ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the formulations of the two theories, and consists of a summary of research findings pertinent to the relationship between student persistence and students’ pre-college characteristics and experiences, the organizational context, students’ peer environments, and students’ individual experiences. Compared to residential colleges and universities, commuter institutions often lack well-defined and structured social communities for students to affiliate with and within which to establish membership. Social integration constitutes a key concept in this theory given that six antecedents shape students’ degree of social integration. Proactive social adjustment entails the recognition by first-year students that they need to adjust to the social challenges of their interactions with student peers. Financial aid reduces the actual price that students must pay to attend college, especially financial aid in the form of grants that do not need to be repaid.
