Here to Learn or Just Earn: College Student Motivation and Success

The study explores the influence of motivation on college students' achievement, emphasizing the differential roles of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. 147 college students, aged eighteen to forty-two, completed a survey consisting of the Academic Motivation Scale and the Academic Success Inventory for College Students and provided their grade point average (GPA). Findings demonstrate that intrinsically motivated individuals have higher confidence in their ability to succeed, ability to attain employment, and external motivation for the future (all indicators of success). There was no significant relationship between the different motivation types and GPA. These results suggest that confident students driven by goals that focus on the future, including their career aspirations, have higher levels of intrinsic motivation than their more extrinsically motivated peers.