Psychology of college higher education student persistence: A mixed methods exploration of the role of personal tutors during COVID-19 campus closures

Abstract

Non-traditional students are more likely to withdraw from their studies without completing an undergraduate qualification than their peers. This research explores the utility of Tinto’s (2017b) psychological model of student persistence to explain non-traditional students’ persistence at a college higher education provider in the southwest of England, the University Centre. Further, the research investigated the role of personal tutors in fostering persistence during the COVID-19 campus closures. This mixed methods study consisted of 13 longitudinal focus groups with ten college higher education students during the first campus closures between April and October 2020, and an online survey to determine the generalisability of the focus group findings regarding student experience, persistence and tutorial to a wider student population (n=64) during the second campus closure between December 2020 and May 2021. The research found that the nature of college higher education students, typically being mature students, parents, working alongside their studies and from non-academic backgrounds, gave them a determination and resilience to persist with their studies during the COVID-19 campus closures. Students felt they mattered to their personal tutors and other University Centre staff, this mattering grew within relationship-rich tutorial practices and helped students to persist. What is more, whether a student had a weekly tutorial was the only significant factor predicting those who contemplated withdrawal and those that did not during the academic year. Students’ goals were initially present-orientated and student-focused to finish their studies, but with growing self-efficacy and exposure to future possibilities during their studies, students began to develop different possible-selves for their future. Recognising the limitations of the case study approach, this research recommends college higher education providers foster students’ persistence by recognising the role of their pasts, presents and futures, and giving staff, particularly personal tutors, time and space to develop rich relationships with their tutees so students recognise they matter.