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TABLES
        -Table 1 - Demographic Information on Non-returners by Semester Immediately Prior to Departure
-Reasons for Not Returning to Suffolk County Community College
        -Table 2 - Comparisons between Students Leaving After Fall 1995 and Students Leaving After Spring 1997
        - Table 3 - Comparisons between Campuses
        - Table 4a - Comparisons between Campuses for Students Leaving After Fall 1995
        - Table 4b - Comparison between Campuses for Students Leaving After Spring 1997
        - Table 5 - Gender Comparisons
        - Table 6 - Comparison between Students Leaving After Fall 1995 and Students Leaving After Spring 1997
        by Gender
        - Table 7 - Age Group Comparisons (ages 17 to 25)
        - Table 7 (cont.) -Age Group Comparisons (ages 26 and above)
        - Table 8a - Age Group Comparisons for Students Leaving After Fall 1995 (ages 17 to 25)
        - Table 8a (cont.) - Age Group Comparisons for Students Leaving After Fall 1995 (ages 26 and above)
        - Table 8b - Age Group Comparisons for Students Leaving After Spring 1997 (ages 17 to 25)
        - Table 8b (cont.) - Age Group Comparisons for Students Leaving After Spring 1997 (ages 26 and above)

-Plans of Non-returning Students for the Coming Year
        - Table 9 - Comparisons between Students Leaving After Fall 1995 and Students Leaving After Spring 1997
        - Table 10 - Comparisons between Campuses
        - Table 11 - Comparisons between Students Leaving After Fall 1995 and Students Leaving After Spring 1997
        by Campus
        - Table 12 - Gender Comparisons
        - Table 13 - Comparison between Students Leaving After Fall 1995 and Students Leaving After Spring 1997
        by Gender
        - Table 14 - Age Group Comparisons (ages 17 to 25)
        - Table 14 (cont.) -Age Group Comparisons (ages 26 and above)
        - Table 15a - Age Group Comparisons for Students Leaving After Fall 1995 (ages 17 to 25)
        - Table 15a (cont.) - Age Group Comparisons for Students Leaving After Fall 1995 (ages 26 and above)
        - Table 15b - Age Group Comparisons for Students Leaving After Spring 1997 (ages 17 to 25)
        - Table 15b (cont.) - Age Group Comparisons for Students Leaving After Spring 1997 (ages 26 and above)

-Purpose Non-returning Students Cited for Originally Enrolling at Suffolk County Community College
        - Table 16 - Comparisons between Students Leaving After Fall 1995 and Students Leaving After Spring 1997
        - Table 17 - Comparisons between Campuses
        - Table 18a - Comparison between Campuses for Students Leaving After Fall 1995
        - Table 18b - Comparison between Campuses for Students Leaving After Spring 1997
        - Table 19 - Gender Comparisons
        - Table 20 - Comparison between Students Leaving After Fall 1995 and Students Leaving After Spring 1997
        by Gender
        - Table 21 - Age Group Comparisons (ages 17 to 25)
        - Table 21 (cont.) -Age Group Comparisons (ages 26 and above)
        - Table 22a - Age Group Comparisons for Students Leaving After Fall 1995 (ages 17 to 25)
        - Table 22a (cont.) - Age Group Comparisons for Students Leaving After Fall 1995 (ages 26 and above)
        - Table 22b - Age Group Comparisons for Students Leaving After Spring 1997 (ages 17 to 25)
        - Table 22b (cont.) - Age Group Comparisons for Students Leaving After Spring 1997 (ages 26 and above)

        -Table 23 - Reasons for Not Returning to Suffolk County Community College Most Selected by Students
    who Originally Enrolled for Different Purposes

    The Suffolk County Community College (SCCC) Office of Institutional Research and the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs developed and administered a survey to:
    1) examine the reasons why students leave SCCC prior to graduation, and
    2) evaluate whether the reasons differed between students departing after a Fall semester and students departing after a Spring semester.

    The Vice President of Student Affairs and the Director of Institutional Research jointly developed the survey instrument which was produced on scannable forms. The survey requested responses to questions on three main topics:
    1) reason for not returning to Suffolk CCC,
    2) plans for the coming year, and
    3) for what purpose students originally enrolled at Suffolk CCC.

This survey allowed respondents to select 1 (or more) of 25 reasons for not returning to SCCC (see Table 2), 1 (or more) of 5 possible plans for the coming year (see Table 9), and only 1 of 5 purposes for originally enrolling at SCCC (see Table 16). Additional included questions gathered demographic and background information.

Survey forms and instructions were sent through the mail to two groups of students. The first group consisted of approximately 5,000 students enrolled at the college during the Fall 1995 semester who did not enroll in the Spring 1996 semester or graduate from SCCC (Fall 1995 departers). This group received the surveys during June of 1996. The second group consisted of 5,545 students enrolled at the college in the Spring 1997 semester who did not enroll in the Fall 1997 semester or graduate from SCCC (Spring 1997 departers). This latter group received the surveys during January of 1998. Some supplemental information about the respondents (ex. racial/ethnic background) was retrieved from computerized history files.

The Fall 1995 departers returned 787 of the 5,000 surveys providing a 16% response rate, while the Spring 1997 departers returned 1,067 of the 5,545 surveys providing a 19.4% response rate. Overall, of the 1,854 respondents, 61.6% were female and 35.5% were male with 2.9% not reporting gender . A breakdown of the respondents by campus shows that 51.0% attended the Selden campus, 16.5% the Eastern campus, and 28.8% the Western campus with 3.8% of respondents not reporting campus. Respondents reported age in terms of set groupings, with 2.0% falling in the 17 or 18 year old group, 8.8% falling in the 19 year old group, 18.8% falling in the 20 or 21 year old group, 17.6% falling in the 22 to 25 year old group, 12.4% falling in the 26 to 30 year old group, 17.8% falling in the 31 to 39 year old group, and 22.4% falling in the 40 year old or older group. In terms of ethnic/racial background, 56.0% of the respondents were White, 3.2% Black, 4.2% Hispanic, 1.2% Asian, and .2% Native American, with no information obtainable for 35.1% of the respondents, most of whom did not supply their identification numbers on the surveys. The problem of missing identification numbers resulting in an inability to recover ethnic/racial background information did not exist for the Spring 1997 departers because identification numbers were precoded on the surveys for that group.

Table 1 demonstrates the existence of few major demographic differences between the two groups of respondents other than that the Spring 1997 group consisted of more younger individuals and less individuals 40 years of age and older. As also shown in the table, the sample of survey respondents represented the population of SCCC non-returners fairly well, with a few exceptions. It appears that women and older (31 years of age and above) former students completed and returned the surveys at a disproportionately higher rate. Therefore, the overall findings of this study may be more applicable to a slightly older, disproportionately female population. To examine and partially address this problem, the responses to each question are analyzed overall, and broken down by gender and age as well as campus and semester.

Overall percentages and comparison of Fall 1995 and Spring 1997 departers. Overall, respondents most often selected "Decided to attend another college" as their reason for not returning to SCCC (chosen by 23%), with "Conflict between demands of job and college" (17.6%) and "I accomplished my educational goals at Suffolk" (16.2%) each also selected by more than 15% of respondents (please see Table 2).

While the top three reasons were identical for both the Fall 1995 departers and the Spring 1997 departers (see Table 2), the order of the three varied. Specifically, Spring 1997 departers chose "Decided to attend another college" most frequently and significantly more often than Fall 1995 departers [29.3 to 14.4%; X² (1, N = 1881) = 57.40, p < .001]. On the other hand, Fall 1995 departers chose "Conflict between demands of job and college" most frequently, though not significantly more often than the Spring 1997 departers (18.9% of Fall 1995 and 16.7% of Spring 1997).

Beyond the top three reasons, the two groups also agreed on the composition, though not the order of the next four, with each chosen overall by more than 10% of the respondents. These reasons consisted of "Personal problems or family responsibilities" (chosen overall by 13.8%), "Tuition and fees were more than I could afford" ( overall by 13.1%), "Encountered unexpected expenses and could not afford tuition" (overall by 11.8%), and "Couldn't get courses and/or schedule that I wanted" (overall by 11.3%).

Between campus comparisons. As seen on Table 3, the proportion of respondents choosing each particular reason for not returning to Suffolk CCC diverged between the three campuses of the college. For instance, "Decided to attend another college" placed in the top three cited reasons on all campuses, but respondents from the Ammerman campus (27.2%) chose it significantly more often than respondents from the East (21.0%) or West (18.4%) campuses [X² (2, N = 1784) = 16.13, p < .001].

Respondents from the West campus selected "Conflict between demands of job and college" (20.4%) and "I accomplished my educational goals at Suffolk" (19.5%) more often than "Decided to attend another college", but not significantly more often than respondents from the Ammerman and Eastern campuses. Those two reasons also placed in the top three for the Ammerman campus non-returners with "Conflict between demands of job and college" chosen by 16.5% of Ammerman respondents and "I accomplished my educational goals at Suffolk" by 16.0%.

The top three reasons for not returning to SCCC differed somewhat for Eastern campus respondents. As might be expected because of fewer classes offered, respondents from the East campus chose "Couldn't get courses and/or schedule I wanted" as a reason for not returning to SCCC significantly more often than the other two campuses [16.1% of East versus 11.4% of West and 9.8% of Ammerman; X² (2, N = 1784) = 8.86, p < .02], and placed it third after "Conflict between demands of job and college" (chosen by 17.4% of East campus respondents).

The final notable difference between the campuses concerned "Personal problems or family responsibilities" with the East (16.1%) and West (17.0%) campus respondents selecting this more often than Ammerman campus respondents (11.1%) [X² (2, N = 1784) = 11.82, p < .01].

Campus by semester of departure comparisons. Similar to results discussed previously regarding the Fall 1995 and Spring 1997groups in general, Fall 1995 departers on each campus most frequently selected "Conflict between demands of job and college" as a reason for their not returning to SCCC. Among East campus students, the Fall 1995 group produced a significantly higher endorsement rate for this item than the Spring 1997 group [24.1% of Fall 1995 East campus respondents versus 13.7% of Spring 1997 East campus respondents; X² (1, N = 305) = 5.22, p < .05] (See Table 4a for Fall 1995 departers and Table 4b for Spring 1997 departers).

Conversely, "Decided to attend another college" was the most selected reason for Spring 1997 Ammerman (34.5%) and East (26.4%) campus respondents and picked second most often (21.2%) after "I accomplished my educational goals at Suffolk" (21.8%) by the Spring 1997 West campus departers. Both Ammerman and East campus respondents chose "Decided to attend another college" significantly more often after the Spring departure than the Fall departure
[X² (1, N = 945) = 39.83, p < .001 for Ammerman and ² (1, N = 305) = 9.83, p < .01 for East].

No significant differences existed between the campuses for respondents who left after the Fall 1995 semester. However, among Spring 1997 departers, respondents from the Ammerman campus chose "Decided to attend another college" significantly more often than respondents from the East and West campuses [34.6% of Ammerman versus 26.4% of East and 21.2% of West; X² (2, N = 1059) = 17.93, p < .001]. The Ammerman Spring 1997 group also chose "Personal problems or family responsibilities" significantly less often than the East and West campus Spring 1997 groups [9.5% of Ammerman versus 16.2% of East and 19.1% of West; X² (2, N = 1059) = 17.10, p < .001] while Spring 1997 West campus respondents selected "I accomplished my educational goals at Suffolk" significantly more often than Spring 1997 respondents from the other two campuses [21.8% of West versus 15.2% of East and 15.5% of Ammerman; X² (2, N = 1059) = 6.18, p < .05].

Gender and gender by semester of departure comparisons. Males and females mirrored each other's top four reasons for not returning to Suffolk CCC, with both groups also replicating the overall results (see Table 5). Respondents from both genders most often cited "Decided to attend another college" as a reason for not coming back. However, men selected that reason significantly more often than women [26.7% of males versus 21.2% of females; X² (1, N = 1800) = 7.23, p < .01], with this difference a bit stronger for the Fall 1995 departers (see Table 6).

Both men and women also reported "Decided to attend another college" as a reason for not returning significantly more often after Spring 1997 than Fall 1995 [27.2 % of women for Spring 1997 versus 12.7% of women for Fall 1995, X² (1, N = 1142) = 34.98, p < .001; 32.6% of men for Spring 1997 versus 18.1% of men for Fall 1995, X² (1, N = 658) = 16.88, p < .001].

The only other conspicuous difference between women and men involved women's significantly higher levels of endorsing "Tuition and fees were more than I could afford" as a reason for leaving after Fall 1995 [9.4% of males versus 16.3% of females; X² (1, N = 738) = 6.68, p < .01], a difference that did not carry over to the Spring 1997 departers.

As in the sample as a whole, both men and women who departed after Fall 1995 chose "Conflict between demands of job and college" most often of all reasons for leaving SCCC (23.4% of men and 17.5% of women) but not significantly more often than Spring 1997 departers (18.1% of men and 16.0% of women) or at significantly different rates from each other.

While no other notable differences between the responses of men and women emerged for this question, other important reasons for both males and females included "I accomplished my educational goals at Suffolk" (17.2% of males; 15.9% of females), and "Personal problems or family responsibilities"(12.5% of males; 14.9% of females).

Age group comparisons. Respondents between the ages of 17 and 25 most frequently cited "Decided to attend another college" as their reason for leaving Suffolk CCC, while respondents 26 to 39 years old chose "Conflict between demands of job and college" most often (see Table 7).

The age group contrast in the importance of particular reasons for not returning resulted in 2 remarkable significant differences between younger and older respondents. The first concerned the higher rates of choosing "Decided to attend another college" for those respondents 25 years old and younger [38.0% of 17 to 25 year olds versus 9.5% of those age 26 and older, X² (1, N = 1851) = 211.17, p < .001]. The second consisted of higher rates of endorsing "Conflict between demands of job and college" for those respondents 22 years old and older [12.7% of 17 to 21 year olds versus 19.8% of those age 22 and older, X² (1, N = 1851) = 13.12, p < .001].

In addition, departers 40 years old or older demonstrated the strongest likelihood of indicating "I accomplished my educational goals at Suffolk" as a reason for leaving, and selected this reason more often than other respondents [15.0% of all respondents ages 17 to 39 versus 20.4% of all respondents age 40 and older, X² (1, N = 1851) = 7.05, p < .01].

Age group by semester of departure comparisons. The difference between those 17 to 25 years old and those 26 and over in their selection of "Decided to attend another college" manifested itself dramatically within both the Fall 1995 and the Spring 1997 groups [26.8% of 17 to 25 year olds versus 4.7% of those 26 or older for Fall 1995, X² (1, N = 787) = 76.81, p < .001; 45.2% of 17 to 25 year olds versus 13.6% of those 26 and older for Spring 1997, X² (1, N = 1064) = 128.38, p < .01] (see Table 8a for Fall 1995 and Table 8b for Spring 1997).

In comparison, the difference between those 17 to 22 years old and older respondents on "Conflict between demands of job and college" expressed itself a bit more strongly for the Spring 1997 group [11.6% of 17 to 22 year old respondents versus 19.1% of those 22 or older, X² (1, N = 1064) = 9.25, p < .01] than the Fall 1995 group [14.5% of 17 to 22 year old respondents versus 20.6% of those 23 and older, X² (1, N = 787) = 3.79, p = NS].

Summary of reasons for not returning to Suffolk CCC. Overall, students seem to decide to not return to Suffolk CCC most frequently because they accomplish their educational goals here, begin attending another college, or find that their job and college demands conflict. In addition financial and personal problems play an important role for some students. However, these major reasons do vary depending on after which semester a student decides to leave the college, and on the student's campus, gender, and age grouping.

Notably, students are more likely to leave because of deciding to attend another college after the Spring semester, although this is less true for students from the Western campus. Students from the Eastern campus cite problems with getting desired courses or schedules more often than students on the other campuses. Personal or family problems do not affect students on the Ammerman campus as much as students on the other campuses, instead Ammerman campus students leave more frequently to attend another college.

Men appear a bit more likely than women to leave because they are attending another college, especially after the Fall departure. Definite age group differences also existed, with students 25 or younger more likely to leave because they decide to continue their education somewhere else, while conflicts between a student's job and college demands pose the most problems for those age 22 or older. All of these differences in reasons for leaving need to be taken into account during any discussions concerning the non-returning student population of Suffolk CCC.

Overall percentages and comparison of Fall 1995 and Spring 1997 departers. The survey requested that respondents select one or more of 5 possible plans for the coming year: "Work full-time", "Work part-time", "Re-enroll at Suffolk CCC", "Enroll at another college", and "Other". The highest proportion of non-returners (43.0%) planned to "Work full-time" in the coming year (see Table 9), with these rates slightly, though not significantly higher for Spring 1997 departers (44.5%) over Fall 1995 departers (40.9%) [X² (1, N = 1854) = 2.40, p = NS].

One third of respondents expected to "Re-enroll at Suffolk CCC" in the year after they completed the survey, with this reported slightly but not significantly more often by the Fall 1995 group (35%) over the Spring 1997 group (31.6%) [X² (1, N = 1854) = 2.67, p = NS].

The only significant and relatively large difference between those who left after Fall 1995 and those who left after Spring 1997 concerned plans to "Enroll at another college". Approximately one third (32.8%) of Spring 1997 departers intended to register at another college within a year, while less than one fourth (21.6%) of Fall 1995 departers intended the same [X² (1, N = 1854) = 28.16, p < .001]. This difference mirrors the stronger endorsement of "Decided to attend another college" as a reason for leaving Suffolk CCC for the Spring 1997 group.

Finally, less than 15 % of the departers after either semester planned to work part time or contemplated other plans.

Between campus comparisons. No significant differences existed between the campuses in terms of non-returner's plans for the coming year (see Table 10). "Work full-time" was endorsed by the highest proportion of students on all three campuses (42.9% of West, 43.6% of Ammerman, and 44.6% of East campus respondents).

With regards to plans for continuing their educations, West and East campus students appear a bit more likely to expect to "Re-enroll at Suffolk CCC" (34.4% of East and 36.7% of West) than "Enroll at another college" (27.9% of East and 25.8% of West). On the other hand, Ammerman students seem just as likely to do either (approximately 31% choosing each plan). However, respondents from the three campuses do not differ significantly in the likelihood of choosing either option.

Campus by semester of departure comparisons. As found in Table 11, non-returners from all three campuses in both semester groups chose "Work full-time" most often of all the plans (by between 43% and 47% of respondents in each group) with the exception of West campus departers after the Fall 1995 semester. Those respondents instead chose "Re-enroll at Suffolk CCC" most often (39.0% for that plan versus 38.6% for "Work full-time").

No significant differences existed between the campuses for either the Fall 1995 or the Spring 1997 departers. However, some differences emerged between the semesters in how often respondents from a particular campus intended to "Enroll at another college". A significantly higher rate of planning to enroll at another college after the Spring 1997 semester materialized for Ammerman campus respondents [23.9% of Fall 1995 group versus 35.1% of Spring 1997; X² (1, N = 945) = 13.38, p <.001] and West campus respondents [21.6% of Fall 1995 group versus 29.4% of Spring 1997; X² (1, N = 534) = 4.17, p <.05], reinforcing previously reported results. On the other hand, the difference between semesters for Eastern campus respondents did not achieve significance, although it seemed large (21.3% of Fall 1995 group versus 31.5% of Spring 1997).

Gender comparisons. An examination of differences between males and females in their plans of the coming year showed that individuals from both groups most frequently intended to "Work full-time" (42.9% of men and 44.3% of women; see Table 12). While "Work full-time" was selected almost equally as often by women and men, women reported plans to "Work part-time" significantly more often than men [17.1% of women versus 9.1% of men; X² (1, N = 1800) = 21.74, p <.001].

Future educational plans also appeared influenced by gender. Women expected to "Re-enroll at Suffolk CCC" significantly more often than men [35.9% of women versus 29.6% of men; X² (1, N = 1800) = 7.35, p <.01], while men intended to "Enroll at another college" more often [26.2% of women versus 32.4% of men; X² (1, N = 1800) = 7.86, p <.001].

Gender by semester of departure comparisons. The highest proportion of departers of either gender in either semester planned to "Work full-time" in the year after they left SCCC (39.6% to 45.0% of sub-group respondents; see Table 13). While women and men appeared equally likely to intend to work full-time, women reported plans to work part-time significantly more often than men in both semester groups [6.8% of men versus 16.5% of women in the Fall 1995 group, X² (1, N = 738) = 14.12, p <.001; 10.7% of men versus 17.5% of women in the Spring 1997 group, X² (1, N = 1062) = 9.00, p <.01].

The only other within semester significant gender differences consisted of males choosing "Enroll at another college" more often than females for the Fall 1995 departers [26.4% of men versus 19.7% of women; X² (1, N = 738) = 4.50, p <.05] and females selecting "Re-enroll at Suffolk CCC" more often than men for the Spring 1997 departers [27.7% of men versus 34.1% of women; X² (1, N = 1062) = 9.00, p <.01].

In addition, both men and women expected to "Enroll at another college" significantly more often if they left after the Spring 1997 semester than if they left after the Fall 1995 semester [36.4% of Spring 1997 men versus 26.4% of Fall 1995 men, X² (1, N = 658) = 7.19, p <.01; 30.8% of Spring 1997 women versus 19.7% of Fall 1995 women, X² (1, N = 658) = 7.19, p <.01], reflecting overall between semester comparisons.

Age group comparisons. An examination of plans for the coming year for departers of different age groups (see Table 14) clearly demonstrates how these plans correspond with differences between the age groups in their reasons for leaving Suffolk CCC.

For example, younger students more often leave because of a decision to attend another college, and they also plan to "Enroll at another college" at higher rates [40.2% of those 17 to 25 years old versus 17.6% of those 26 or older; X² (1, N = 1851) = 120.33, p <.001]. On the other hand, older respondents planned to "Re-enroll at Suffolk CCC" at higher rates than younger respondents [39.0% of those over 26 versus 26.7% of those 17 to 25; X² (1, N = 1851) = 31.30, p <.001].

Not surprisingly, close to half (49.6%) of all departers 22 years of age and over expected to "Work full-time" in the coming year as opposed to only approximately one quarter (27.5%) of those 17 to 21 [X² (1, N = 1851) = 77.19, p <.001]. This difference, along with the higher rates of those 22 and older reporting that conflicts between their job and college demands resulted in their departure, fit with the expectation that older students become more concerned with or find it more of a necessity to participate in the workforce full-time.

Age group by semester of departure comparisons. The overall pattern of age group differences in plans for the coming year is replicated within each of the two semester groups (see Table 15a for Fall 1995 departers and Table 15b for Spring 1997 departers).

For both those who departed after the Fall 1995 semester and those who departed after the Spring 1997 semester, older students more frequently plan to "Work full-time" [27.1% of those 17 to 21 versus 46.1% of those 22 and older in the Fall 1995 group, X² (1, N = 787) = 23.19, p <.001; 27.7% of those 17 to 21 versus 52.3% of those 22 and older in the Fall 1995 group, X² (1, N =1064) = 56.58, p <.001]. Older students in both groups also intended to "Re-enroll at Suffolk CCC" more often [27.7% of those 17 to 25 versus 41.0% of those 26 and older in the Fall 1995 group, X² (1, N = 787) = 41.99, p <.001; 26.1% of those 17 to 25 versus 37.3% of those 26 and older in the Fall 1995 group, X² (1, N =1064) = 15.44, p <.001].

Conversely, younger students in both semester groups planed to "Enroll at another college" more often [33.2% of those 17 to 25 versus 12.6% of those 26 and older in the Fall 1995 group, X² (1, N = 787) = 48.60, p <.001; 44.7% of those 17 to 25 versus 21.1% of those 26 and older in the Fall 1995 group, X² (1, N =1064) = 66.89, p <.001].

No notable differences emerged between the semesters for the students within any one of the age groups.

Summary of plans for the coming year. Overall, many students plan to work full time in the year after they leave Suffolk CCC and/or continue their education by returning to Suffolk CCC or enrolling in another college. However, situational and demographic factors, such as semester of departure, campus, gender, and age do play some role in the choice of each of the plans.

    Students appear more likely to expect to enroll in a college other than Suffolk CCC if they leave SCCC after a spring semester rather than a fall semester, with this difference stronger for Ammerman and West campus respondents. East and West campus respondents demonstrated a preference for re-enrolling at SCCC rather than enrolling somewhere else, while Ammerman campus students showed no preference for either option.

    Women planned to work part-time more often than men, but planned to work full-time just as often. In terms of continuing their educations, men appear more likely to enroll at another college while women appear more likely to re-enroll at Suffolk CCC.

    This difference in educational plans also existed between younger and older students with students 17 to 25 much more likely to intend to enroll at another college and students 26 and over much more likely to intend to re-enroll at Suffolk CCC. Not surprisingly, students 22 years of age and older (i.e. older than traditional college age) appeared more focused on plans to work full-time than younger students.

These differences in plans for the next year, based on situational and demographic factors, reflect many of the differences in students reasons for leaving Suffolk CCC.

Overall percentages and comparison of Fall 1995 and Spring 1997 departers. Respondents were instructed to choose only one of five purposes for their originally enrolling at Suffolk CCC: "Uncertain/no definite purpose for enrolling at Suffolk CCC", "To take a few job related courses", "To take a few courses for self-improvement", "To take a few courses and then transfer to another college", or "To complete a degree, or certificate program at Suffolk CCC". Their responses to this particular question may have been somewhat influenced by the fact that they answered at a time after they had not returned to SCCC for one semester. Therefore, while informitive, responses to this item may not be totally reliable because respondents may not accurately remember their original purpose or their response may be biased by their reasons for leaving Suffolk CCC.

Keeping the potential bias in mind, these surveys indicate that almost half (46.1%) of the respondents originally enrolled "To complete a degree, or certificate program at Suffolk CCC" (see Table 16), a goal that went unattained for most thus far.

Approximately an additional one quarter (27.9%) of the former students originally enrolled at Suffolk CCC "To take a few courses and then transfer to another college". This was the only purpose selected significantly more often by those departing after the Spring 1997 semester than those departing after the Fall 1995 semester [32.8% of Spring 1997 versus 20.7% of Fall1995; X² (1, N =1854) = 42.15, p <.001] and reflects the differences in students' reasons for leaving Suffolk CCC and their plans for the coming year.

Less than 15% of the respondents initially intended to fulfill any one of the other purposes.

Between campus comparisons. Respondents on all three campuses most often reported "To complete a degree, or certificate program at Suffolk CCC" as their purpose for originally enrolling (44.3% of Ammerman, 47.9% of East, and 48.7% of West campus respondents; see Table 17).

"To take a few courses and then transfer to another college" was the next most selected purpose. Ammerman campus students, however, seem to choose this purpose slightly more often than students from the East or West campuses [30.9% of Ammerman versus 25.7% or East and 24.7% of West campus respondents; X² (2, N = 1784) = 7.54, p <.05].

No other significant differences emerged between the three campuses.

Campus by semester of departure comparisons. No major differences existed between the three campuses for Fall 1995 departers in the selection of original purpose for enrolling at Suffolk CCC (see Table 18a for Fall 1995 and Table 18b for Spring 1997).

This was not the case for those who left after the Spring 1997 semester, however. The Spring 1997 group accounts for most of the significant overall difference between campuses in the choice of "To take a few courses and then transfer to another college" [36.1% of Ammerman, 28.9% of East, and 28.5% of West campus respondents ; X² (2, N = 1059) = 6.09, p <.05].

Students within each of the campuses also demonstrated the same between semester differences in intentions to transfer as found in other demographic subgroups. Specifically, students on each of the three campuses originally enrolled at Suffolk CCC "To take a few courses and then transfer to another college" more often before subsequently deciding to leave after Spring 1997 than after Fall 1995 [36.1% of Spring 1997 versus 22.6% of Fall 1995 Ammerman campus respondents, X² (1, N = 945) = 23.26, p <.001; 28.9% of Spring 1997 versus 18.9% of Fall 1995 East campus respondents, X² (1, N = 305) = 5.66, p <.02; and 28.5% of Spring 1997 versus 19.6% of Fall 1995 West campus respondents, X² (1, N = 534) = 7.40, p <.01].

Gender and gender by semester of departure comparisons. Males and females displayed few differences in the indication of their original purpose for enrolling at Suffolk CCC (see Table 19).

    The only overall significant difference which emerged consisted of a higher proportion of females expecting "To complete a degree, or certificate program at Suffolk CCC" when they originally enrolled at this college [48.3% of females versus 42.0% of males; X² (1, N = 1800) = 5.93, p <.02]. However, this purpose was selected most by both genders.

    The overall gender difference stemmed primarily from the gap in initial intentions to complete a degree or program between males and females who departed after the Fall 1995 semester [50.7% of females versus 40.4% of males; X² (1, N =738) = 6.34, p <.02; see Table 20]. The Spring 1997 group of respondents demonstrated no significant gender differences.

    Similar to the within campus semester to semester comparisons, the only notable inconsistency from semester to semester for either gender came in the form of the proportion of respondents choosing "To take a few courses and then transfer to another college". More respondents of both genders indicated that they originally expected to transfer if they eventually left Suffolk CCC after the Spring 1997 semester than if they left after the Fall 1995 semester [23.7% of Fall 1995 versus 34.5% of Spring 1997 males, X² (1, N =658) = 11.86, p <.001; 18.5% of Fall 1995 versus 31.6% of Spring 1997 females, X² (1, N =1142) = 29.14, p <.001]. As with overall findings, this parallels the higher proportion of Spring 1997 departers providing the response of transferring to another college as their reason for leaving SCCC and as their plan for the coming year.

Age group comparisons. Students 40 years old or older appear to have been more interested than younger students in attempting "To take a few job related courses" or "To take a few courses for self-improvement" when they originally enrolled at SCCC (see Table 21) [17.6% of those 40 and over versus 4.0% of those 17 to 39 chose job related courses, X² (1, N =1851) = 91.03, p <.001; 28.6% of those 40 and over versus 7.6% of those 17 to 39 chose courses for self-improvement, X² (1, N =1851) = 131.81, p <.001]. This may explain why the same group of older students more often indicated that they left SCCC because they accomplished all of their educational goals here, even though they had not yet graduated.

If fact, while all other age groups selected "To complete a degree, or certificate program at Suffolk CCC" and "To take a few courses and then transfer to another college" as their top two purposes for enrollment, the 40 and over group explained their original purpose in terms of job related or self-improvement courses second and third most often after "To complete a degree, or certificate program at Suffolk CCC".

Two other age group distinctions clearly emerged in replies to this question. First, respondents 17 to 25 years of age chose "To take a few courses and then transfer to another college" much more often than older students [39.2% of those 17 to 25 versus 15.5% of those 26 and older; X² (1, N =1851) = 132.11, p <.001]. Second, students 22 years old and older chose "To complete a degree, or certificate program at Suffolk CCC' more often than students 17 to 21 years of age [39.1% of those 17 to 21 versus 46.5% of those 22 and older; X² (1, N =1851) = 8.61, p <.01]. These differences in purpose of original enrollment at SCCC correspond to the major age group differences in plans for the next year, and some of the differences in reasons for not returning.

Age group by semester of departure comparisons. Examination of responses within each semester revealed the existence of more dramatic and clear cut age differences for the Spring 1997 group than the Fall 1995 group (see Table 22a for the Fall 1995 group and Table 22b for the Spring 1997 group).

For students who chose not to return after Spring 1997, a clear distinction emerged between 17 to 21 year olds and those 22 years of age and older. 17 to 21 year old Spring 1997 respondents originally intended "To take a few courses and then transfer to another college" substantially more often than older respondents [50.0% of those 17 to 21 versus 24.3% of those 22 and older; X² (1, N =1064) = 69.23, p <.001]. Conversely, the 22 years of age and older Spring 1997 departers expected "To complete a degree, or certificate program at Suffolk CCC' more frequently than the younger group [36.0% of those 17 to 21 versus 49.0% of those 22 and older; X² (1, N =1064) = 15.77, p <.001].

For Fall 1995 respondents, members of all age groups, with the exception of a few 17 to 18 year olds, more often indicated that their original purpose for enrolling at SCCC consisted of "To complete a degree, or certificate program at Suffolk CCC' than "To take a few courses and then transfer to another college".

Some problems materialized with attempts to compare responses between semesters within each of the individual age groupings. However, the one notable finding in these analyses consisted of respondents from most age groups following the general pattern of choosing "To take a few courses and then transfer to another college" more often if they left after Spring 1997 than if they left after Fall 1995. This difference attained significance for all age groups except those 22 to 25 years old and those 31 to 39 years old.

Summary of purpose students originally enrolled at Suffolk CCC. While almost half of the former students surveyed originally enrolled at SCCC to complete a degree, certificate, or program here, an additional one quarter enrolled intending to transfer to another college after taking a few courses. Fewer former students originally expected to fulfill some other purpose.

It would not be surprising if the departers who had initially intended to transfer actually left more often because they did transfer. This possibility receives closer examination in the following section. Reasons for the departure of respondents who initially expected to graduate or complete a program at SCCC may prove more crucial to attempts at improving retention rates, as would an understanding of the influence of particular situational or demographic variables.

The highest proportion of departers in almost all sub-groups origianlly intended to complete their degree, certificate, or program at SCCC. Respondents from all campuses, both genders, and most age groups indicated their original intentions to transfer out of SCCC more often if they subsequently left after the Spring 1997 semester than if they left following the Fall 1995 semester.

Ammerman campus students appear slightly more likely to have expected to transfer to another college and women to have expected to complete their degree, certificate or program at SCCC when they initially enrolled.

The most notable demographic differences in original purpose for enrollment, however, consisted of those concerning the various age groups. Individuals from the oldest group of former students (age 40 and over) were more likely to expect to only take a few self-improvement or job related courses. This may explain why many from this group eventually left SCCC because they accomplished their educational goals, even though they did not graduate.

Younger students (ages 17 to 25) originally enrolled at SCCC with plans of transferring more often than older students, while students beyond traditional college age (i.e. 22 and older) appeared more likely to initially intend to complete a degree, or program at SCCC than younger students.

Finally, many of the between semester, campus, gender, and particularly the age group differences in former student's indications of their original purpose for enrolling at SCCC reflect the differences in reasons for their leaving and the differences in their plans for the future.

Linking Purpose of Attending Suffolk CCC with Reasons for Leaving

As you can see in Table 23, the pattern of most selected reasons for not returning to SCCC varied widely amongst those former students who originally enrolled at SCC for different purposes. In fact, no single reason for leaving was chosen by more than 10% of the respondents in each one of the five categories of original purpose.

The major differences between the categories can partially be explained by the fact that many of the respondents' reasons for leaving SCCC corresponded with their original purpose for enrolling. The clearest and most dramatic example of this concerns those who initially planned to come to SCCC "To take a few courses and then transfer to another college". This group most often provided "Decided to attend another college" as a reason for their leaving SCCC and provided this answer significantly more often than groups having other initial intentions [53.9% of the planned to transfer group versus 11.8% of those with other purposes; X² (1, N = 1777) = 352.86, p <.001].

The only other reason for leaving SCCC selected by more than 12% of the respondents who originally planned "To take a few courses and then transfer to another college" consisted of "I accomplished my educational goals at Suffolk" (28.7%). This "accomplished ... goals.." reason for leaving was reported most often by those who originally planned "To take a few job related courses" (36.9%) and third most often by the group which enrolled just "To take a few courses for self-improvement" (16.7%).

The three groups of former students who attended SCCC with the intention of only taking a few corses (self-improvement, job-related, or to transfer) departed because they accomplished these goals significantly more often than those who expected "To complete a degree, or certificate, program at Suffolk CCC", or who were "Uncertain" or had "No definite purpose for enrolling at Suffolk CCC"[26.7% of those who only planned to take a few courses versus 6.4% of those with other purposes; X² (1, N = 1777) = 135.55, p <.001]. The exclusion from this survey of former students who actually graduated probably resulted in the finding that most respondents who had planned to complete a degree or certificate at SCCC did not accomplish their goals

The two groups of departers who indicated they enrolled at SCCC for only a few job related or self-improvement courses both selected "Couldn't get courses and/or schedule that (they) wanted" amongst their top two reasons for not returning and appeared more likely to leave for this reason than other respondents [17.9% of those who only planned to take a few job or self-improvement courses versus 9.4% of those with other purposes; X² (1, N = 1777) = 20.54, p <.001]. "Conflict between demands of job and college" rounded out the top three reasons for leaving for these two groups, with 15.4% of the respondents originally enrolled at SCCC "To take a few job related courses" and 17.1% of the respondents originally enrolled "To take a few courses for self-improvement" choosing that response.

    Problems with conflicts between job and college demands also seemed important reasons for leaving for those who either indicated that they originally enrolled "To complete a degree, or certificate program at Suffolk CC" (22.9%) or who were "Uncertain" or had "No definite purpose for enrolling at Suffolk CCC' (21.6%). Individuals in the group which originally enrolled "To take a few courses and then transfer to another college"therefore distinguish themselves in that they selected "Conflict between demands of job and college" significantly less often than respondents originally enrolling at SCCC for all other purposes [8.9% of the transfer group versus 21.0% of those with other original purposes for enrolling; X² (1, N = 1777) = 35.99, p <.001].

    Interestingly, students who indicated they were "Uncertain" or had "No definite purpose for enrolling at Suffolk CCC" reported "Decided to attend another college" most often as their reason for leaving, and chose this more often than all other respondents except those who had planned to transfer when they originally enrolled at SCCC [25.7% of the uncertain/no definite purpose group versus 10.9% of those here to take a few courses for job or self-improvement purposes or to complete a degree or certificate; X² (1, N = 1282) = 14.60, p <.001]. Those "Uncertain" or "No definite purpose for enrolling at Suffolk CCC" respondents also left more often because they "wanted a break from college" than respondents having all other original purposes [17.6% of the uncertain/no definite purpose group versus 8.2% of those with other purposes; X² (1, N = 1777) = 8.02, p <.01].

    "Tuition and fees were more than I could afford" was the only other reason chosen by more than 15% of those not really certain of their purpose when they originally enrolled at SCCC (by 16.2%). The respondents with no definite purpose, together with those planning "To complete a degree, or certificate program at Suffolk CCC" chose "Tuition and fees were more than I could afford"as one of their reasons for leaving SCCC significantly more often than other respondents [18.9% of the uncertain/no definite purpose group and those who planned to complete versus 7.3% of the remainder; X² (1, N = 1777) = 52.97, p <.001]. This reason placed second for those who had planned to finish a degree or program when they originally enrolled.

The "planned to complete" respondents additionally demonstrated that financial problems disproportionately influenced their decision to leave by selecting "Encountered unexpected expenses and could not afford tuition" significantly more often than other respondents [16.3% of the planned to complete versus 8.4% of all other respondents; X² (1, N = 1777) = 26.56, p <.001]. The final reason for not returning to SCCC selected by more than 15% of the respondents who originally enrolled "To complete a degree, or certificate program at Suffolk CCC" consisted of "Personal problems or family responsibilities" which was also selected more often by that group than any other [18.2% of the planned to complete versus 10.5% of all other respondents; X² (1, N = 1777) = 21.85, p <.001].

Summary. While the proportion of respondents selecting particular reasons for not returning to SCCC varied amongst those who provided different original purposes for enrolling, reasons for leaving often did correspond with the original purpose. For example, those who originally enrolled with plans to transfer after taking a few courses actually tended to leave because they transferred to another school. This group also encountered less problems with job and college conflicts than other groups, possibly because they tended to be younger and therefore not have permanent full-time jobs.

    Respondents planning to take only a few courses, whether for self-improvement, job-related, or transfer purposes, more often accomplished their educational goals than respondents who planned to graduate or complete a program or who did not have specific plans. As previously stated, this survey limited participation to non-graduates so it is not surprising that those who intended to graduate did not accomplish their goals.

    The students who entered SCCC without a definite purpose for enrolling also tended to leave because they transferred elsewhere or because they decided on taking a break from college. These originally unsure students may have clarified their goals and therefore found other educational institutions more appropriate, or may have decided to take some time off to think about how to best accomplish their goals.

    The departure decisions of those respondents originally enrolling for the purpose of graduating or completing a program appeared most influenced by situational factors such as conflicts with their job, financial or personal problems, or family responsibilities. The SCCC administration might consider some ways to address these issues with the potential result of higher retention rates.

Demographic Information on Non-returners by Semester Immediately Prior to Departure

                                    Fall 1995        Spring 1997             All              Spring 1997
Variable                      Respondents      Respondents     Respondents      Population^ab
Gender
     Male                           33.0%               36.5%               35.5%              43.2%
     Female                        58.9%               62.1%               61.6%              50.5%
     Not Reported                8.1%                 1.5%                 2.9%                6.2%
Campus
     Selden                         46.8%               52.8%               51.0%              51.4%
     Eastern                        13.4%               18.3%               16.5%              12.3%
     Western                       30.0%               27.2%               28.8%              30.1%
     Not Reported                9.8%                 1.8%                 3.8%                6.2%
Age Group
     17 or 18 years old          2.1%                 1.9%                 2.0%                1.5%
     19 years old                 12.1%                 6.2%                 8.8%                9.7%
     20 or 21 years old       12.5%               23.0%               18.8%              26.3%
     22 to 25 years old       16.1%               18.3%               17.6%              22.5%
     26 to 30 years old       11.3%               12.8%               12.4%              13.4%
     31 to 39 years old       17.6%               17.5%               17.8%              10.5%
     40 years old or above 26.4%              18.9%                22.4%                9.9%
     Not Reported                 2.0%                  .1%                    .2%                6.3%
Ethnic/Racial Background^a
     White                           33.7%              71.1%                56.0%              69.3%
     Black                             2.1%                4.0%                  3.2%                5.1%
     Hispanic                         2.7%                5.2%                  4.2%                7.4%
     Asian                               .7%                 1.6%                  1.2%                2.1%
     American Indian               .1%                   .3%                    .2%                  .2%
     No Record                   60.5%               17.8%               35.1%              15.8%
______________________________________________________________________
^aThis information retrieved from the computer history file, not from survey responses.
^bOnly the Spring 1997 population of non-returners could be re-created for this table.

**Table 2. Reasons for Not Returning to Suffolk County Community College -**
**Comparisons between Students Leaving After Fall 1995 and Students Leaving After Spring 1997**

	Semester registered (semester did not return)				Total
	Fall 1995(Spring 1996)		Spring 1997(Fall 1997)
	n	% Chose	n	% Chose	n	% Chose
Attend another college	113	14.4%	313	29.3%	426	23.0%
Health related problems	78	9.9%	95	8.9%	173	9.3%
Wanted break from college	78	9.9%	82	7.7%	160	8.6%
Transportation/ commuting problems	27	3.4%	38	3.6%	65	3.5%
Value of college education uncertain	22	2.8%	29	2.7%	51	2.8%
Child care problems	31	3.9%	32	3.0%	63	3.4%
Personal/ family problems	111	14.1%	145	13.6%	256	13.8%
Course/ schedule problems	97	12.3%	112	10.5%	209	11.3%
Major not available	30	3.8%	65	6.1%	95	5.1%
Couldn't get into program	20	2.5%	24	2.2%	44	2.4%
Not satisfied w/ course requirements	28	3.6%	24	2.2%	52	2.8%
Required to take developmental courses	33	4.2%	40	3.7%	73	3.9%
Academic difficulties	39	5.0%	32	3.0%	71	3.8%
Disappointed w/ quality of instruction	54	6.9%	48	4.5%	102	5.5%
Dissatisfied w/ social environment	22	2.8%	27	2.5%	49	2.6%
Unhappy w/ attitude of faculty/staff	45	5.7%	48	4.5%	93	5.0%
Dissatisfied w/ support services	48	6.1%	50	4.7%	98	5.3%
No (or lost) financial aid	72	9.1%	88	8.2%	160	8.6%
Unexpected expenses	96	12.2%	123	11.5%	219	11.8%
Tuition & fees not affordable	107	13.6%	135	12.7%	242	13.1%
Wanted work experience	20	2.5%	26	2.4%	46	2.5%
Accepted full-time job	54	6.9%	87	8.2%	141	7.6%
Job & college demands conflicted	149	18.9%	178	16.7%	327	17.6%
Immunization requirements	1	.1%	3	.3%	4	.2%
Accomplished goals at SCCC	116	14.7%	184	17.2%	300	16.2%

**Table 3. Reasons for Not Returning to Suffolk County Community College -**
**Comparisons between Campuses**

	Campus
	Ammerman		East		West
	n	% Chose	n	% Chose	n	% Chose
Attend another college	257	27.2%	64	21.0%	98	18.4%
Health related problems	94	9.9%	31	10.2%	44	8.2%
Wanted break from college	86	9.1%	27	8.9%	43	8.1%
Transportation/ commuting problems	29	3.1%	16	5.2%	19	3.6%
Value of college education uncertain	33	3.5%	5	1.6%	13	2.4%
Child care problems	29	3.1%	13	4.3%	19	3.6%
Personal/ family problems	105	11.1%	49	16.1%	91	17.0%
Course/ schedule problems	93	9.8%	49	16.1%	61	11.4%
Major not available	54	5.7%	10	3.3%	28	5.2%
Couldn't get into program	18	1.9%	5	1.6%	16	3.0%
Not satisfied w/ course requirements	32	3.4%	5	1.6%	14	2.6%
Required to take developmental courses	37	3.9%	13	4.3%	20	3.7%
Academic difficulties	39	4.1%	9	3.0%	22	4.1%
Disappointed w/ quality of instruction	54	5.7%	22	7.2%	23	4.3%
Dissatisfied w/ social environment	30	3.2%	7	2.3%	11	2.1%
Unhappy w/ attitude of faculty/staff	50	5.3%	21	6.9%	19	3.6%
Dissatisfied w/ support services	56	5.9%	18	5.9%	21	3.9%
No (or lost) financial aid	75	7.9%	27	8.9%	53	9.9%
Unexpected expenses	113	12.0%	33	10.8%	70	13.1%
Tuition & fees not affordable	120	12.7%	39	12.8%	80	15.0%
Wanted work experience	27	2.9%	7	2.3%	9	1.7%
Accepted full-time job	71	7.5%	25	8.2%	38	7.1%
Job & college demands conflicted	156	16.5%	53	17.4%	109	20.4%
Immunization requirements	3	.3%	1	.3%	0	.0%
Accomplished goals at SCCC	151	16.0%	41	13.4%	104	19.5%

**Table 4a. Reasons for Not Returning to Suffolk County Community College -**
**Comparisons between Campuses for Students Leaving After Fall 1995**

	Semester registered (semester did not return)
	Fall 1995(Spring 1996)
	Campus
	Ammerman		East		West
	n	% Chose	n	% Chose	n	% Chose
Attend another college	60	16.0%	12	11.1%	36	14.9%
Health related problems	43	11.4%	12	11.1%	21	8.7%
Wanted break from college	34	9.0%	16	14.8%	25	10.4%
Transportation/ commuting problems	15	4.0%	4	3.7%	7	2.9%
Value of college education uncertain	15	4.0%	1	.9%	6	2.5%
Child care problems	16	4.3%	5	4.6%	8	3.3%
Personal/ family problems	51	13.6%	17	15.7%	35	14.5%
Course/ schedule problems	41	10.9%	19	17.6%	31	12.9%
Major not available	17	4.5%	2	1.9%	9	3.7%
Couldn't get into program	7	1.9%	3	2.8%	5	2.1%
Not satisfied w/ course requirements	14	3.7%	3	2.8%	10	4.1%
Required to take developmental courses	16	4.3%	5	4.6%	9	3.7%
Academic difficulties	20	5.3%	4	3.7%	14	5.8%
Disappointed w/ quality of instruction	26	6.9%	13	12.0%	12	5.0%
Dissatisfied w/ social environment	14	3.7%	2	1.9%	5	2.1%
Unhappy w/ attitude of faculty/staff	24	6.4%	11	10.2%	8	3.3%
Dissatisfied w/ support services	27	7.2%	9	8.3%	9	3.7%
No (or lost) financial aid	32	8.5%	8	7.4%	28	11.6%
Unexpected expenses	52	13.8%	14	13.0%	27	11.2%
Tuition & fees not affordable	50	13.3%	15	13.9%	39	16.2%
Wanted work experience	11	2.9%	1	.9%	5	2.1%
Accepted full-time job	21	5.6%	9	8.3%	17	7.1%
Job & college demands conflicted