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Give It a Swirl? An Examination of the Influence of 4-Year Students Taking Entry-Level Math Courses at the Local Community College

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Listed:
  • Nicholas Voorhees

    (University of Florida)

  • Justin C. Ortagus

    (University of Florida)

  • Erica Marti

    (University of Nevada)

Abstract

Roughly half of 4-year students who begin as STEM majors either change to non-STEM majors or drop out of college altogether. STEM attrition is especially disconcerting for underserved students, such as people of color or individuals from low-income families, who are significantly less likely to persist in or graduate from a STEM degree program when compared to their White or higher-income peers. Previous researchers have reported that co-enrolling at more than one institution (or swirling between institutions) can be associated with higher rates of persistence and graduation. In this study, we leverage student-level transcript data from a high enrollment, broad-access university to examine the influence of math swirling on underserved students’ academic outcomes within high-demand STEM degree programs. We find that math swirling is positively related to persistence to upper-division math courses and bachelor’s degree completion in non-STEM degree programs, but math swirling has no influence on students' likelihood of bachelor’s degree completion in high-demand STEM fields.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicholas Voorhees & Justin C. Ortagus & Erica Marti, 2023. "Give It a Swirl? An Examination of the Influence of 4-Year Students Taking Entry-Level Math Courses at the Local Community College," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 64(1), pages 147-173, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:reihed:v:64:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s11162-022-09694-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s11162-022-09694-8
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Shadish, William R. & Clark, M. H. & Steiner, Peter M., 2008. "Can Nonrandomized Experiments Yield Accurate Answers? A Randomized Experiment Comparing Random and Nonrandom Assignments," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 103(484), pages 1334-1344.
    2. Justin C. Ortagus, 2018. "National Evidence of the Impact of First-Year Online Enrollment on Postsecondary Students’ Long-Term Academic Outcomes," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 59(8), pages 1035-1058, December.
    3. Andrews, Rodney & Li, Jing & Lovenheim, Michael F., 2014. "Heterogeneous paths through college: Detailed patterns and relationships with graduation and earnings," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 93-108.
    4. Kokkelenberg, Edward C. & Sinha, Esha, 2010. "Who succeeds in STEM studies? An analysis of Binghamton University undergraduate students," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 935-946, December.
    5. Rask, Kevin, 2010. "Attrition in STEM fields at a liberal arts college: The importance of grades and pre-collegiate preferences," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 892-900, December.
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