UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT ATTRITION - A COMPARISON OF THE CHARACTERISTICSOF STUDENTS WHO WITHDRAW AND STUDENTS WHO PERSIST

A recent Commission of Inquiry on Canadian University Education report ed that from the crude data available ''it would appear that 42% of fu ll-time students who entered a university in 1985 failed to get a degr ee from that university within five years.'' One hundred sixty-three u ndergraduate students who were required to withdraw by their universit y, 109 undergraduates who had withdrawn by completing the necessary wi thdrawal forms, 226 undergraduates who withdrew from university by sim ply not returning as anticipated by the Registrar, and 153 students co ntinuing undergraduate programs were interviewed regarding demographic , academic, financial, personal, and learning characteristics and expe riences. A comparison of the characteristics of these groups is provid ed in this article.