LITERATURE REVIEW

The search process

In the search for relevant related studies, two main search engines were used: Google and

Google Scholar. An important source was the use of digital databases, including Education

Abstract Full Text ERIC and ProQuest. All the search was done via New York State University

library website using the following key words: college persistence, college success, student

success in college, and nontraditional students in college. In addition, other related articles were

searched from online journals: American Educational Research Journal, College Student

Journal, Journal of College Student Development, Journal of College Student Retention, Journal

of College Student Personnel, Journal of Higher Education, and Research in Higher Education.

Result of the search

High school GPA is found to be the best predictor of college retention (Atkinson &

Geiser, 2009; Geiser & Santelices, 2007; Martinez, 2011; Pike & Saupe, 2002; Stewart, 2010).

Stewart (2010) found from her research that there is a statistically significant relationship

between high school GPA and persistence. Similarly, Martinez’s (2011) later study revealed that

high school GPA is the next best predictor of persistence when he observed the positive

relationship between high school GPA and cumulative college GPA.

First semester college GPA is an important factor because it is connected to the transition

from high school to college. A study by Stewart (2010) revealed that there is a statistically

significant relationship between first year college GPA and their college persistence. Actually,

first semester college GPA is found to have a high impact on cumulative college GPA (Martinez,

2011). Similarly, another study found that first-semester college GPA is one of the two

significant predictors of student persistence (Stewart et al., 2015). These findings confirmed

Martinez’s (2011) finding that first semester college GPA is the best predictor of students’

cumulative college GPA, and by extension, their persistence in college.