A Study Correlating College Student Age and Other Student Variables with Student Completion Time

Student variables of family responsibilities as measured by number of financial dependents, number of credit hours enrolled per semester, number of hours worked outside of class per week, number of hours spent studying outside of class per week, and number of semesters needed to graduate may be associated with students of various ages. If these variables are present, then adult college students may be receiving a reduced academic experience through longer enrollment periods, resulting in poor job placement, rising college debt through repeated classes, or higher dropout rates. Due to increasing diversity in student work schedules, available study time, enrolled class time, and family dynamics, the potential correlation to student age may result in students of various ages not being adequately prepared academically. This quantitative study provided possible relationships between student variables and student age. The relationships between student age and the five central student variables were identified through a cross-sectional questionnaire. The participants for this study were community college students located in Midwestern United States and enrolled in general education courses. The problem is that certain student age groups are associated with additional social, financial, time management responsibilities, and pressures versus alternate student age groups resulting in an academic experience that is not uniform in regard to degree completion time. The data were collected through student-completed questionnaires, and the date were analyzed with step-wise multiple regression. A total of 112 student questionnaires were completed. A significant positive relationship was found between completion time and student age (p =.008) and a significant negative relationship was found between completion time and study effort (p=.032). No significant relationship was discovered between completion time and dependents, completion time and work, and completion time and work/study balance. It is recommended that future research includes attempts to uncover other possible student variables that could influence a student's degree completion time.