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Open Access Thesis

Keywords

University of Northern Iowa--Students; University of Northern Iowa; College dropouts--Iowa; Alienation (Social psychology); College dropouts; Students; Iowa;

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to view the phenomenon of attrition from a sociological perspective utilizing the concept of "social alienation" as a predisposing factor in college attrition. The names of 136 students who withdrew prior to, or at the end of, the first semester of their freshman year for the academic years 1969-70, 1970-71, and 1971-72 were secured from the Data Processing Office of the University of Northern Iowa. This list of names was compared with an available listing of all part-time students enrolled at the University. Twenty-seven who were listed as being part-time students were omitted from the sample. Hence, the initial sample was comprised of 109 full-time students who had withdrawn from the University of Northern Iowa the first semester of their freshman year and failed to register for their second semester. A questionnaire which was a composite of questions and information derived from previous studies of alienation and attrition was mailed to each of the 109 former students who were included in the sample. The first thirteen questions were designed to ascertain personal characteristics and selected background information of the respondent. The attitudinal portion of the questionnaire was specifically designed to measure the degree of alienation experienced by the respondent. Measures indicative of alienation included normlessness, isolation, powerlessness, meaninglessness, and self estrangement. At least one question pertaining to each of these indices of social alienation was included in the questionnaire. The response rate for the questionnaire was fifty-five percent with thirty-two females returning the questionnaire as compared. with twenty-three males. The results of the study indicated that the majority of the students surveyed came from communities of 5,000 to 10,000 inhabitants; their high school graduating classes were slightly larger than those of the general student population at the University; their family's annual income was $10,000 or in excess of that amount; they had aspired toward at least a bachelor' s degree and their primary motivation for attending college was to prepare for an occupational future. Most of the students had decided upon a major at the time of their withdrawal and many indicated a desire to return to a college or university in the future. Although there was a considerable divergence of opinion reflected on the attitudinal portion of the questionnaire, it would seem that students experienced feelings of powerlessness, meaninglessness, normlessness, isolation, and self-estrangement more acutely within the confines of the University than in society at large. The two most significant concerns of the students in their personal assessment of the University of Northern. Iowa centered around class size and the bureaucratic structure. On the basis of this study, there was considerable evidence to warrant the conclusion that social alienation is a factor to be reckoned with when examining factors relative to college attrition.

Year of Submission

1972

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Department of Sociology and Anthropology

First Advisor

Louis Bultena

Second Advisor

Paul J. Porter

Third Advisor

Thomas Hansmeier

Comments

If you are the rightful copyright holder of this thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to scholarworks@uni.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.

Date Original

1972

Object Description

1 PDF file (77 leaves)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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