Promote participation in higher education and equality of opportunity for learners
Retention refers to the number of students who continue their studies after starting a course or program. Many students leave university before finishing, especially in the first year. Helping students stay in school is good for them and the university — it boosts their future chances and saves money. There are lots of ways to do this, including mentoring, special courses for first-years, and financial support.
Student-faculty mentoring improves both retention (d = .15 ➕➕➕) and graduation rates (d = .10 ➕➕➕), with stronger effects when mentoring includes goal-setting and is tailored to student needs. Need-based grants also improve retention and graduation (d = .05 ➕➕), with larger effects when grants are tied to performance or automatically disbursed without complex applications. Academic probation and dismissal policies tend to reduce retention (d = −.17 ➖➖), particularly when students lack access to support services afterward. First-year seminars modestly improve 1-year retention (δ = 0.11 ➕➕), and the effect increases when seminars are mandatory, include academic skill training, and offer mentoring or community-building components. Social-psychological interventions (e.g., growth mindset, self-affirmation) increase retention and academic persistence, especially for underrepresented or first-generation students. Robbins et al. (2009) showed that academic skill and self-management interventions improve retention indirectly by increasing self-efficacy, emotional control, and goal commitment ➕➕➕.
This summary draws on several high-quality meta-analyses: Sneyers and De Witte (2018) reviewed academic probation, mentoring, and grants; Permzadian and Credé (2016) analysed 195 studies on first-year seminars; Solanki et al. (2020) examined social-psychological interventions; Robbins et al. (2009) conducted meta-analytic path analyses on intervention mechanisms. All sources used rigorous methods and large sample sizes, providing strong evidence.
Permzadian, V., & Credé, M. (2016). Do first-year seminars improve college grades and retention? A quantitative review of their overall effectiveness and an examination of moderators of effectiveness. Review of Educational Research, 86(1), 277–316. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654315584955
Robbins, S. B., Oh, I.-S., Le, H., & Button, C. (2009). Intervention effects on college performance and retention as mediated by motivational, emotional, and social control factors: Integrated meta-analytic path analyses. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(5), 1163–1184. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015738
Sneyers, E., & De Witte, K. (2018). Interventions in higher education and their effect on student success: A meta-analysis. Educational Review, 70(2), 208–228. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2017.1300874
Solanki, S., Fitzpatrick, D., Jones, M. R., & Lee, H. (2020). Social-psychological interventions in college: A meta-analysis of effects on academic outcomes and heterogeneity by study context and treated population. Educational Research Review, 31, 100359. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2020.100359
