ABSTRACT
This chapter describes how state and federal policy, funding, and programs link to persistence and degree completion; examines trends in degree completion by diverse groups using indicators of retention; and reviews research linking policy to retention, persistence, and degree completion. It uses the term retention for continuation at the original campus and persistence as the process of educational attainment inclusive of transfer. Persistence to degree is logically aligned with social theory on attainment and economic theory on human capital. Since the early 1970s, federal student financial aid programs have focused on access, choice, and persistence although access and choice tended to have a more explicit focus on federal policy than on degree completion. Policymakers and researchers face new challenges in creating and evaluating programs and funding strategies that improve rates of college success in a period of financial constraints. The politics of accountability aside, gathering and reporting data is an expensive proposition for any institution.
