Factors Influencing the Chance of Dropout or Being at Risk of Dropout in Higher Education

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to establish what sociodemographic and institutional factors cause students to drop out, become uncertain about their intentions to obtain a degree, or confidently advance towards the fulfilment of their ambitions. Our analysis is based on the combined databases of large-sample questionnaire surveys carried out among former students who dropped out from higher education institutions in an eastern region of Hungary as well as those carried out among current students. In addition to bivariate methods, we conduct multinomial logistic regression analysis to explore how students’ gender, social background, the funding of their training, willingness to do paid work alongside their studies, and relationships with academic staff and fellow students affect the chance of dropout, the risk of dropout, and persistence. In contrast to previous studies, which have mostly identified those at risk of dropping out of higher education and have primarily focused on the deficiencies of institutional integration, our novel results show that the actual dropout rate is at least as influenced by students’ unfavourable social background as it is by institutional factors.