The Influence of the First-Year Seminar Participation on Student Retention

Abstract

College student retention is a complex phenomenon influenced by a myriad of factors and with wide-ranging implications for university functions. First-year seminar is one approach to increase first-year student retention through involvement, engagement, and integration. This quantitative study examines the influence of first-year seminar on retention of first-year, full-time, four-year degree-seeking students who matriculated during the fall 2016, 2017, 2018 semester and remained enrolled for fall 2017, 2018, 2019 semester at six institutions in two Northwest states in the United States.

This study utilized an odds ratio to investigate whether first-year seminar participation had a statistically significant influence on the probability of students being retained at the targeted institutions. The results of this study were not statistically significant indicating that first-year seminar participation did not have a statistically significant effect on the probability of students being retained at the study's institutions.