Leaving College: Rethinking the Causes and Cures of Student Attrition

By Vincent Tinto

Book Overview

As enrollments continue to decline, student retention is increasingly vital to the survival of most colleges and universities. In the new edition of his widely acclaimed Leaving College, Vincent Tinto synthesizes far-ranging research on student attrition and on actions institutions can and should take to reduce it. The key to effective retention, Tinto demonstrates, is in a strong commitment to quality education and the building of a strong sense of inclusive educational and social community on campus.

This completely revised and expanded edition incorporates the explosion of recent research and policy reports on why students leave higher education. Incorporating data only now available, Tinto applies his theory of student departure to the experiences of minority, adult, and graduate students, and to the situation facing commuting institutions and two-year colleges. He has revised his theory as well, giving new emphasis to the central importance of the classroom experience and to the role of multiple college communities.

"This book appears to be the best compilation of ideas about understanding student departure from college written to date. . . . Tinto has pulled together a lavish variety of facts, findings based on empirical studies, theories, and institutional savvy to provide readers with valuable information that should help concerned members of the academic community better understand student departure."--John P. Bean, The Journal of Higher Education

"This book is an excellent summary of previous research, a soundly sociological volume, and a very practical guide for action. It is an excellent blend of theory, research, and policy implications. It is also incredibly well written."--Theodore C. Wagenaar, Contemporary Sociology

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226804461
• ISBN13: 9780226804460
• Release Date: June 1987
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.22 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Outstanding, Practical and Relevent

Dr. Vincent Tinto has updated his stellar earlier book, which turned out to be a classic, on why students drop out or leave college. His classic helped thousands deal with the fact that too many students drop out of college. In some colleges a full 40 percent of their Freshmen class doesn't return. The average dropout rate is 20 percent; still too high a reality. Not only have colleges wasted valuable, scarce resources but students walk away with a bruised ego and a sense of failure that may dog them all the days of their lives. Their parents are left with broken dreams and with a depleted pocketbook. Is this really necessary? No, and Tinto points out how the issue can be addressed and solved. Simple, straight forward recommendations are presented that are everso helpful and easy to follow. I was a college presient for twenty years and urged our faculty and counselors to read Tinto's earlier book. (I ordered 25 copies for the library.) This new book goes one step further and is must reading for all -- including students and their parents. Suucces is attainable.

Attrition/Retention Theory Essential

This book is Vincent Tinto's seminal work on attrition and retention in higher education. Although Tinto has produced some more recent works published in noted academic journals, this book is a classic and is cited in many other research studies, articles, and dissertations in the field of higher academic attrition and retention. This work based on social integration of students is an expansion on his initial theory postulated in 1975 and clearly explains how his model of retention works. Although it focuses more on 4-year institutions, 2-year institutions are also included. If you are looking for germinal/seminal work especially in terms of theory and model development in the area of higher education attrition and retention, this book is a must.