Expanding the Student Persistence Puzzle to Minority Serving Institutions: The Residential Historically Black College and University Context

The prevailing theories of student persistence have been developed in Predominantly White Institutional (PWI) contexts. The extent to which these theories--in whole or in part--apply to Minority Serving Institutions such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) has not been studied in depth. This study tests a PWI-based theory of student persistence in residential colleges and universities at two residential HBCUs. Four-hundred and fifty-one residential students completed a survey testing the theory, and then administrative data were used to link student persistence data. Findings suggest that theories developed at PWIs--such as the model tested in this study--hold salience for understanding student persistence at Minority Serving Institutions such as HBCUs. However, a complete picture of student persistence at HBCUs may benefit from the addition of HBCU-specific constructs and models.