Factors Affecting Student Retention at Attawit Commercialtechnology College
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Abstract
This Article aimed to study (1) examine the level of student retention. (2) investigate factors related to student retention. (3) analyze the relationship between these factors and retention and (4) identify factors that predicted student retention at Attawit Commercial Technology College. The study was conducted at Attawit Commercial Technology College with a sample of 308 students from the 2025 academic year, selected via stratified random sampling. A questionnaire was used as the research instrument. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, including Pearson's correlation coefficient and stepwise multiple regression analysis. The findings revealed that;
- The results of the research objective 1 and 2 found that the overall level of student retention was very high level (M = 4.68, SD = 0.46) and related factors were perceived as highly important. The teacher factor was rated as most important, followed by the student and social factors.
- The results of the research objective 3 showed that the related factors had a high level of positive relationship with student retention with statistical significance (r = .63, p < .001).
- The results of the research objective 4 found that there were 4 factors that could predict retention: learner, teacher, social, and financial factors. Together, they explained 52.6 percent of the variance (Adjusted R² = .526).
The new knowledge from this study illustrated the dynamics of student retention in a private vocational context. It identified student and teacher factors as the primary positive drivers and the financial factor as a necessary supporting condition, whereas the social factor could be a negative predictor without proper guidance. These findings served as a direct guideline for developing strategies to enhance student retention.
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