An event history model of student departure

This study uses a modeling technique often used in economics and other disc iplines but rarely applied to educational research. The technique, known as event history modeling, is used to examine the temporal dimensions of stud ent departure from a large research university. This approach allows resear chers to remedy analytic problems often found when standard statistical pro cedures are used to study longitudinal events such as student departure fro m college. The study confirms most of the substantive findings of earlier r esearch but we document that key explanatory variables have differential ef fects over time. Pinpointing the times at which students are at risk of lea ving college will permit more efficient intervention strategies which could reduce the social, institutional, and individual costs often associated wi th leaving college before degree completion. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd, All rights reserved.