The Relationship Between College Choice and Persistence

Although students choose their colleges for a variety of reasons, low- income, first-generation, and minority students are often limited in their choices. Furthermore, even when those students do attend college, their persistence rates are generally lower than those of traditional students. This study examines the relationship between factors that influence choice and persistence in recipients of the Longhorn Opportunity Scholarship (LOS), a scholarship given to students from Texas high schools that are under-represented at the University of Texas at Austin (U.T. Austin), the flagship university of the University of Texas System. LOS students are usually low-income, thus, the scholarship offers these students an opportunity to attend a university they otherwise might not be able to attend. Furthermore, the academic and social support offered by U.T. Austin's Longhorn Scholars Program increases the likelihood these students will graduate. In this study, a qualitative methodology called Interactive Qualitative Analysis (IQA), developed by Norvell Northcutt at U.T. Austin, was used to study the relationship between choice and persistence in LOS recipients.