An event history model of student departure

This study uses a modeling technique often used in economics and other disciplines but rarely applied to educational research. The technique, known as event history modeling, is used to examine the temporal dimensions of student departure from a large research university. This approach allows researchers to remedy analytic problems often found when standard statistical procedures are used to study longitudinal events such as student departure from college. The study confirms most of the substantive findings of earlier research but we document that key explanatory variables have differential effects over time. Pinpointing the times at which students are at risk of leaving college will permit more efficient intervention strategies which could reduce the social, institutional, and individual costs often associated with leaving college before degree completion.