Cherlisha, Dannell, Jonella and Wonita were all transfer students
either from local-urban community colleges or independent proprietary vocational
schools. Cherlisha, Wonita and Jonella attended independent proprietary vocational
schools. Jewel and Dannell transferred from local-urban community colleges. The fact
that all the subjects selected for this study were transfer students may not be unusual
since the campus the women were selected from enrolls more than 65% of its students as

transfers from other institutions both local and out of state (Stingel, 2000). Since many

57

adult learners return to colleges and universities to finish degrees that they have already
started elsewhere, the high incidence of transfer students among the five subjects may not
be so unusual (Spanard, 1990). That these women chose either community colleges or
vocational training schools for their first successful ventures into higher education

stands as proof that for these five women community colleges and vocational training
schools do act as gateways to baccalaureate degrees.

The continuity of each woman’s educational experiences varied between periods of
attending formal educational settings to periods of non-attendance. The paths these
women took to earn their degrees were non-traditional, meaning they did not complete
high school at age 18 and immediately enter higher education to earn baccalaureate
degrees. Each took a different educational journey and experienced different types and
levels of educational institutions, but all of them have joined the ranks of those who hold
the baccalaureate degree. In order to accomplish this feat, each of these women
displayed a great deal of resiliency in overcoming life changing events which could have
left them in a state of hopelessness and defeat.

Even though Becker is not concerned with the prior experiences and background an
individual possesses prior to entering a situation, it is critical to this study that these
women’s backgrounds be reviewed in order to better understand why they persisted.
Jewel

Jewel is 40 years old divorced, and has three children aged 12, 14, and 19. After
graduating from a large inner-city high school with a 2.97 GPA, Jewel was admitted to a
major mid—westem urban research university. However, her experience at this institution
was extremely negative and she dropped out within the first year. Jewel discussed her

experiences with discrimination in the classroom and the sheer size of the institution

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that made it difficult for her to adjust to this institution’s academic and social situations.

After two years Jewel returned to higher education at the community college level and
took several classes. She then waited two more years after the birth of her first child
before re-entering the same community college. Subsequently she attended this
institution continuously for over three years to complete her associate’s degree in
occupational therapy. She then experienced a 12-year break from higher education to
raise her children as a single parent while working at several jobs to make ends meet
before re-entering the institution she currently attends, and from which she will earn her
baccalaureate degree.

Cherlisha

Cherlisha is 44 years old, divorced, and has a daughter now 27 years old and living
independently. Cherlisha graduated from a large urban high school with a 2.13 GPA.
Soon after graduation she worked for a large local retailer. When an opening became
available, Cherlisha entered the police academy and became a police officer. She
enrolled in an urban community college six years after leaving high school to take self-
improvement courses. After completing several classes at the community college she
went through a period of eight years of non-attendance focusing her efforts on raising her
daughter and working.

Cherlisha then enrolled in an independent proprietary vocational school that offered
certificate programs in court reporting, but she never finished the program. She lost
interest in court reporting as a career option.

Cherlisha then changed careers several times, while working within the state criminal
justice system, and finally in 1986 she became a bounty hunter for the state, a job she

held for 12 years. However, she was involved in two serious automobile accidents which

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as she says “took her off the street.” During her convalescence, she purchased a personal
computer and discovered an entirely new career option for herself. Eight years passed
before Cherlisha sought out another formal educational experience. Due to her injuries
from the automobile accidents she was involved in on the job, Cherlisha was unable to
attend traditional classes that required sitting for prolonged periods of time. However,
her daughter coaxed her into pursuing a degree in computer information systems at the
University, which was then an independent business college. Since making that decision
in 1996, Cherlisha has attended continually and maintained a 2.98 GPA. She will
complete her degree by June 2001.

Dannell

Dannell is 41 years old, a single mother who never married, and has a 20-year-old son.
She completed high school in four years at a large urban high school with a 1.69 GPA.
After graduating from high school, she declined an offer from her father to attend college
and pursue a degree. Instead, Dannell went to work and shortly thereafter bore her only
child.

After working and caring for her son for seven years, Dannell decided to begin her
college career by enrolling at an urban community college. After three-and-a—half years
of continuous enrollment at this community college during which she took liberal arts
courses, Dannell stopped out for four years before returning to the community college to
pursue a career in health administration. Three years later, Dannell left the community
college after earning an associate’s degree in health administration. After 13 years
Dannell returned to higher education at the University to pursue a specialized medical
billing associate’s program. After reconsidering her career options, Dannell decided to

change her major course of study from the area of health to a business oriented

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program and will complete her baccalaureate degree in June of 2001.
Jonella

Jonella is 35 years old, a single mother who never married, and has a seven-year-
old son. She graduated from a large urban high school with a 2.82 GPA. Since she
aspired to have a career in the medical field, Jonella completed a nursing assistant
vocational training program while attending high school. Immediately after completing
high school, Jonella enrolled in a large urban community college to pursue a nursing
program, but she had a very negative experience and dropped-out in the first year. As she
put it, “I just wasn’t focused.”

After seven years away from a formal educational setting, Jonella enrolled at an
independent vocational career school and completed a one-year certificate program as a
medical assistant. Immediately after completing this one-year certificate program,
Jonella enrolled in an independent community college to pursue an associate’s degree in
Applied Science on a part-time basis. After completing the associate’s program in three
years, Jonella enrolled at the University, upon the advice and prodding of one of her
instructors, to pursue her baccalaureate degree. Jonella has maintained full-time student
status at the University since 1998 while working full-time.

Wonita

Wonita is 44 years old, divorced and has one child who is now 27 years old and living
independently. Wonita bore her only child while attending high school and did not
graduate with her high class. However, she finished her high school diploma through an
adult high school completion program with a 3.49 GPA while living in California, where
her husband was stationed in the military. After returning to Michigan, Wonita held

several different jobs before enrolling at an independent proprietary business school and

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completing a l2-month certificate program in secretarial science, which began her career
as a secretary. That accomplishment was followed by a period of three years of non-
attendance while she worked and raised her child before she enrolled at the University to
pursue an associate’s degree in secretarial science. Wonita completed one quarter and
then stopped attending. There was a period of five years during which Wonita was
separated from her husband and forced to support herself and her son, before she re-
entered the University to complete her associate’s degree. Wonita subsequently spent
three years of continuous enrollment as both a part-time and full-time student to finish
her associate’s degree.

After having earned her associate’s degree, there was a four-year gap in her
educational pursuits before Wonita decided to continue and complete a baccalaureate
degree. Wonita initially enrolled in an accelerated program the University had just begun
to offer. She has since shifted to traditional course offerings and has maintained
continuous enrollment for the past nine years. Wonita changed her major area of study
when she realized that in order to be successful and financially independent she had to
elevate her career objective. This new gained knowledge gave her the self-confidence to
move her from a secretarial to a management program. Wonita will complete her degree
requirements and graduate at the end of the Spring Quarter 2001.

WHAT DID THE SUBJECTS BRING TO THE SITUATION
A Propensity for Learning

All of the women interviewed in this study have acquired and developed a propensity
for learning, which was both instrumental in bringing them back to formal educational
situations and seeing them through to the completion of their degree programs. Cherlisha

commented early in her first interview, “I like learning. I like the school atmosphere. I

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like reading. I always want to know new things. I always did.” Jonella was involved in

a vocational training program while in high school. She also indicated that she attended

every free training class or seminar that was offered and that she was eligible to attend.
When Dannell was asked if the things she learned in class were important to her, she

responded,

Yes, I like the idea of gaining knowledge. That always fascinates me. You
know, gaining knowledge. Just knowing something. And that way, you’re
able to hold a conversation with someone and not feel stupid. Because I gain

knowledge on a lot of levels, you know.

It was Wonita who most clearly addressed this propensity for learning in her

interviews:

Well, someone told me once, 1 think it was one of my teachers, the more you
learn, the more you realize how much you don’t know. And, as I proceeded
through my course work, I kept learning more and more, and I thought ‘wow’.
I’ve always liked learning. As you walk through life, you realize your
ignorance. It doesn’t take much to realize how much you don’t know about
various things. So, like I said, I’ve always wanted to learn. I guess I need that
kind of stimulation. I’m not a complacent person, and probably even if I
hadn’t gone to school, I would have found some other means of educating

myself.

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.—

Jewel was also very engaged and absorbed in learning. “I do a lot of writing and I
put that in my book”, this book refers to a personal journal that she maintains. Jewel also
mentioned that “I write poetry and short stories.” This propensity for learning also
extended to helping others who had difficulty in leaming. Jewel’s propensity for learning
compelled her to share the knowledge she gained with others.

Independence and Pride

In addition to having a propensity for learning, each of the women in this study also
projected independence and pride throughout the interview process. African-American
women in American culture are not assigned the same dominant culture’s stereotype of
femininity. In fact Brown-Collins and Sussewell indicate that, “The irony of slave
women’s history is that womanhood was redefined to allow for the exploitation of their
labor, resulting in the development of independent, self-reliant characteristics” (1988, p.
7).

This independence was openly discussed in the interviews and was noticeable in the
women’s comments about their ability to care for and support themselves and their
children. Being divorced or a single parent responsible for raising and supporting
children, surfaced as one of the main reasons for this independence and pride. Cherlisha

said,

When you know early in life that you have no one else to fall back on, it’s
either do or die. That’s the way it has been. I don’t do anything that I can’t
do by myself. I’m not dependent upon anyone else. I can only count on
Cherlisha. I know what I’m going to do, and if I don’t do it, the only person

that I can blame is me. I’m not going to let anybody else take on my life.

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L
1.
u.
.. . LLL

This pride is also evident in how well each woman does her job and how others
depend upon her. For example, Dannell spoke with pride in her initial interview session
about how she had already had two job promotions in less than a year.

Cherlisha spoke with pride concerning her administering the computer network at the
correctional facility’s where she is employed. She takes pride in maintaining that system
and making sure its users are served. When asked if what she has learned in the
classroom has added her in this ability Cherlisha’s comment was, “Yes, they were
because everything that I have done at the facility, it keeps it running smoothly, and then
that looks good, like I’m a competent person. That’s my goal.” Cherlisha also
mentioned she takes pride in helping friends and schoolmates with computer-related
problems.

Jewel is a contract employee working for a large automotive firm. She prides herself
in doing excellent work and maintaining a professional attitude in the human resource
department in which she works. Even though she struggles with issues of sexism and
discrimination in the work-place, she does not allow these social problems to deter her
from bettering herself. These social issues were discussed in one of Jewel’s classes
dealing with social diversity. When she was asked about her feelings toward material
that was learned in this class, Jewel reflected upon an incident that occurred dealing with
the issue of racial discrimination and sexism in our society. She recalled very heated
discussions. When challenged by a Caucasian male, who doubted the claims made by

minority students, Jewel responded to him:

....until you’ve walked in my shoes, you can’t tell me what didn’t happen or

don’t happen, but you can’t experience what I’ve experienced, ok? You can

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only either imagine or, like he said, he didn’t believe it. You would never

experience that.

Each of these women is atypical when compared to the traditional married dependent
female, who is not the breadwinner of the family in American society. Three of the five
subjects selected for this study are divorced, while the other two are single mothers.
Being a single parent places the burden of supporting children and maintaining
households in these women’s hands and forces them to be economically independent.

Three of the five subjects are also employed in careers that are not typically female-
dominated. Cherlisha is a systems analyst, Jewel is a human resource coordinator, and
Dannell is a reconciliation specialist with a major health provider. Only Wonita and
Jonella are employed in what is considered a typically female-dominated occupation as a
secretary or receptionist.

These characteristics of independence and pride may also be the reason why these five
women didn’t feel the need to become integrated into the social or academic fabric of the
University. Jewel explained how African-American females who possess this
independence and pride may be unwilling to ask for help in understanding course
material because of these very traits. In her words, “they don’t want to look stupid in
front of other people”, meaning their classmates. Jewel also mentioned that she
perceived many of her classmates as being unwilling to seek out help. “You know, I think
where a lot of people mess-up at is that they’re afraid to ask for help and they miss it.”
When questioned further about the issue of fear of approaching an instructor

Jewel expanded her comment:

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I don’t think it’s being afraid of the instructor. I think it’s more of something
to do with pride. They may not want them to know they don’t know, and a lot
of things you don’t know and you’re afraid to let it out to even say, ‘I don’t

understand that. I don’t know how to do that.’

When Jewel was asked if she thought this independence and pride might cause a student
to be silent in class so as not to show her failure to understand a concept, she answered,
“Yeah, because no one wants to feel like they’re stupid and they really don’t know.”

However, in contrast to these sentiments about some of their peers, the women in this
study were not afraid to seek out help and expected a great deal from themselves. In the
interviews they often expressed a sense of frustration with faculty they perceived as
doing inadequate jobs of teaching and responding to their needs.

Jewel mentioned how one of her mathematics instructors did not explain various
concepts effectively enough so that the students could comprehend them. A perceived
lack of concern on the part of the instructor caused her a great deal of frustration, since

mathematics was not her strongest subject. Jewel’s spoke of her frustration at length:

There was like one instructor I had, I didn’t have difficulty with him. It was
my algebra instructor. Because he wasn’t explaining it clearly and then when
he made a mistake, it was like, oh well, it’s like, throw it out. But you’re here
to teach us these things and you’re not explaining it. So I had to take it on
myself to teach myself from the book. That’s the only way I made it out of

that class.

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“If you’re going to do a job, do it right”, was Jewel’s comment. The perceived
inability of the instructor to meet the need that Jewel had was further described in this

fashion:

And if I tell you I need help and you’re the instructor, I think you should
provide this or find some way for me to get it. You don’t tell me to go get a
tutor when I come to you. You gave me this question, ok. Then you need to

answer it. Don’t blow me off.

The lack of concern on the part of the instructor drove Jewel to seek help outside of
class and made her feel as though she was learning on her own. She also eventually
became a mathematics tutor, in an attempt to help other students, until the time
commitment to tutoring became too much for her to handle. Jewel even tutored several
students without pay on her own outside of the structured peer-tutoring program the
University sponsored.

Cherlisha recalled an economics instructor covering the material very quickly in an
abbreviated summer session. She felt as if she were alone and forced to understand the
course material without the support of the instructor. Even though she thought highly of

the majority of her instructors, this single individual stood out in her mind. As she put it

He was going too fast, and he had his own opinions, so you basically had to
study by yourself because you’re still responsible for the work. It doesn’t
matter if an instructor doesn’t teach it the way you want him to teach it.

You’re responsible for the material that he is presenting. If you don’t get it in

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class, that means you got to spend all this extra time, which you’re supposed
to anyway, and learn the concepts. He didn’t test us on anything he didn’t

present, but he presented so much so fast.

Because of her independent attitude, it was not difficult for Cherlisha to understand that
the responsibility of learning the course material was hers alone and that the instructor is
there only to assist and act as a guide in opening the door for the student to master the
material. Whether this is done in a group format or alone, a key element in adjusting to
the academic situation is the fact that each student must learn to master the course

material.

Of the five women in this study, Wonita was the most reserved in her responses about
issues of pride and independence among African-American women. On the other hand,
Jonella was overtly direct and open about the issues of pride and independence. She
takes pride in her job and doing what is expected of her to the best of her ability. She
also felt, as did Jewel and Cherlisha, that some instructors did not understand the typical
adult learner’s situation, in which he or she is not just a student, but has other

responsibilities outside of the classroom:

Instructors are what they are, but they need to realize that most of us are single
parents and most of us are independent, and they need to realize we’re adults,

we’re not children. They need to address us as adults.

When Jonella was asked how she felt about this indifference among faculty members, she

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answered

Like they don’t want to do their job. They don’t want to help you...with some
of them you just get the inkling it’s just, I have a degree and whatever, and I
struggled to get my degree, and it should be a struggle for you. I mean, I’m
not saying that it should be easy, that you should just give a person the

answers, but help somebody out.

Pride and independence were dominant traits in these women’s personalities, which
motivated them to return to obtain their degrees. To a lesser extent these same traits led
them to experience frustration in their ability to accept their performances within the
academic situations in which they found themselves.

Having a Goal and being Committed

In reviewing the factors that brought these five women back to higher education to
either start or finish their baccalaureate degrees, the most prevalent and obvious initial
factor was each individual’s desire for self improvement or career advancement.
However, it was what subjects brought to the academic situation that arose as the key
feature that seemed to sustain them to complete their degrees. Becker does not place
emphasis on an individual’s prior experiences, simply on the fact that he or she decided
to enter the situation. The findings of this study indicate that these women came to the
situation with not only the motivation to succeed, but also the commitment to the goal
that they would finish their degree.

By embracing the goal of degree completion, each was faced with the task of changing

her identity by what Hewitt describes as defining, locating and differentiating oneself

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from others (1992). As students entering the academic life, they had to adopt the values,
norms and behaviors that constitute consistent viable adj ustrnents to the demands of the
academic situation they now find themselves in. This process means denying certain
aspects of one’s external culture and embracing the academic culture that defines the
institution.

Dannell’s point of reference was that she had started something and she
was determined to see through to the end. This clarity of purpose exemplifies the
independence and pride that each woman projected in their interview statements.

Dannell best describes the attitude which each of these women exhibited.

I think what-~what helped me finish is that I didn’t want to quit. I didn’t want
to start something and then not finish it. And I don’t think there was any
particular person or thing that made that decision for me or helped me make

that decision. I think it was that I started and I need to finish.

She also described how the institution continually sent her recruitment literature and
that was one of the main reasons for her returning to higher education. Dannell recalled
receiving “all these pamphlets” from the University and as she put it, “I just kept reading
[the pamphlets] and decided, why not come back, go to school.” Once she made the
decision to return to college, Dannell continued through four years without a break in
attendance to the point that she is at now, ready to graduate.

In Cherlisha’s case, a life-changing event motivated her to return to school, but
she brought with her a sense of independence, pride and resiliency that allowed

these women to persevere and stick to their plans. When Cherlisha was asked what

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it took to get through the requirements and earn her baccalaureate degree, she responded,

Well, you sacrifice a lot to finish your degree. So if you’re going to go to
school, give it some thought and make sure it’s really what you want to do.
It’s not something that you jump in, like it’s just a fad or something and say
‘I’ll go to school for a while.’ You have to be sure that that’s what you want
to do because it’s going to take a lot out of you, you’re going to lose a lot of
friends, it breaks up relationships, it breaks up everything. Because
everybody wants to be first but school has to come first. You have to work,

you have to make the sacrifice, and I was willing to do that.

When Jewel was asked if her to return to school was motivated by an economic,

personal or job related goal, she answered

All Three. Personally I always wanted more out of life. When I first thought
about what I wanted to be, I was going to be a doctor, a medical doctor. So
that was there. The economic part or influence, everybody wants the quality
of life to improve. Not everybody does. Some people are comfortable where
they’re at. I’m not comfortable where I’m at. In order to get to where 1 want
to be, I had to get out there and get it, and obtaining that education is where it
starts at. And as for the job, yeah, of course I want to move up in my job. I
don’t want to just stay at an entry level, but I want to be in management, and

I’m in management, and that’s where I want to be.

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Wonita came to the University with the goal in mind to finish her baccalaureate
degree before she reached the age of 40. Even though she did not meet her goal in the
time frame she had established, she has reached her goal by finishing her degree this
year. In her own words she explains that, “I’ve had to make a lot of adjustments, but the
end goal is still the same. I may not have been able to do it exactly the way I planned,
but still the goal remained the same-- to finish.”

Jonella became more motivated the closer she came to earning her degree. However,

she also became apprehensive and frightened. For as she put it,

Well, yes, I got more motivated because I could see the end. I got a little
scared because you are at the end. I am afraid of success. When I get to the
end, like you get to the end, what am I going to do? I’ve waited for this for so
long. When you started out, you started out; someday I’ll get to the end. And
now, it’s three months towards the end, and I’m like, am I going to find a
great job? Will this job pay me enough money? Am I going to do all right?
And then when you get to thinking about it, you get scared. I get so scared
sometimes I want to bust out in tears. I get real scared then I just say, okay,
it’s going to be okay. It will be okay. And, I say, you just apply what you
know and feed off of it and you’ll know more and more everyday. You’ll get

to know more and more everyday.

Motivation is the initial component to the situational adjustment construct. It is the
essential element that brings the individual into the situation and also serves as the major

impetus to maintain the individual through the process of adjustment. Malcolm S.

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Knowles, in defining his theory of adult learning, explains the significance of motivation
to the adult learner. “While adults are responsive to some external motivators (better
jobs, promotions, higher salaries, and the like), the most potent motivators are intemal
pressures (the desire for increased job satisfaction, self-esteem, quality of life, and the
like)”.

The five women in the study indicated a variety of factors that motivated them to
return to higher education and finish their baccalaureate degrees. These factors revolved
around their propensity for learning, independence and pride and finally their
commitment to that goal which was to finish their degree.

The fact that these five women came to the University and entered the academic
situation with the goal of completing their degrees establishes a distinct difference from
Becker’s situational adjustment construct, which does not concern itself with the
individual’s prior experiences or goal commitment before entering the situation. In these
five cases, having the goal already established to complete the degree was a definite
motivational factor affecting each woman’s ability to persist to degree completion

WHAT WAS LEARNED IN ORDER TO SUCCEED

Learning to Deal with External Relationships

In reviewing the interview transcripts and audiotapes, another factor, which clearly
emerged as influential to these subjects’ motivations to persist, was the influence of
external interpersonal relationships. Both external friendships and family relationships
were mentioned as both detrimental and supportive of their efforts by four of the five
subjects. Competition for each subject’s time for study and reading was mentioned,
coming from friends or family members outside of the University.

Cherlisha pointed out that her family would remind her that, “you never have time

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for us anymore”. Since Cherlisha was the first in her family to pursue a degree, she felt
as though her family members were not tolerant or supportive of her efforts. As she put
it, “They really are not understanding of it because they never finished high school”.
Cherlisha’s supervisor at work was not supportive of her efforts to further her education,
due to the fact that she viewed Cherlisha as a threat to her position.

These women felt strongly about the fact that those students who were not deeply
committed to the goal of degree completion, this competition for time could have
potentially devastating effects on their ability to be successful academically, and
ultimately in their ability to persist. All five of the women gave the impression that they
were very goal directed and focused on the fact that they were going to finish this degree.
Since the majority of these women were the first members of their families to pursue
college degrees, several of them felt that their relatives were jealous of them and gave
them the feeling they didn’t want them to succeed.

Jewel, on the other hand, did not feel the same pressure that Cherlisha alluded
to in her response to the question that asked about individual(s) who might have impeded
her motivation to persevere to degree completion. Jewel indicated that her family
relationship was not, as she put it, “close knit”. Even though she is the first in her family
of eight children to obtain a college degree, Jewel did not feel the same antagonism that
Cherlisha did from family members and friends. Her sense of independence and pride, or
as Jewel phased it, “stubbornness” was a useful trait aiding in her persistence to degree
completion.

When first asked, Dannell did not make an issue of the effect of external relationships
upon her ability to maintain an adequate level of motivation. However, as the interview

progressed, Dannell did admit that she felt her mother was not truly supportive of her

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efforts to obtain a degree at this stage of her life. Dannell explained that her mother often
made it seem that Dannell was trying to be better than her and her other two siblings.

Her mother would say, “So you think your better”? On the contrary, her father was
supportive of her efforts to improve herself by pursuing a degree. Dannell also
mentioned that fellow coworkers were not only instrumental in urging her to come back
to school, but they were also supportive of her efforts once she had begun. Dannell felt
this support, which took the form of informal conversations and discussions with
coworkers and supervisors, was a motivating factor and influenced her persistence to
degree completion.

Jonella did not experience negative reactions from her family as she pursued her
education. In fact she indicated that they were very supportive and would volunteer to
take care of her son. Jonella did experience some negative feelings and reactions from
co-workers who resented her leaving work early on certain days to attend class. In her
words, some employees were supportive of her efforts and some were not, especially
those who were not pursuing their own education and viewed her attempts at improving

herself with some seeming jealousy.

I have support from my employer and from my co-workers. And what they
are saying and not saying is what motivates me. It’s not what they say, it’s
not saying. That first year I didn’t have a car and I had to be at school at 4:45.
Well I work and live in downtown ---- and my employer and I had already
come to an agreement that some days I would have to leave early, earlier than
usual, which I would substitute and not take a lunch for that day. My co-

workers would get on my case. I mean, it was always something negative to

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say. ‘Why do you get to get off early?’ And mind you, I work for a very small
company. There are about 15 people there. Right now it’s still like that.
There’s no motivation, no I think you’re doing a good job, or anything like
that. I shouldn’t say all of them. I have one co-worker who’s the controller. I
had one person who is the electrical engineer. He helped with my algebra and

stuff like that.

She did receive support from two upper level employees who both have degrees and gave

her assistance in both her mathematics and accounting classes.

I had two male co-workers that helped me. And it’s still like that now. I
don’t understand. I used to think it was just race-related because I’m the only
Africa-American where I work, and I’m like, I’m trying to better myself. I
don’t know if it’s a matter of envy because out of the 15 people, we have only

five of them who have degrees. 80 I don’t know why.

Jonella’s employer loaned her the money to pay off a previous college loan that
allowed her to return to the University and begin her baccalaureate degree. When Jonella
approached her employer to repay the loan, he simply told her to keep the money. This
was a turning point for Jonella, knowing that someone believed in her that much, and it
boosted her confidence and motivation to pursue the next level of degree that she sought.

Wonita did not describe any negative influences from her family toward her pursuing
her education even though she was the only member of the family who has earned a

college degree. In fact she recalled her mother telling her, “read, read. . .don’t be a

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dummy”. Wonita also mentioned her mother was very supportive of her efforts in
furthering her education and how pleased she is that she has, as Wonita put it, “Done
something positive with my life”. Wonita also mentioned that one of her former
employers who allowed her to use company computers to complete her course work. At
that time Wonita did not have her own personal computer and this use of company owned
computer hardware and software was very important to her meeting the demands of the
academic requirements she faced.

Many African-American women are sole heads of households, forcing them into the
roles of economic provider, parent and role model. This last function may well motivate
them to pursue their degrees as role models for their children. For Cherlisha, this was an

extremely critical motivating factor.

I think the experiences that supported me the most was my daughter
constantly encouraging me. ‘My mother’s getting her bachelor’s degree.’
She started going to school too, and it was like a competition, but I’m

finishing first.

Cherlisha mentioned on several occasions that it was her daughter who motivated her
to return and pursue her baccalaureate degree. In fact, her daughter started a degree
program at the University before she coaxed Cherlisha to enroll. Since Cherlisha is her
daughter’s role model, it is her hope that her daughter will also return and finish her
degree.

Jewel also envisions herself as a role model for her three children. She feels that her

children are not getting enough or as much as they can from their education. Therefore,

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she is using her own experiences as an example for them. She remembered telling her
children, “how can you let your mama do this and you’re not doing it? And I take my
report card and I place it right there on the table for them to see it!”

Jonella mentioned that, in addition to advancing her career, it was her son who
motivated her to come back to school. In her words, “Basically is was my son, it was my
son. I wanted to show him that you know some things you have to continue on, you have
to do”. Dannell, on the other hand, did not see herself as a role model for her son, even
though she admitted that, “I even try to encourage him to go to college”. But her efforts
have gone unheeded. Dannell’s perception was that her son has not been motivated to
seek out higher education or vocational training because of her example of completing
the baccalaureate degree. She felt that her son had not reached the point in his life where
he felt the necessity, as Dannell has, to better himself by furthering his education. For
whatever reason, Wonita did not mention seeing herself as a role model to her son.

Learning Institutional Rules

The women in this study were faced with learning the academic and procedural
rules and policies that drove the institution they attended. Each woman went about
learning these rules, policies and procedures differently, either by trial and error, reliance
on fellow students or referring to the college catalog. Whichever avenue they took to
become aware of the effective techniques or appropriate behaviors to adjust to the
academic situation, all of them succeeded in meeting the demands established by the
University to earn their baccalaureate degrees.

Jewel’s perception of how she learned the rules and policies of the University
came from her previous collegiate experiences. “It stems from just going to school

period. There are always rules. You have to abide by them”. When probed further about

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the specific rules of the institution she was currently attending she responded that “you
find out that information. Just going through the system and asking questions”. Jewel
indicated that she would seek out the office that dealt with any question she had or
problem that needed resolution to find the answers or solutions to her difficulties.
Although the method was not directly referred to by all of the women in the study, three
of them obviously learned the rules and policies at the University through the process of
trial and error.

By attempting to meet degree requirements, each woman in the study, in dealing with
issues such as course loads, course combinations and course deliveries (on-line,
accelerated), learned whether or not she could deal with the varying features of these
different course completion options. Often, students who are driven to complete their
degrees in shorter than average periods of time may opt to carry more courses than usual
or to select different course delivery options. These different course delivery options can
take several forms such as accelerated five or seven week courses, video courses,
television courses, audio courses, external learning courses, or on-line courses. Other
than the accelerated courses, the remainder of these course delivery options requires
limited classroom attendance, which often looks attractive to already overburdened
working women.

But non-traditional course delivery Options frequently present unique demands to a
student who may not be prepared to handle such issues as time management, self-
directed learning, and less dependence on faculty direction and structure. Each of the
women in the study experienced several of the University’s non-traditional course
delivery options with varying degrees of success. Their attempts at completing courses

through different delivery options were essentially trial and error attempts at

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meeting course and credit hour requirements.

Interestingly by contrast, Dannell presented an entirely different explanation than
Jewel’s as to how she Ieamed the rules and policies of the institution. She depended on
the University’s catalog to learn what the rules of the institution were and how they
would affect her. When Dannell was asked how she learned the rules and policies of the
University she explained, “that information was given in the catalog.” When asked if that
is where she Ieamed these requirements and policies she indicated, “Yes, I read the
catalog, I read the catalog very thoroughly. And then if I’m not sure I would call,
ask questions. That’s the purpose of the catalog. 1 was reading that catalog like it
was an everyday book.”

When Dannell was told that many students don’t rely on the catalog for information,
she was shocked. Dannell also mentioned that the further she progressed into her degree
program, the less she relied on the catalog for guidance. Dannell also mentioned that her
previous educational experiences at the community college level helped her deal with
requirements at the University, as well as talking with other students who had earned
degrees. She also gained information about the University’s policies from reading the
pamphlets she continually received before she entered her program.

Without hesitation, Cherlisha said that she got all the information dealing with the
rules and policies of the University she needed to finish her degree program from fellow
students. She was obviously dependent on her fellow students both for assessing the
academic situation she was confronted with and for understanding the rules and policies
that were integral parts of this situation. When Cherlisha was asked which persons at the
University most assisted her, she answered: “Well, the person who is an equal (meaning

her peers). It goes back to the other students. They helped me finish. Because no

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matter what you’re going through in your life, they encourage you to continue on.
They’re just important to me.”

Wonita’s situation was unique for she had to learn the rules and policies of the
University at two distinct periods in its history. She began her associate’s degree before
the institution had grown and became a university. When Wonita started at the
institution, there was one central office, called the General Office, in which many of the
key academic administrators and support staff were housed. As Wonita put it, “I had
more contact with the General Office.” This was an open office area in which students
would go before or after class to ask questions of those staff persons who were available.
Students would either have their questions answered or be sent to other offices for
answers. Wonita did admit, however, that she didn’t have much contact with many of the
staff and faculty during this time. So when she was asked if much of her knowledge
about institutional rules and policies was gained through trial and error experiences, she
admitted, “Yeah, probably by trial and error. It’s not like someone took me to the side
and mentored me or anything or showed me the ropes. So it would be more trial and
error. No one ever showed me anything.” This in the 1980’s when the emphasis on
orientation to college life was not nearly as pronounced as it is today. Upon her return
she experienced a more conscious service-oriented environment.

Jonella also felt that she was left to her own devices to learn the rules and policies of
the University. When asked how she Ieamed the rules of the institution she gave the

following response.

By doin’ em every quarter. Cause no one told me. I mean I Ieamed on my

own and only way I Ieamed is because I went to one place and they said we

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111:

m,

Cam

um,

don’t do it here you have to go upstairs. No one told me. I knew

about financial aid because like I said I went to school before.

Jonella felt that she should have been given more exposure to the various departments
and their services by the admissions department. She felt that she was just lefi to fend

for herself.

I think for the first couple of quarters they should at least make sure that
you’re ok. That you can get around. You know...they just dropped you. I
mean I haven’t seen my admissions person since I’ve been here. . . .since that

first day I haven’t seen him.

J onella also recently learned that she could make tuition payments by going directly to

the Business Office. As she put it,

I just recently found out that you don’t have to go to the Enrollment Services
to get finalized (make payment), you can just go to the Business Office and
just get finalized. And they don’t have to print you off a paper, you can go

over there and they’ll print you off a paper (meaning a statement of account).

When Jonella was asked, “how did you learn that”, her response was “trial and error.”
All of the women in this study had previous educational experiences. Therefore they
came to the University with an existing repertoire of behaviors, experiences, and

understandings or knowledge of how postsecondary education works. These perceptions

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were obviously relied upon to get them through some of the complexities that they faced
at the University. Their prior knowledge and assumptions about how the system works
guided their decision-making about such things as class selection, registration, adding
and dropping classes, financial aid and all the other processes and responsibilities
associated with the role of student.
Learning to Manage the Constraints of Time

Time was a constraining force that each of the women in the study had to learn to
manipulate carefully. For example, there was usually just enough time for most of the
women to reach the University and get to class. After class most of these women were
forced to rush home either to look after their children or household responsibilities.
Courses that started later in the evening or on weekends were sought by all the women to
allow them the time required meeting both work and family responsibilities. Jewel
mentioned that there really isn’t time to mingle with students or faculty if one already has
extensive work and family commitments. She noted the fact that “There just isn’t time to
do these things”. Since all of the women in the study worked full-time, had or have
parental responsibilities, and maintain households, they echoed Jewel’s thoughts on this
matter.

Each woman recalled how she had to deal with the constraints of time. Jewel

recollected how she had to restructure her life.

Before I had ridiculous hours. I was up all times of the night. I didn’t set a
time to where I would pick up my books. And doing that it all piled up and
then I had to, like, rush. I think at that time I didn’t do my best. Even though

it was good, I think I could done better. So I had to find time when to do

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my work, when to study, and making I did my reading because sometimes I

didn’t always do my reading.

Wonita best captured the essence of the time issue in the following statements

in response to her having any social interaction at the University. She said she did not

Because of the time issue. You know, you drag yourself in here and the next
thing you want to do is get through the class, be done, and go on. I can
remember that there were occasions when at the end of the class, you ended
up feeling connected with a classmate. But it never went beyond that. I never
meet anyone after class. Maybe once, in my accounting class, we all met to
do a take-home final. But beyond that, I never socialized with anyone strictly
on a social basis. Everybody’s so involved in his or her own lives. A lot of
these women have children. Everybody works. So there’s really not a lot of
time unless you develop something really special, like a really special
relationship where you want to carry it on beyond school. Most people were
cordial, and a lot of times you did kind of recognize there was some sort of
bond at the end of the quarter, but by that time you were going your separate
ways. You were going on to another class. So, nothing beyond the

coursework itself or beyond being in class, nothing social beyond that.

Later in the interview, Wonita described how she felt dealing with the conflicts

between working full-time, trying to complete schoolwork, and other responsibilities.

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When you come to class after work, you’re already functioning at a deficit.
You’re not really all there unless you have a Saturday class. I’m much
sharper in the moming than I am in the evening. I’m running at full capacity
in the morning, but by the time you’ve been in an office all day, listened to the
phone, answered to the demands of all those people, then you drive to

class. . .You’re kind of, like, hazy. I’m not sure if. . .Some things you’ll listen
to, then other things you start to tune out on. You start to think about the
clothes you’re going to wash when you get home, what you’re going to get at

the grocery store, or you’re just not there at all.

Wonita initially set a deadline to finish her baccalaureate degree at age 40. But
she discovered that the constraints of time kept her from reaching this goal and she
adjusted her deadline to the realistic demands of her complex adult life style.
Working two jobs, caring for a household and being responsible for her son had a
negative effect on Wonita’s ability to deal with the additional burden of degree
completion. Concerning African-American women who face this challenge of degree

completion, Wonita said

Women are driven because, a lot of times, their the heads of households, they
have children, and they feel very, you know, compelled to make their lives
better. But, by the same token, they’re heads of households. They’re
managing their homes, they’re children, their jobs. It’s different with a man,
because a man lot of men don’t have full responsible for their children. There

are some, but not a lot. Most of it falls on the women. That’s why they’re all

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the more pressured. It’s like a double-edged sword. They feel more pressured
because they have all the responsibility, and because of that responsibility
they can’t allow themselves to take on too much...It’s not that
important...when it came to the reality of it, it was like its not so important. If
I don’t have my degree by the time I’m 40...but realistically I can’t do this.
What’s the point if your gonna put so much stress

on yourself that your not healthy.

Cherlisha described her dealing with the issues of time constraints with school, work

and home responsibilities in the following fashion:

I’d try not to take classes that started immediately after I got off work,

right at the 4:45 class. That didn’t give you enough time. I usually chose the
5:30 or 6:30 classes. And, my employer allowed me to work flex-time, so I
could come in early and then I could get off work at least an hour or an hour-
and-a half before class starts so if I had to read, I could read. Because I didn’t
have time to do anything at work. And, uh, if I had three classes, and I went
to school three or four nights a week, then I just didn’t clean up my house, I
didn’t do anything. I just go to work, go to school, go home, go to bed, get up
and go to work. And then days I didn’t have school, that’s when I cleaned up,
other than that I didn’t worry about it. I haven’t cleaned-up my house in three

months.

Cherlisha also mentioned that study groups were scheduled either before class

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started or on the weekends, which meant Saturday or Sunday meetings.
Dannell also felt the constraints of time while attending the University and pursuing
her baccalaureate degree. When she was asked about this time constraint issue she

offered the following comment.

Well, it just doesn’t seem there’s enough time in the day (pause) to do
everything. Work, go to school, take care of a house. But, when you’re
determined to do something, you just make the time. Cause you’re exhausted
by the end of the day. But if there’s something you are determined to do, you
will make the time. And I managed to do that. Uh... you just do it. That’s
the best way I can answer that. You have to discipline yourself. . .you have to.
Um, yeah, when you’re working and going to school, and then taking care of,
like you said. . .outside commitments, you have to discipline yourself. You
know that you have this time to do this. this time to do that, and you just do
that.

Dannell was then asked, “What does that mean you discipline yourself?” Her response

was, “A social life...you don’t have a social life. You don’t have time.” Dannell was

then asked, “That means friends, relatives, family”. Her answer was,” Out the door.”

After further probing, Dannell admitted that her social life revolved around school and

work. The responsibilities of school and work became her social life because of the time

constraints of working and attending classes and caring for her home.

Learning to Deal with Grades and GPAs

Grades are the single most important indicator of a student’s successful adjustment to the

academic environment within higher education. Grades and the credit they carry are the

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currency by which students determine their ability to progress and complete degree
requirements in the majority of institutions of higher education in America. At the
undergraduate level, grades are the single best predictor of a student’s obtaining a
bachelor’s degree and of ultimately attending graduate school (Pascarella and Terenzini,
1991).

Grades are not only influenced by one’s academic ability and intelligence, but are
also affected by such factors as individual motivation, study habits, and quality of effort.
Therefore, grades are not only indicative of a student’s successful adjustment to the
academic situation in higher education but also reflect his or her work habits and
attitudes. For the students in this study, these habits and attitudes were brought to the
academic situation from prior academic experiences.

Each subject’s transcript of grades tells a story in itself (see Appendix G). These
grades are listed chronologically by quarter attended. As a part of the data collected for
this study, the grades indicate that there were several quarters when individual grades
sufi’ered due to the combinations of courses coupled with outside responsibilities caused a
reduction in GPA. Also evident are the courses that caused several of these students
difficulty, which were for the most part either mathematics or quantitatively oriented
courses or English courses. Withdrawal grades of “W” were used as a means of
protecting the subjects’ GPAs. By withdrawing, the subjects avoided poor or failing
grades.

As each woman re-assumed the role of student, she also had to accept the
requirements established by the University to complete a degree. In coming to the

University Cherlisha claims she did not experience what Becker, Geer, and Hughes

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describe as a sense of “subjection” by all the rules and policies that create the fabric of

the academic situation (1995). Indeed she urged

...as soon as you hit the door you automatically know you’ve got to try to

do your best. You’ve got to. Because that’s what’s expected of you. They
expect only the best from you, not halfway, kind of-sort-of, or what you feel
like. They expect you to work hard for your grades because the school has a

standard and they expect for their students to have standards.

It can be assumed that the “they” Cherlisha refers to in her statement is the faculty.
Cherlisha also mentioned that she is accustomed to a structured environment, meaning
on-the-job working in correctional facilities, and that she functions better in a structured
setting with rules, policies and clearly defined parameters and outcomes.

Dannell simply referred to subjection as the “controlling factor.” In fact it was

Dannell who when asked about the issue of subjection, explained

To me that was a given. When you go to school, you know that school is
structured where you have to follow the guidelines of the instructor or the
institution or whatever. I mean, it’s a given. I knew as an adult what I was

going into when I decided to come back to college I knew.

Each of the five women accepted the fact that the “subjection” which Becker and
associates describe is simply an aspect of the academic situation they found themselves in

and dealt with it by working within the structured policies and demands made of them.

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The acceptance and ability to change within the academic situation were critical in their
ability to persevere.

The independence and pride that these women brought to the academic situation
may also have implications for how they perceive themselves coping with the academic
demands of degree completion. Since grades are the rewards for their efforts in pursuing
their degree and meeting the academic challenges, they pride themselves in keeping a
good grade point average. Because they were a reinforcing symbol of each woman’s self
worth and proof of her ability to succeed, grades became a motivating factor for each
woman. Becker emphasizes the importance of grades: .“Students work very hard to get
grades and consider them very important, both for their immediate consequences and as
indicators of their own personal ability and worth” (1964, p. 45). In addition the
University as an institution, through its social structure virtually demands that students
accept that grades are important, because within the reality of this social institution
grades are important. For adult learners (as for all students) adequate grades are required
to pass to the next course, to earn the credits necessary to graduate, and are mandatory to
maintain enrollment in the institution. Adult learners do not debate these aspects of
academic culture.

When Cherlisha was asked how important grades were to her and her ability to cope

with the academic situation she found herself in, she said

They are important to me. I always wanted to get an ‘A’, always. But then I
also know my limitations and I’m realistic about it. If I can’t get an ‘A’, then
I will settle for a ‘B’. But I don’t want to repeat anything. I also know that if

I didn’t work as hard as I should have then the grade that I got was

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what I probably deserved because I know when I’m not doing well.

Cherlisha also indicated that “your grades reflect how much effort you’ve put into
what you’re doing”. Cherlisha’s senior cumulative grade point average is 2.98 on a 4.0
grading scale. She claimed it makes her “feel good” when she gets above average grades
(“I love getting A’s”). And when she does not receive the grade she would like, she
notes that “I feel kind of bad about it.” However, Cherlisha did not let her average grades
affect her attitude about school or deter her from her goal of completing the degree.
When asked how she recovered fiom receiving a grade she felt was not up to her

standards, she explained

I work harder to get an ‘A’ the next time and I even go over the work that I
messed up. Even though it might be the last test and I might not be able to do
anything about it, but I want to go back and see what I did wrong because I
still understand I might use it out there. See that’s policing yourself and

you have to do that.

Cherlisha received failing grades in a series of five Novell Courses because she could
not pass the Novell certification examinations. These examinations are developed by the
Novell Corporation and must be passed meeting the corporation’s standards. Credit is
only assigned in these Novell courses if the student passes the certification examination
pertaining to the course material the student has just completed. Cherlisha would not be
allowed to graduate without these major course requirements, which were dependent on

passing the Novell examinations. It was at this point that she was forced to decide

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whether to continue or drop out of her degree program. Fortunately, she was able to
make an accommodation with the chairperson of the Computer Information Systems
Department. Cherlisha changed her major from a Novell program to a Web Management
program, and was thus allowed to graduate. This situation in Cherilsha’s academic career
could have kept her from completing the baccalaureate degree. She describes

the situation:

Well actually the whole Novell Program almost prevented me from finishing
my degree. I didn’t know that you had to pass the certifications in. order to get

your degree, and that’s why I ended up being here an extra year.

When asked if the Novell crisis was an institutional policy that created a problem for her

which she wasn’t aware of, Cherlisha responded:

When you sign up for the Novell, at the orientation they don’t tell you that.
It’s not until you’ve paid all your money and taken like four or five classes,
and then they say ‘you know, you have to have your certification or you’re
not going to get your grades and then you’re not going to graduate.’ So I was

at the end.

When asked how she felt about this situation, Cherlisha continued:

Well, I was pretty upset about it. I said ‘so what am I supposed to do?’ They

said ‘you just wouldn’t graduate.’ That was Mrs. ----- I was talking to. I

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asked her was there any other alternative. It just so happened that at the time
this happened to me they added the web site Management classes, otherwise I

don’t know what would have happened.

Cherlisha felt this was an equitable resolution to the problem and changed her major to
the new Web Management program. Had Cherlisha not been so goal-directed in pursuing
her degree, she might have dropped out and never finished the baccalaureate degree that
she will be receiving in June 2001.

Jewel also felt that grades were very important. As a senior, she has a 3.11 on a 4.00
grading scale. The majority of her grades were above average. However, Jewel
remembered several classes in which she struggled and received C’s or C-‘s. When
asked how important her GPA was to completing her degree, Jewel indicated that it was

“very important.” She explained the importance of the GPA by adding that

Even though I had a couple classes that I was having a hard time with and

there were some things happening, between work and home and I just couldn’t
put my all into it, and I was very disappointed with the grade I received. It wasn’t
a bad, bad grade, but it was just not me. It kind of hurt a little bit. So I would
strive on, trying to keep it up or I’ll pull it up in the last year. It was very
important. It tells something about you. It tells about your initiative, your strive,

or how important you think education is.

The adult learners who re-enter colleges and universities with previous experiences in

higher education can find these previous experiences having a positive or negative effect

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on their ability to persist. In Jonella’s case it was her previous experiences with
mathematics that held her back from considering pursuing her education once she
finished the associate’s degree. Jonella remembers being overcome by fear after
finishing her associate’s degree at the independent community college and looking
forward to continuing her education. She recalls “the thing that scared me was

the algebra classes. I would not come back to school to take those algebra classes.”

It was only in Jonella’s second quarter that she attempted her first algebra course, a
beginning level class. She received a “D” in this course, but this experience did not
impede her progress or affect her level of motivation. She rationalized this as only one
grade of many she would receive during her tenure at the University. In her-own words,
“I didn’t stop. I said, well, okay, that’s just one D. I’ll see what I can do.” After all,
she did pass the Algebra course.

In the next quarter, Jonella attempted an introductory accounting class, which she also
feared since she viewed it as a quantitative course similar to algebra. But she received a
grade of A. This experience was very motivating for her because other students
mentioned how difficult accounting was for them and she did very well. “I had
accounting and it was a whiz. It was so easy for me.” This grade encouraged her to
attempt other required algebra and accounting courses in which she did progressively
better with each successive course.

In her interviews, Jonella described her attitude concerning grades and her GPA in

defining her as a person and how she adjusted to her level of performance.

The grade point average didn’t mean anything to me, but now it does now. It

didn’t at first. I just said whatever it’s going to be, I know I learned

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something. I think people put too much on grades. But then, they do
represent something you Ieamed in the class. The only reason why it means
so much to me now is because I want to go to graduate school, and you need a
2.5, some places, you need a 2.0. I just think I really want to do this. It really
didn’t mean too much. It doesn’t represent how smart you are. It’s just, I
don’t know, I look it as if you want to get into a good graduate school, you
want to get into a good school, you need a great grade point average. But it’s

a stigma that’s saying that okay, because you got a 2.0, you’re average.

Not all of the five women were intensely driven to maintain high grades and GPAs.

Dannell did not seem as intent on striving for high grades and GPA:

You know, I’m not really big on grade point averages. I’m really not. If I get
a C out of a very hard class, and my grade point average has fluctuated
because of that, I don’t let it bother me. I ran into students who must, must,
must, must get a 4.0 every quarter. No, to me that’s too much stress. You
already have enough to deal with on a daily basis. Why stress yourself out
trying to get an A out of every class? No, no. Some classes are easy A’s. I

don’t worry myself about a grade point average. No.

Yet it was Dannell, who after completing a term with four courses and working full-time,

was excited that she had earned a 3.08 GPA on a 4.00 grading scale:

I was really impressed by my grade point average last quarter, because

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at that time I carried four classes, and my grade point average was 3.08.
That’s the first I ever really was concerned about my grade point average. I
wanted to see if I could really do this, you know, and see what the outcome
was going to be for that quarter, and 3.08, and I thought that was darn good.
Four classes and working full-time. Actually I was working 40+ hours

per week, and I managed to do that on top of it. I thought that was great.

She explained further how she felt. “I felt real good. I was telling everybody. As a
matter of fact, I still have my report card at work. I was showing folks, see, see, see, look
what I did.”

Each of the five subjects in the study had a different viewpoint concerning grades
and what Becker calls the GPA perspective. When Wonita was asked how important
grades and GPA were to her persisting to degree completion, she said that they were
“Relatively irnportant. I didn’t want to come out with anything less than a 3.0, that’s for
sure. But within reason, I wanted to keep it.” She was then asked, “You mean
above average”, and she answered, “Yeah, above average.”

Wonita also mentioned that there were certain instances when her feeling positive or
motivated by her performance was augmented by grades that assessed her performance in
the classroom. “When I did good on a test? You feel good, you feel satisfied. You feel
like your effort was worth it.”

However, there were courses that challenged Wonita and caused a certain amount of

frustration and anguish:

...math was the most challenging for me, my algebra classes. I didn’t do very

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well in these classes. I took Algeme and Algebra II and I got ‘Cs’ in these
classes. At the time of my algebra I class, I wasn’t even working. I was laid
off, and this was like a foreign language to me. At first I thought I was doing
well. But when I got the grade for my first test, it was awful. I’m like,

what is it that I’m not getting?

Eventually Wonita overcame her fear and anxiety about her algebra requirements and
completed Algebra II with a B. She then went on to complete the two statistics courses
that were required to complete her degree program.

Each woman was resilient enough to alter her standards concerning grades and GPA
in situations where performance did not meet expectations. Each woman gave the
impression that she accepted the responsibility not only to improve herself, but also the
fact that her actions resulted in certain outcomes. This is an example of Becker’s
reference to assessing performance in a situation effectively in order to make the
adjustment. This resiliency to accept one’s performance, even though it did not meet
one’s expectation, enabled these women to maintain the comrrritrnent necessary to
attaining their goal of degree completion.

The review of these subjects’ transcripts indicated that they all had difficulty with
math, economics and accounting courses. The University’s grade distribution data
supports the fact that many students receive lower grades in these course areas. The
University admits at least 60% of its new students with deficiencies in mathematics or
English. Students who display deficiencies through testing are required to take remedial

courses in either one or both subject areas.

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These women were able to deal with the pressures of grades and GPAs by adjusting
their perceptions of independence and their achievements in comprehending the course
material. Cherlisha mentioned that she knew when she did not understand concepts or
terminology. “You know within yourself if you’re not doingwell”. To her such
deficiencies meant more study time with the material or working with established study
groups or individuals within the study group to gain confidence in her understanding of
the material covered in class. When Cherlisha was asked how she assessed her

academic performance, she replied

When I got my grades, when I turned in my assignments and my tests. If I did
poorly on a test, that meant I had to really work hard and I’ll get the extra
credit and I would do that too to bring them up. When they offer extra credit.
That’s how you gauge how your performance is. You already know if you’re

not doing well. You know that within yourself that you can do better.

At this point in the interview, Cherlisha was asked how she knew she was not doing

well and her response was that,

Because, if [an instructor] is talking about a concept and you don’t have a clue
what she’s talking about, and she’s been talking about it for the last three
weeks and you still don’t know what she’s saying, then obviously you’re not
paying attention or you’re not doing the extra work to make yourself

understand.

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In an attempt to understand further how Cherlisha felt about her performance and
understanding of concepts introduced in class, she was asked specifically what feelings

she experienced when she grasped a concept.

Confidence, and achievement. Because that’s what she’s giving you. The
instructor wants you to understand this concept. They keep referring back to
it, and every time she mentions it, and you still don’t understand what it fully
means or how it’s applied. You can remember a definition, but if you don’t
know how to apply it, what good does it do you? You can recognize the
word, but if they say well I need you to do like this program and use arrays in
it, but if you don’t know how to create an array or what you have to declare in
order for the array to work, what good does it do you. You know that an array

is something to do with something else.

Jewel referred to an experience she had in one of her classes that indicated her

attitude about grades and course demands.

It’s too much to drop a class. I have a problem. I’ll fight it out. In that
particular class, I mean, so many people were dropping out. My first grade in
the class, the first test I took, it was like a C-. The second test, it was a D. I
thought, oh, this is terrible. And everyone had to have done bad. So [the
instructor] threw that one out (meaning the grade). So he was going to take
the two tests and put them together, and however he did it. There was like

quite a few that dropped out after that second test. There were a lot of

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students who said I’m just dropping, a lot of them. I tried to talk to someone
about it because I was going to help them. But she just did. She dropped it. I
was determined. No, I’m not dropping this class. I didn’t want to repeat this.
I have a thing about repeating. So, I got my book. I had three calculators.
This was my Algebra 111 class so we could use a calculator. For some odd
reason, the one calculator wasn’t doing all the functions that the book said it
could do so I had three calculators. I was determined to pass and I did. I
passed that class with a B because I aced the test. I refused. And it wasn’t on

his teaching. I was not repeating that class, and I wasn’t failing that class.

In Jewel’s case the idea of refusing to drop and repeat a class was related to her
attitude about the expense of education. To Jewel it was unacceptable to drop a class
after spending the time and money she had invested in it. She felt she had to leave the
situation with the grade and credit hours she needed to complete her degree.

Jewel loved to write and thought her writing skills were adequate for her personal use,
which meant writing poetry and short stories in her journal. However, when she took
University composition classes that are required for degree completion, Jewel Ieamed
that her writing skills were not adequate to meet the performance levels required in these

courses. Jewel reflected on one instructor she had for an English composition course.

I love to write, I’ve always written. But I felt he was a little bit hard on some
of my writing. He critiqued it a little bit too hard. He said it sounded
pretentious. He knew I was good at what I did because of the words I used

and the way that I did, but my grammar and things were just incorrect. I never

lOl

had a teacher tell me that. I thought he was just being unfair, and he was like
picking on me. Every paper, he just tore it up. But it didn’t discourage me. It

just gave me what I needed to say uh-uh. He’s wrong I can do it.

When asked if she Ieamed from this experience, Jewel explained

Of course I Ieamed. I Ieamed to take my time. My biggest problem was I
wrote and I didn’t always proofread it. I had to learn to find out what I was
doing wrong and correct the situation so now I’m learning to proofread what I
write. Even though I was proofreading it, I wasn’t reading it, and I had to
learn to proofread it out loud because I was reading it to myself, and it
sounded good to me. So when I started reading it out loud and started
stumbling, I would say ‘oh, something’s missing.’ I could feel it. It wasn’t
flowing. When I was reading it out loud at that time I could hear it. Before I
couldn’t hear it, so I didn’t see

what I was saying.

In order to persevere and meet the demands of degree completion, each of the women
in the study learned to be flexible in terms of GPA and dealing with issues of grades.
Developing this ability to be flexible allowed these women to overcome challenges and
setbacks that may have broken their determination to reach their goal of degree
completion.

When Wonita was asked how she dealt with not receiving an outstanding grade in a

course, she gave the following response.

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Well, I’m a perfectionist, don’t get me wrong, but I think I may not be a
typical perfectionist. I will put forth my very best effort when I do something.
Almost anything I do, I’m going to put forth my very best effort, but there

comes a point where your best is not enough.

Wonita was then asked how she adjusted when her performance in a course didn’t meet

her own expectations or standards.

At least I know that I tried hard. I know I tried hard. It didn’t get me an A.
but I know I tried, and that satisfies me. Of course you know, you want an A.
Adult students want A’s and B’s, truly. They want those A’s and B’s. But,
you can’t be good at everything. You can’t get and A and B in everything.
Sometimes it’s not even a matter of your effort, it’s a matter of being
distracted by other things. I had one class like I said, writing classes are easy
for me, I like those classes. 1 had one Advanced Report Writing class, and
that would have been an easy A for me. But I had so much going on at work
at the time, and I had to be satisfied with a C from that class, and that would
have been an easy A. That was an easy A class, but that was the best I could

do considering the circumstances. So you just live with it.

When Jonella was asked if she felt that her grades and GPA reflected upon her as a

person, she answered,

Yeah, I feel that, well my aunt and I were discussing, a 2.0 or 2.5, is just
saying that you’re just an average person. Well, everybody’s just average.
There are some people who are obsessed about being above average, and there
are some people who are just average or just good at what they do. When I
thought of it in those terms, I thought, okay, I am average. I don’t expect
anything less than a 2.5 and I’ll just accept it like that. It bothered me at first,
but now I’m getting close to the end and it doesn’t. At first it did, when I first
started, like in January. Okay, I got to have a 3.00. I just got to have it if I
want to get into a graduate school. But now, okay, especially if they take
grades at 2.5, so that doesn’t make you less of a person because you have a
2.5. It’s just that you’re an average person. At 2.0 you’re just average.

There’s nothing wrong with being average. I’ve accepted it and moved on.

Dannell was more methodical in her approach to assessing performance and
dealing with grades and GPA. In her words it was a matter of determining what elements

comprise the overall grade and confirming these elements with the instructor.

I was there every time. I stayed all the way through the class. I listened. I
took notes. Things like that gave you a feeling that I’m doing okay here. I’m
getting through this. Sometimes I would go back and look at my scores on my
exams. I would make sure my scores were the same as what the instructor had
also. Sometimes talking with the instructor can sometimes determine how
well you’re doing in class. Making sure I turned in all my assignments or

whatever. That’s it. Sometimes it tells how well you’re doing in class.

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All five of these women were obviously successful in adjusting to the grading

and GPA requirements of the University. Grades were a defining element in each
woman’s tenure at the University. Grades were also a motivating factor that augmented
each woman’s ability to persist. They meet the challenges of the academic situation
through their resiliency in adjusting to outcomes that did not meet their expectations, and
dealt with issues of grades and grade point averages that were critical in achieving

their ultimate goal of earning a baccalaureate degree.

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CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSION

The voices of adult learners, who have become the majority of college enrollments
nationally, need to be heard and taken into consideration when researchers look to
develop theoretical constructs addressing the problems of persistence.

This study of persistence among five female African-American adult learners borrows r
from Howard S. Becker’s construct of situational adjustment, which argues that adults

change and adjust to new situations they confront. Through the interview process, each

 

woman reflected on factors that were instrumental in aiding her to persist and complete a
degree. Motivational factors and learning to assess performance that led to degree
completion were discussed during the interview sessions. A review of these factors
follows which adds to the knowledge base that higher education can use to implement
institutional change that could effect the rates of persistence to degree completion among
female African-American adult learners.

PROFILE OF SUCCESS ORIENTED TRAITS

Established Goals

The women in this study are success stories who achieved their goal of degree
completion. Each woman was goal directed and remained committed to finishing her
degree. They did not allow family, friends, co-workers, or the challenges of the academic
situation to deter them from this goal. This recognition of individual motivations and
goals that are brought to the academic situation varies from Becker’s original construct of
situational adjustment, which views what the individual brings to the situation as

unimportant. Each of the five women made a conscious decision to enter and complete

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her degree program. This goal directed behavior, coupled with the desire for career
advancement and improvement in quality of life, was a major factor in their persisting to
degree completion.

Thus, a crucial motivational factor that can influence persistence is a well defined
career goal (Lenning, Beal and Sauer, 1980; Bean and Metzner, 1985; Pascarella
and Terenzini, 1991). Thus it would seem that immediate career counseling and goal
setting during the student’s initial term of attendance should be encouraged. At the
university in which this study took place no specific career guidance was offered other
than the master student course that had a limited component devoted to career choices
and goal setting. And even this course, which is similar to many first-year experience
courses offered by colleges and universities nationally, is not required of all students at
the University. In fact, transfer students who enter the University with at least 15
semester hours of transfer credit are exempt from the master student (Resource
Development, RD 100) course.

The data was consistent in the fact that each subject interviewed for this study had a
definite career goal established prior to entering the University. Jewel, Cherlisha, and
Dannell were seeking to advance themselves to management positions within their
respective occupational areas, while Wonita and Jonella sought to change their careers
from secretarial to management level positions.

Since well-defined career goals have been positively correlated to persistence,
colleges and universities must take a more proactive stance in dealing with career
counseling and work with students who are undecided or lack definite career goals. Such
counseling should be mandatory for all incoming freshman or transfer students, even if

they have already indicated a career choice. A realistic career goal that takes into account

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a student’s talents, interests, and aspirations, can be an essential element in a student’s
ability to adjust to the academic situation leading to a degree, and thus his or her
ability to persist.

Independence and Pride

The five women in this study displayed marked traits of independence and pride in
themselves, their ability to support themselves and their children, maintaining a
household, and taking on the challenges of earning baccalaureate degrees. This
noticeable consistency in the data concerning pride and independence was also reflected
in these subjects’ desires to achieve above average grades and maintain above average
GPAs. However, there were instances when this independence and pride created tensions
that each woman experienced in academic situations that resulted in lower than expected
performances. This tension between performance expectations and less than desired
performance on exams, class projects and written assignments could have easily caused
each of the subjects in this study to not succeed.

There were also instances in which a subject’s fear of a particular academic discipline,
such as mathematics, altered the outcome of a course. Four of the five women had
difficulty with the mathematics requirements of their chosen curriculum. They received
grades of C, or lower in Jonella’s case, in either the algebra or statistics courses.
However, these less than expected course outcomes did not diminish their levels of
motivation or dissuade them from their goal of degree completion. The ability to be
resilient enough to accept a less than desired grade gave these four women the continued
commitment to persist and earn the necessary credits required to graduate.

Resiliency

The stories of these five women are proof that they possessed the resiliency

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to overcome life-changing events to become successful. These life-changing events
ranged from divorce, physical impairment, single parenthood and becoming the single
head of house-hold, to adding the burden of becoming a student. It was their ability to
face and adjust to these dramatic events that also enabled them to adjust to the academic
rigors and circumstances that encompass the degree completion process.

Resiliency has been defined by Richardson, Neiger, and Krumpfer as “the process of
coping with disruptive, stressful, or challenging life events in a way that provides the
individual with additional protective and coping skills than prior to the disruption” (as
cited in Milstein and Henry, 2000, p.11). Each of these five women bounced back fi'om
adversity and became stronger and more focused on their individual goals of self-
improvement and the betterment of their quality of life. The traits that these women
possessed, such as the propensity for learning, independence and pride and the
commitment to their established goals are all consistent with the characteristics that
promote resiliency. The linkage of the concepts of situational adjustment and resiliency
within the context of the academic situation that leads to degree completion, not only
makes the cases of the five women in this study more understandable, but could add a
new dimension to how persistence is viewed in many educational settings.

LEARNING TO BE SUCCESSFUL
Learning Institutional Rules
In learning the rules of the University each of the five women in this study took a
different approach to uncovering the right and wrong techniques to accomplish tasks that
were essential to each woman’s persistence. Some students used straightforward
approaches such as reading the University catalog. Others found it much easier to

depend on their fellow students to guide and direct them to the appropriate completion of

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an administrative task or the resolution of an institutional policy issue. However, each
woman indicated that the process of trial and error resolved certain issues or situations.

Selecting the appropriate mix and number of courses to take while working full-time
was in every subject’s case a process of trial and error. Without the advice and counsel
of professional academic advisors each quarter, each of the five women indicated specific
terms in which she suffered both academically and emotionally due to the pressure of a
three-class course load. Since grades are the reward system for academic achievement,
this trial and error approach to class selection and course loads resulted in negative
outcomes that could traditionally have affected these subjects persistence.

The trail and error method of determining the most efficient method for resolving
simple issues such as the most efficient method of paying tuition, how does one get extra
help with class assignments, and which class combinations are best suited for busy adults,
can be frustrating and detrimental to student persistence. Three of the women in the
study indicated that they did not attend a new student orientation. This omission placed
Jonella, Wonita and Cherlisha at a disadvantage. All of the processes associated with
registration, class selection and withdrawal, as well as various institutional services were
explained during the orientation process. A considerable body of research (Banzinger,
1986; Rothman and Leonard, 1967; and Wilkie and Kuckuck, 1989) supports the premise
that effective orientations do improve persistence rates. According to Pascarella and
Terenzini, (1991) the most effective orientation programs are those that last for an entire
semester or quarter and are offered as a course with an assigned faculty member. This
arrangement would be similar to the master student course offered by the University to

incoming freshman.

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Dealing with time constraints

While adult learners are faced with the daunting tasks of dealing with the academic
demands of higher education, they also must deal with various adult roles outside of
academia. The conflicts that arise can pose an extremely difficult time management
problem. Each of the subjects in this study related the fact that she was forced to
schedule time between work, home, and school demands. Study-time was the most
difficult task to schedule. When these subjects attempted firll-time enrollment status
(three classes 12-quarter hours of credit), they found there was not enough time to
complete reading assignments and prepare for examinations. This disparity posed a
frustration for all five women who wanted to achieve above average grades and maintain
an above average GPA. Haphazardly scheduled classes can clearly add to a student’s
burden of time constraints. Properly scheduled classes allow for less stress in the
management of class assignments and mastery of material when juggled with the
student’s roles and duties outside of the academic situation. Finding the most effective
time to study when each subject was most effective in reading and comprehending the
course material was always a challenge. As Jewel put it, “Before I had ridiculous hours.”
She Ieamed not only to schedule her time but her three children’s time as well in order to
reach her goal.

Attention needs to be paid to teaching time management skills as a tool that all
students can employ in order to cope with the multiple tasks that three or more courses
can impose on them. It is even more important to impart such time management skills to
adult learners who are already frequently overburdened with work, home and community
related responsibilities.

The master student course offered by the University does have a time

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management component. But most transfer students, like all the five subjects in this
study, are not required to take this course if they transfer in with a full semester’s or
quarter’s worth of credits. All students, whether they be freshman out of high school or
adult transfer students, could benefit from seminars or workshops dealing with time
management issues and skills.

External Support Groups

The data from this study indicated that there were both positive and negative aspects
of each subject’s dealing with external relationships. These relationships were family
oriented or stemmed from an employer or fellow employees who either supportive or
non-supportive and negative of the subject’s academic efforts. Such matters as financial
support, caring for children while the student attends classes, or transportation to and
from classes are obvious mechanisms that allow the student to make the necessary
adjustments that lead to degree completion. Institutions of higher education must become
more aware of the external contexts within which their students function while they
attempt to complete degree programs.

Wherever possible, colleges and universities need to offer services to adult learners
that make the burden of attending classes while working and caring for family
responsibilities more manageable. Day care services have been offered during daytime
hours but in some cases not during evening hours. More convenient class scheduling
would make it easier for adult learners to select and attend classes without the pressure of
rushing from work to class. Distance delivery of courses has been a beneficial to adult
learners who now can complete courses from their homes without the struggle of

commuting to a traditional campus—based classroom setting.

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Learning to Deal with Grades and their Effect on Performance

The higher education establishment is often so intent on teaching students specific
course content, basic liberal arts knowledge and skills that teaching students how to be
successful in the academic situations that arise is ignored. Institutions of higher
education often treat all students under the same rubric ignoring that fact that adult
learners nearly always bring to the academic situation the additional burdens of family,
work, social commitments, and an established life outside the acaderrric world of
classrooms, courses, examinations, degree requirements, and tuition burdens. If
academia intends to address the problem of student persistence, a concerted effort must
be made to teach all students the performance techniques that will give them greater
chances to succeed.

Each of the five subjects indicated her desire to achieve above average grades and
maintain an above average GPA. Bonita maintained a 3.27 GPA, Jewel a 3.21, Dannell a
3.11, Cherlisha a 3.01, and Jonella a 2.76. All of these women indicated in their
interviews that they had consistently striven for above average grades. The divergence
from this expectation occurred when they took classes in which their final grades were
less than what they expected. At this point each woman had not only to adjust to this
lower level of performance but also to accept and learn from her inability to assess the
requirements of the particular academic situation, whether it took the form of
examinations, class projects, written assignments, or ultimately, final grades.

In order to persist, these women had to balance their pride and independence against
the demands of academic life by being resilient and adjusting to variances in their
performances. The women in this study were able to deal with the frustrations that

occurred when they delivered less than favorable performances and they adjusted to these

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shortcomings. Typically, this kind of resiliency enabled Jonella to overcome her first

 

negative experience at the University, when she received a “D” in her first algebra
course, and allowed her to overcome her disappointment and persist. Each of the five
women interviewed had situations in which she did not perform up to her own
expectations. After receiving five failing grades in major courses, Cherlisha reached
the point where she was told she could not graduate. Wonita received lower

than expected grades in English courses that she felt were, as she put it, “easy A’s”.

All too often many African-American females, who lack this resiliency, may not

 

be able to persist in this new academic situation called degree completion. Such failings
may be attributed to their inability to meet the demands required of them motivationally
and academically, their inability to learn what performances are required to persist, and,
finally, their inability to deliver the performances required in meeting the established
criteria of degree completion.

The five Afiican-American females in this study had already assumed more dominant,
white, middle-class cultural values in pursuing their goal of earning a degree. This
aspiration to earn a degree fostered the tension experienced by all of the women in this
study between themselves and their family members, friends and co-workers who have
not completed college degrees.

Two of the five women in this study were considered underprepared students and were
required to take remedial course work in mathematics before entering collegiate level
mathematics courses. The declines in traditional, middle-class, college-aged students
during the 19705 and 19805 caused a shift in recruitment efforts toward populations of
underserved, less prepared high school graduates who normally did not seek entrance into

higher education. More minority students, both African-American and Hispanic, were

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targeted for recruitment into colleges and universities to offset demographic declines in
the dominant, white, middle-class applicant pool, which dwindled through the mid-19905.
This shift in recruitment toward underserved and underprepared college-age and adult
learners drew attention to how higher education dealt with this type of student. Astin

(1988) explains that

Traditionally, efforts to educate underprepared students have been guided

by two radically different philosophies. The elitist philosophy is to let then
sink or swim, with the expectation that most of them will sink. This
philosophy was at one time common in some of the large mid-westem state
universities that practiced open admissions. In effect, a high dropout rate was
considered a mark of excellence in these institutions. The second philosophy
holds that by admitting underprepared students the institution has implicitly
agreed to provide whatever educational programs and services are necessary
to help them reach their degree objectives. This philosophy, in essence,
expresses a talent development view. It regards the underprepared student as
an educational challenge rather than as a liability. It is, I might add, an active
philosophy, as opposed to the basically passive sink-or-swim approach.
Under the sink-or-swim philosophy, the educational institution presents itself
as a kind of academic obstacle course, and students are expected to negotiate

the course without any particular assistance or special treatment (p. 107-8).

The University at which the study took place takes a position on underprepared

students that falls between the sink-or-swim and the talent development philosophies.

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There are remedial mathematics and English courses available for underprepared students
who test below 12‘h grade level competencies in either subject. However, these courses
are currently taught in a self-paced format within which students read through content
areas on their own and solve problems or answer questions independently. If problems
arise, students ask for assistance from available instructors in the classroom concerning
concepts and skills they cannot master. This classroom format relies on the student’s
initiative and self-directed behavior to be successful. Unfortunately, most underprepared
students are not self-reliant; and, in many cases they have experienced negative
classroom experiences which will prohibit them from voluntarily seeking help from an
instructor. This current classroom format needs to be examined and altered to create a
more supportive environment that will enable those students who need remediation to be
successful.

Institutional research done by the University indicates that underprepared students
who take one or more of the remedial courses, in conjunction with the master student
course, show higher rates of persistence then students who do not take these
combinations of courses (Stingel, 2000). Occasionally, underprepared students opt to
defer the master student course to a later term, and the course is often waived for transfer
students.

Another factor that would have exerted a positive influence on the subjects of this
study would have been effectrve academic advising. Two of the subjects in this study
received insufficient academic advising afier they passed the remedial course work they
were assigned. All of the subjects of this study mentioned that they felt they Ieamed the
process of selecting the number and types of course they took by trial and error. Carrying

three classes and working more than forty hours per week can be a nearly impossible task

116

for students like these subjects. Each of the five women recalled at least one term in
which she canied three classes and became overwhelmed by course work and job
related pressures that caused her grades to suffer.

Effective academic advising forewams the student of the hazards of overloading credit
hours and taking the wrong combinations of courses. Historically, academic advisement
has been either ignored or overlooked by the majority of students in higher education
(Lenning, Beal, and Sauer, 1980). Much of the research on retention done by Bean and
Metzner (1985) uncovered a wide range of disparate views concerning the effectiveness
of academic advising. However, Bean and Metzner (1985) suggested that if an institution
plans to retain older students, academic advising is an essential element in their
persistence to degree completion, more so than with traditional 18-24 year old students.
Unless academic advisement is made a mandatory element of the registration or class
selection process, many students who think they are knowledgeable concerning course
demands, course content, and time management skills, will simply ignore this service.
For those students who are underpreparded or at risk, systematic advisement must
become an integral part of their matriculation process, until they have adequately
Ieamed the skills of class scheduling and time management.

Since persistence has become a significant topic within the academic community, it
becomes more crucial to determine which theoretical constructs and types of research
will best suit the population of students most at risk. The major difference between the
most popular retention theory, that of Vincent Tinto, and Becker’s situational adjustment
construct lies in Tinto’s emphasis on the student’s integration into the academic and
social aspects of college life as opposed to Becker’s emphasis on adjustment and change

within the individual. In the Tinto Student Integration Model, college departure is an

117

outcome of the student’s inability to integrate himself or herself into the academic and
social environment of the institution. Becker’s situational adjustment construct, as
employed in this study, would explain college success in the form of degree completion
as an outcome of the student’s ability to adjust to the academic situation. Thus it would
seem that adult learners who are able to assess and deliver the appropriate performances
required tend to persist and complete their degrees.

The use of the situational adjustment construct solely focused on the academic
aspects of college life will be seen by some as to narrow to completely explain
the success of students in higher education. However, the intent of this study has been to
determine persistence among African-American adult learners who have navigated the
requirements and demands of degree completion and have succeeded. By narrowing the
focus, yet allowing for the inclusion of both external and internal experiences that related
to the academic situation in which these five women found themselves, a better
understanding of their adjustments and changes has been gained.

Since grades and GPAs are the rewards for performance within the overall
academic situation that many students face, failing to meet minimal standards and
the subsequent loss of academic credit has a decidedly direct effect on persistence.
Despite such setbacks, these five women displayed a level of resiliency that sustained
their commitment to achieving their goal of degree completion. Their commitment was
also sustained by such motivating factors as having an established career goal, their
personal independence and pride and a propensity for learning. The demands of course
work became less burdensome because these women considered learning a positive

element in their lives.

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BACCALAUREATE DEGREE PERSISTENCE AMONG ADULT LEARNERS:
THE CASE OF FEAMLE AF RICAN-AMERICANS

APPENDIX A

Interview Protocol

Motivational Aspects:

I

2.

Explain to me the reason you came back to school at the time you did?

Tell me about your first year here. Did anything happen that made you feel
you might not finish your degree?

. Did anything happen that first year that made you feel you could finish your degree?
. Explain to me what motivated you to come back and to stay in school?
. Tell me about any members of your family who helped you to finish your degree.

. Tell me about any people at work who helped you either to start or finish your

degree. .

Were there any people at the University who helped you start or finish your degree?

. Were there important social connections you made at the university and how

important were they to you finishing your degree?

Were there any study groups that formed during classes that you took, and how long
did they last?

Learning Aspects:

10. Tell me what you learned about being a student that helped you to finish your degree.

1 1. Tell me how important the things that you were learning in class were to you?

12. Explain how important these things you learned in class were to you

professionally?

Appendix continues

119

APPENDIX A
Interview Protocol

13. Tell me how you really felt about the topics and material you were exposed to in
class, were these things important to you or just something you had to cope with?

14. Explain the things you Ieamed about being a student that were important to you?

15. What things did you learn about working with and interacting with instructors that
helped you to finish your degree?

16. Tell me how you Ieamed to deal with issues related to grades and grade point
average?

Performance Aspects:
17. How did you come to understand the academic rules of the University?

18. Explain to me how important was your GPA to your getting through to complete
your degree?

19. Tell me how you assessed your performance as a student in order to complete your
degree?

20. Explain how important grades were in telling you how well you were doing?
21. Were examinations an important factor in knowing how well you were doing?

22. Was class participation important to you assessing your performance in classes you
took?

23. How would you define persistence from your own experiences now that you are
finishing your degree?

24. What do you think makes students persist to complete their degrees?

120

APPENDIX B

Subject Release Agreement

You are being asked to participate in a research study that deals with adult learners
persisting to the completion of a baccalaureate degree. This study attempts to determine
the influence of specific factors, such as motivation, learning, and performance on the
ability of adult learners to continue and complete the academic requirements of the
baccalaureate degree.

Nick F leezanis is conducting this study in fulfillment of a doctoral program he is
completing at Michigan State University within the school of education and the
department of educational administration.

You will be allowed to ask questions concerning your participation in this research study
and can withdraw from the study at any time with no negative consequences.

The length of each interview planned and the number of interviews that will take place
are as follows: an initial one-hour (60 minutes) interview, followed by a second one-hour
(60 minutes) interview, both to be conducted at a mutually agreed upon location at the
University. Your anonymity will be protected throughout the entire study and any family
member(s) or associates will not be specifically referred to in this research or any of the
reports or documents that will result from this study.

You may contact Nick F leezanis at 313-561-2668 or 313-581—4400 ext. 392 if you have
any questions, doubts, or concerns about this study. You may also contact Dr. Steven
Weiland at 517-355-2180 if you have any questions or concerns about your rights as a
research subject.

 

Subject’s Signature

 

Date of Review and Agreement

121

APPENDIX C

Document Release Form

You are being asked to participate in a research study that deals with adult learners
persisting to the completion of a baccalaureate degree. This study attempts to determine
the influence of specific factors, such as motivation, learning, and performance on the
ability of adult learners to continue and complete the academic requirements of the
baccalaureate degree.

By signing this form you give Nick F leezanis permission to obtain your academic
documents such as: academic transcripts, examinations, essays, research papers, faculty
comments and notes, as well as administrative comments and notes. These documents
will be obtained and held by the researcher and will not be released to any other person
during and after the research study is concluded.

By signing this form you are agreeing to allow Nick Fleezanis to obtain the above-
mentioned documents as a means of determining your adjustment to the academic
requirements in the completion of your baccalaureate degree.

 

Subject’s Signature

 

Date of Review and Agreement

122

APPENDIX D

Public Institution Dropout Rates by Highest
Degree Offered and Admission Selectivity

 

Degree

Selectivity

Year 1983 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992
P_H_D_

Highly Sel 13% 13% 13.8% 12.4% 12.1% 11.1% 10.7% 11.4% 10.4%
Selective 22% 23% 22.6% 19.6% 19.6% 19.4% 19.2% 19.0% 19.9%
Traditional 27% 28% 28.9% 29.1% 28.1% 28.8% 28.2% 28.4% 27.5%
Liberal 33% 32% 31.7% 32.1% 32.5% 31.5% 32.6% 30.7% 28.4%
Open 31% 34% 35.5% 34.5% 36.9% 37.8% 34.3% 32.3% 35.1%
Masters

Highly Sel 15% 30% 24.5% 16.3% 14.7% 16% 14.5% 15.8% 14.3%
Selective 25% 24% 22.5% 23.5% 24.7% 22.6% 22.6% 23.5% 22.4%
Traditional 27% 25% 27.3% 28.4% 28.4% 28.7% 28% 27.8% 27.8%
Liberal 34% 34% 34.8% 35.1% 38% 39.1% 38.8% 36.7% 36.1%
Open 37% 39% 41.8% 40% 40.8% 41.5% 39% 41.3% 43.1%
Bachelors

Highly Sel 21% 19% 17.1% 17.7% 19.6% 17.4% 17.2% 15% 12.8%
Selective 16% 18% 16.4% 15.3% 14.6% 13.8% 13.9% 15.7% 15.6%
Traditional 24% 23% 23.1% 24.4% 29% 29.8% 30.3% 29.1% 29.2%
Liberal 30% 35% 36.8% 39% 34% 29.8% 28.2% 30.4% 34.6%
Open 44% 45% 43.3% 43.4% 43.5% 41.6% 42.8% 42.2% 43.9%
Associate

Highly Sel na na na na na na na na na
Selective na na na na na na na na na
Traditional na na na na 33% 30.1% 30.4% 43% 38.3%
Liberal na na na na 40.5% 41.5% 41.6% 43% 42.6%
Open na na na na 48.8% 48.9% 48.9% 48.6% 48.7%

From ACT data files. Self reported dropout rates. 1983 to 1997: Freshman Class: % of
last year’s freshman class who enrolled this fall. 1998 to present: Freshman class: % of
last year’s first time/full-time freshman who enrolled this fall.

Appendix continues

123

Degree
Selectivity

Year

BE
Highly Sel
Selective
Traditional
Liberal
Open

Masters
Highly Sel
Selective
Traditional
Liberal
Open

Bachelors
Highly Sel
Selective
Traditional
Liberal
Open

Associates
Highly Sel
Selective
Traditional
Liberal
Open

APPENDIX D

Public Institution Dr0pout Rates by Highest
Degree Offered and Admission Selectivity

1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

9.7% 10.5% 9.2% 9.7% 8.8% 9.8% 9.0% 8.8% 8.4%
19.6% 20% 20.1% 20.5% 20.2% 19.9% 19.5% 19.8% 19.6%
27.5% 27.6% 28.3% 28.3% 28.% 28.4% 27.6% 27.7% 28%
25.9% 31.4% 30.1% 33.9% 33.3% 32.3% 32.4% 31.6% 31.8%
39.2% 40% 36.9% 36.5% 37.4% 37.1% 35% 34.3% 36%

6% 6% 9% 11.7% 10.3% 10% 10.3% 10.3% 11.5%
22.9% 22.3% 23% 22.9% 21.6% 22.6% 21.4% 21.9% 21.8%
28.2% 29.2% 29.7% 29.9% 30.2% 30.3% 29.1% 29.2% 28.6%
36.7% 36.7% 37.3% 38.3% 36.8% 25.8% 34.1% 33.1% 34.6%
42.2% 38.8% 38.7% 40.9% 42.3% 43% 43% 43.3% 45.1%

12.8% 14% 15.7% 12.4% 13.4% 14% 11.8% 11.5% 11.4%
16.8% 16.8% 17% 16.9% 15.9% 18% 20.6% 22.4% 22.4%
34.5% 32.4% 33.7% 36.4% 34.2% 30% 30.3% 29% 28.5%
31.5% 32.5% 34.7% 33.1% 33.6% 32.7% 34.4% 31.6% 32.8%
40.2% 42.5% 42.5% 43.8% 40% 42.9% 43.9% 43% 44.7%

na na na na na na na na na
na na na na na na na na na
38.4% 37.6% 38.6% 25.7% 27.7% 28.1% 27.7% 37.5% 42.3%
41.6% 41.5% 40.5% 40.9% 43.8% 44.2% 45.6% 47.4% 45.1%
48.8% 48.3% 48.5% 48.3% 48.3% 48.5% 48.1% 48.1% 48.4%

From ACT institutional Data Files: Self reported dropout rates. 1983 to 1997:
“Freshman class: % of last year’s freshman class who enrolled this fall”. 1998 to present:
Freshman class: % of last year’s first time/full-time freshman class who enrolled this fall.

124

APPENDIX E

Private Institution Dropout Rates by Highest
Degree Offered and Admissions Selectivity

 

Degree

Selectivity

Y_e_gr 1983 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992
PHD

Highly Sel 8% 8% 7.8% 7.9% 7.2% 9.2% 7.9% 8.3% 7.3%
Selective 16% 16% 16.5% 16.5% 16% 16.9% 15.4% 15.5% 16.1%
Traditional 21% 23% 23.4% 23.1% 21.5% 23.7% 24.2% 23.8% 24%
Liberal 27% 23% 28.3% 28.4% 31.7% 30.4% 30.9% 31.7% 30.6%
Open 15% 20% 20% 20% 19.3% 28.6% 21.2% 20.3% 20.33
Masters

Highly Sel 11% 8% 8.5% 9.4% 9.3% 6.1% 8.1% 7.3% 7.1%
Selective 17% 17% 17.3% 16.6% 17.3% 14.2% 16.8% 17% 17.5%
Traditional 22% 23% 23.4% 23.2% 24.1% 25.2% 23.8% 24% 24.7%
Liberal 29% 28% 28.5% 28.9% 30.3% 32.1% 29.9% 30.4% 28.8%
Open 24% 28% 26.8% 30.2% 28.6% 37.8% 30% 27.5% 27.6%
Bachelors

Highly Sel 7% 7% 6.3% 6% 5.9% 8.0% 6.1% 6% 6.2%
Selective 15% 16% 15.5% 15.7% 15.1% 7.5% 14.4% 15.3% 15.9%
Traditional 24% 25% 26.2% 26% 25.1% 26.9% 25.4% 25.4% 26.1%
Liberal 31% 31% 33.3% 32.7% 32.3% 30.9% 33.4% 34% 32.8%
Open 35% 36% 36.8 40.6% 37.3% 28.8% 39% 38.9% 37.7%
Associates

Highly Sel na na na na 4% 8% 14% na na
Selective na na na na 7% 7.5% 6.7% 6.7% 5%
Traditional na na na na 25.2% 26.9% 27.9% 25.6% 24.9%
Liberal na na na na 32.1% 30.9% 30.8% 29% 28.8%
Open na na na na 29.2% 28.8% 29.3% 29.8% 28%

Data compiled from ACT institutional data files. 1983 to 1997: “Freshman class: % of
last fall’s freshman who enrolled this fall”. 1998 to present: Freshman class: % of last
year’s first time/full-time freshman class who enrolled this fall.

Appendix continues

125

Degree
Selectivity

Ear

2.1.1.1.)
Highly Sel
Selective
Traditional
Liberal
Open

Masters
Highly Sel

Selective
Traditional
Liberal

Open

Bachelors
Highly Sel
Selective
Traditional
Liberal
Open

Associates
Highly Sel
Selective
Traditional
Liberal
Open

APPENDIX E

Private Institution Dropout Rates by Highest
Degree Offered and Admissions Selectivity

1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 20004001

6.7% 6.8% 6.9% 7% 7.3% 7.4% 7.4% 7.6% 7.7%
16.8% 15.9% 15.3% 15.9% 16.2% 15.2% 14.6% 14.9% 14.9%
23.6% 23.7% 23.6% 24.2% 24.6% 23.9% 22.8% 22.2% 22.9%
32.3% 33.7% 35.3% 37.7% 40.4% 34% 34.6% 34.7% 34.9%
18.2% 21.5% 22% 43% 30.3% 36.5% 17% 17% na

8.4% 10.6% 10.4% 10.4% 9.6% 10.1% 9% 9% 10.2%

17% 17.6% 18.3% 19.1% 18.7% 18.7% 18.5% 19% 18.3%
25.3% 25.5% 25.2% 26.1% 25.9% 25.8% 25.7% 26.3% 26.4%
30.1% 30.4% 31.9% 33.6% 31.6% 30.4% 30.1% 29.8% 28.8%
27% 27.1% 29.3% 31.3% 30% 29.2% 32.2% 32.8% 36.1%

6.3% 7.4% 8.3% 8.4% 8% 8% 7.7% 6.9% 7.3%

17.1% 17.7% 17.9% 17.5% 18% 18.4% 18.4% 18.3% 18.2%
26.1% 28% 28.5% 28.9% 29.1% 28.9% 29.2% 28.7% 29.5%
32.3% 35.8% 35% 36.3% 39.1%37.3% 36.6% 36.1% 36.7%
38.4% 36.8% 40% 42.8% 40.7% 39.5% 35.8% 35.8% 36.5%

na 8% 8% na na na na na na
5% 9% 4.3% 6.7% 10% 11% 7.3% 26.5% 28%
23.4% 24.3% 23.8% 26.4% 25% 28.5% 22.8% 24.7% 27.3%
28.7% 29.3% 30.3% 30.7% 31.1% 30.3% 32.1% 31.3% 32.3%
29.3% 31.1% 34.7% 36% 37.7% 36.3% 35.8% 38.8% 38.2%

Data complies from ACT institutional data files, 1983 to 1997: “Freshman class: % of

last fall’s freshman who enrolled this fall”. 1998 to present: “Freshman class: % of last
year’s first time/full-time freshman class who enrolled this fall.

126

APPENDIX F

Total Undergraduate Fall Enrollment 1969 to 1997

 

(In thousands)
Men Women
Year TOQL Full-time Part-time Full-time Part-time
1969 6,664 2,952 1,056 2,039 837
1970 7,376 3,097 1,157 2,183 939
1971 7,743 3,201 1,217 2,311 1,014
1972 7,941 3,121 1,308 2,367 1,145
1973 8,261 3,135 1,403 2,445 1,278
1974 8,798 3,191 1,574 2,535 1,498
1975 9,679 3,459 1,798 2,710 1,712
1976 9,429 3,242 1,660 2,788 1,739
1977 9,717 3,188 1,709 2,906 1,914
1978 9,691 3,072 1,694 2,895 2,030
1979 9,998 3,087 1,734 2,993 2,185
1980 10,475 3,227 1,773 3,135 2,340
1981 10,755 3,261 1,848 3,188 2,458
1982 10,825 3,299 1,871 3,184 2,470
1983 10,846 3,304 1,854 3,210 2,478
1984 10,618 3,195 1,812 3,153 2,459
1985 10,597 3,156 1,806 3,163 2,471
1986 10,798 3,146 1,871 3,206 2,575
1987 1 1,046 3,164 1,905 3,299 2,679
1988 1 1,317 3,206 1.931 3,436 2,743
1989 1 1,743 3,279 2,032 3,562 2,869
1990 1 1,959 3,337 2,043 3,639 2,940
1991 12,439 3,436 2,135 3,786 3,082
1992 12,538 3,425 2,158 3,820 3,135
1993 12,324 3,382 2,102 3,797 3,043
1994 12,263 3,342 2,081 3,827 3,013
1995 12,232 3,297 2,105 3,849 2,982
1996 12,259 3,304 2.107 3,907 2,942
1997 12,298 3,330 2,075 3,976 2,917

Source: US. Department of Education, National Center for Educational Statistics,
Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS), “Fall Enrollment in Colleges
and Universities”; IPEDS “Fall Enrollment” surveys, prepared July 1999.

127

Jewel

Fall 98 Engl32
Mgt 221
Mth095

Win 99 Eng23l
Mthl92
Soc201

Spr 99 Eng330
Mgt326
Mth193

Sum 991nd488
Mth 194
Psy342

Fall 99 Mkt280
Mth393
Mth394

Win 00 Eng43l
Mgt228
Mkt385

Spr 00 Acc2l 1
E0027 1
Ec0272

Sum 00 Acc212
Law36l
Mgt227

Fall 00 Acc213
Mgt202
Mgt320

Win 01 Cilel
Mgt426

Spr 01 Fin353
Mgt220
Mgt499

C+
B
P

B
A-
A

B+
A+
C+

B
B
A-

A
C
8+

A-
B+
C-

B
B+
B

B+
C
A-

B
B
B+

A
A

A-

APPENDIX G

Fall 82 DP198
Law362
Sec2E9

Fall 87 Psyl40
Soc245
Win 88 Engl32
Sec1A8

C
B
B
A
A
B
A
Spr 88 Eng23l B
Eng330 B
Fall 88 Acc211 C
Sec3Wl B
B

B

A

B

A

A

Win 89 Ec0272
Sec104
Sec2Rl

Spr 89 Mgt221
Sec2W5
SecZW6

Fall 89 Acc212 W
Ec027l W

Fall 93 Cilel B
Ind 488 8+
Psy342 A-

Win 94 Mgt227 A
Mkt280 A-

Spr 94 Mgt320 B
Mgt421 A-

Fall94 Law36l B+
Mgt323 A

Win 95 Mgt 325 B
Mky322 A-

128

Wonita

Subjects’ Grades by Quarter Attended

Spr 95 Hum440

A-

Mgt220 A

Win 97 Ec027l
Eng431

Spr 97 Hum443
Mgt228

Win 98 Acc212
Spr 98 Acc213

Sum 98 Acc310
Spr 99 Fin350

Sum 99 Mthl92
Fall 99 Mth193
Win 00 Mthl94
Spr 00 Mthl94
Fall 00 Mth393

Win 01 Mth394

Appendix continues

B-
C+

B+
A-

A-

A

>nwgnn

 

Dannell

Fall 97 Ace 211 B
Eng 330 B-
Soc 201 B

Win 98 Cisl 82 8+
Acc212 B+
Hsal 01 A

Spr 98 MthO2 W
Mkt280 W
Oi5240 B-

Fall 98 Ec027l C+
Oi5215 B-
Oi5225 B-

Win99Ci5208 A
Ec0272 C
Mkt280 A

Spr 99 Mgt202 B+

Fall 99 Acc213 C+
Hum440 A-
0153 50 W
Ois499 A-

Win00 Fin353 13
Mgt227 3+
Mgt320 A
Sph233 w

Spr 00 Ci5209 C+
Eng43l E
Ois350 W

Fall 00 CisZOS c+
Mgt421 A-
Oi5220 13+
Sph233 B

Win01 Eng43l B
Oi5226 B+

APPENDIX G
Subjects’ Grades by Quarter Attended

Jonella

Spr 98 C15 101 Fall 00 Fin353
Law 361 Hsa213

D-
B
B

Mthl94 C-

Sum 98 Cisl 82

C+

C
Soc 201 A Hsa450
A
Mthl92 D

Win 01 Mth393
Mth394
Hsa305

Fall 98 Acc210 Eng431
Ec027l

Eng098

ww>

Spr 01 Fin456
Hsa300

Win 99 Acc211 B Hsa445
Eng13l D Hsa498
Mgt221 B

Spr 99 Acc212 B+
Hsa250 A-
Mgt202 B-
Psy l 40 C-

Sum99Acc213 B
Engl32 C

Fall 99 Hsa245 B+
Hsa275 B
Hsa252' B+

Win 00 Mkt280 B
Mth 193 D
Hsa251 A-

Spr 00 Eng330 B
Hsa260 B+
Hsa440 B-
Mthl94 W

Sum 00 Hsa215 B+
Hsa320 B
Hum440 B

Fall 00 Fin353 D-

Hsa213 B
Appendix continues

129

C+
C+
B
B-

wwww

 

Fall 96 Acc211
Cilel
Soc245

Win 97 Acc212
Cisl82

Spr 97 Eng 1 31
Mth096
Soc201

Sum 97 Cisl7l
Engl32

Fall 97 Cisl72
Eng330
Mthl92

Win 98 Ec0272
Mth 193
Ci5204

Spr 98 Ci5213
C 15305
Mthl94

Sum 98 Cis205
C15220

Fall 98 Cis317
Mgt202

Win 99 Cis306
Cis322
Mth393

tit-um >11!
+

>>

m> 000 >w> w>>

E
B+

C
B
C+

Spr99 Cis307 C+
Cis325 E
Law36l A

Sum 99 Hum443 B
Mgt221 A

APPENDIX G
Subjects’ Grades by Quarters Attended

Cherlisha
Fall 99 Cis487 A-
Eng43 1 13+

Win00Cis488 B
Mkt280 A
Sph233 13+

Spr 00 Acc213 C
Cis27l A
Cis308 C
Ci5499 A-

Sum 00 Ci5208 B+
Eco271 D

Eng23 l B
Fin353 C
B

Fall 00 Cis309
JpnlSl

A
Win 01 Cis3ll A
Cis38l A

130

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