Sociodemographic Attributes and Dropout Intentions of Working University Students: Evidence from Estonia

Mohammad Abu Sayed Toyon ()
Additional contact information
Mohammad Abu Sayed Toyon: School of Business, European College of Polytechnics, 41531 Jõhvi, Estonia

Societies, 2024, vol. 14, issue 7, 1-16

Abstract: This study examines the relationship between various demographic and situational factors and working students’ decisions to change their study programmes and abandon higher education. It utilises a sample of 1902 working students derived from the Eurostudent VII survey and employs cross-tabulation and chi-square tests. The findings reveal statistically significant associations between several factors and students’ educational decisions. Males are more likely to consider abandoning higher education than females. Younger students, particularly those up to 21 years old, are more inclined to consider changing their study programmes. Financial difficulties significantly influence students’ considerations of both changing study programmes and abandoning higher education. Students in the arts, humanities, and ICT are more likely to consider abandoning their studies. Conversely, age does not significantly affect the likelihood of abandoning higher education. Parental educational attainment does not significantly influence decisions to change or abandon study programmes, whereas living situations, such as living independently and not living with parents, significantly affect changing the study programme. Qualification level affects the likelihood of changing study programmes, with bachelor’s students more likely to consider changes than masters and long-term national degree students, but it does not significantly affect the likelihood of abandoning higher education. Education–job mismatch significantly affects both changing study programmes and abandoning higher education, while the duration of working hours only influences the decision to alter study programmes. By revealing these findings, this research extends the student retention discourse as well as highlights how cultural, economic, familial, and workplace capital influence working students’ educational decisions.

Keywords: academic persistence; dropout; higher education; student retention; working student (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 A14 P P0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/14/7/116/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/14/7/116/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:14:y:2024:i:7:p:116-:d:1430850

Access Statistics for this article

Societies is currently edited by Ms. Farrah Sun

More articles in Societies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().