Promoting Persistence: The Role of Academic Advisors

Retention and persistence to graduation have been concerns for colleges and universities across the country. Research has pointed to sociodemographic and economic factors that affect persistence. Our analyses isolate the relationship between advising appointments and the likelihood of persistence controlling for the possibility of an endogenous relationship and while controlling for sociodemographic and academic performance covariates. Using data from one college in a large, public university, we found that students enrolled in Spring 2018 who met with an advisor one or more times in January through August 2018 were 9% more likely to persist and enroll in Fall 2018 than otherwise similar students who did not visit an advisor at all during that period.