Unmasking the Effects of Student Engagement on First-Year College Grades and Persistence

A college degree has replaced the high school diploma as a mainstay for economic self-sufficiency and responsible cit izenship. In addition, earning a bachelor's degree is linked to long-term cognitive, social, and economic benefits to individuals?benefits that are passed onto future generations, enhancing the quality of life of the families of college-educated persons, the communities in which they live, and the larger society. Unfortunately, too many students who begin college leave before completing degrees. Only half (51%) of students who enrolled at four year institutions in 1995-96 completed bachelor's degrees within six years at the institutions at which they started. Another 7% obtained bac calaureate degrees within six years after attending two or more institu tions (Berkner, He & Cataldi, 2002). Degree completion rates are con siderably lower for historically underserved students (Carey, 2004). The six-year completion rate for African American students and Latinos Unmasking the Effects of Student Engagement 541 minority students are entering college than in previous years, fewer earn degrees compared with non-minorities. Stagnant college completion rates and unacceptable racial-ethnic gaps in college graduation rates coupled with external pressures for institutional accountability for stu dent learning (Bok, 2006) have intensified the need to better understand the factors that influence student success in college.