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Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research pp 51–89Cite as

From Theory to Action: Exploring the Institutional Conditions for Student Retention

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Part of the book series: Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research ((HATR,volume 25))

Abstract

Though access to higher education in the United States has increased over the past several decades, similar increases in college completion have not followed suit. Despite years of effort, we have, in large measure, been unable to translate the promise increased access affords to students, in particular those of low-income and underserved backgrounds, into the reality of college completion especially as measured by 4-year degrees. That this is the case is reflective in part of our inability to translate what we have learned from research on student retention into a reasonable set of guidelines for the types of actions and policies institution must put into place to increase rates of college completion.

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  1. Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, 13244, USA

    Vincent Tinto

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  1. Center for the Study of Higher Education, University of Memphis, Browning Hall 308, Memphis, 38152-3340, USA

    John C. Smart

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Tinto, V. (2010). From Theory to Action: Exploring the Institutional Conditions for Student Retention. In: Smart, J. (eds) Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research. Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research, vol 25. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8598-6_2

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