Examining Master’s Students’ Success at a Hispanic-Serving Institution

This work examines the indicators of master’s students’ persistence from 2014 to 2021 at a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) in the southern United States. Demographic and academic variables were used in a logistic regression model to predict students’ successful completion across sixteen master’s...

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Main Authors: Kenneth John Tobin, Jacinto De La Cruz Hernandez, José R. Palma, Marvin Bennett, Nandita Chaudhuri
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-01-01
Series:Trends in Higher Education
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2813-4346/4/1/5
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author Kenneth John Tobin
Jacinto De La Cruz Hernandez
José R. Palma
Marvin Bennett
Nandita Chaudhuri
author_facet Kenneth John Tobin
Jacinto De La Cruz Hernandez
José R. Palma
Marvin Bennett
Nandita Chaudhuri
author_sort Kenneth John Tobin
collection DOAJ
description This work examines the indicators of master’s students’ persistence from 2014 to 2021 at a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) in the southern United States. Demographic and academic variables were used in a logistic regression model to predict students’ successful completion across sixteen master’s programs. In this two-fold study, first, we examined the impact of COVID-19 on students enrolled in twelve face-to-face (F2F) programs and evaluated their performance against a pre-pandemic baseline period. Second, we compared student performance in four accelerated online programs against a pre-accelerated baseline. Most demographic variables were insignificant, while all academic variables were significant across program types. However, GPA became an insignificant variable when the F2F programs were forced to move online during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this period, GPA also increased for students who had discontinued their studies. The accelerated online programs recorded a significant decrease in terms enrolled (Term Count) compared to the pre-accelerated baseline. These results add to the limited literature on student success at the master’s level in HSIs, thus filling a vital knowledge gap. This study provides two case studies focusing on how the pandemic and the accelerated online learning model impacted academic persistence at the master’s level at an HSI.
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spelling doaj-art-3d9d45a4d49344f7ab4ef9dac57c44592025-08-20T02:11:02ZengMDPI AGTrends in Higher Education2813-43462025-01-0141510.3390/higheredu4010005Examining Master’s Students’ Success at a Hispanic-Serving InstitutionKenneth John Tobin0Jacinto De La Cruz Hernandez1José R. Palma2Marvin Bennett3Nandita Chaudhuri4Center for Earth and Environmental Studies, Texas A&M International University, Laredo, TX 78041, USACenter for Earth and Environmental Studies, Texas A&M International University, Laredo, TX 78041, USAInstitute for Early Childhood Development & Education, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USACenter for Earth and Environmental Studies, Texas A&M International University, Laredo, TX 78041, USAPublic Policy Research Institute, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77845, USAThis work examines the indicators of master’s students’ persistence from 2014 to 2021 at a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) in the southern United States. Demographic and academic variables were used in a logistic regression model to predict students’ successful completion across sixteen master’s programs. In this two-fold study, first, we examined the impact of COVID-19 on students enrolled in twelve face-to-face (F2F) programs and evaluated their performance against a pre-pandemic baseline period. Second, we compared student performance in four accelerated online programs against a pre-accelerated baseline. Most demographic variables were insignificant, while all academic variables were significant across program types. However, GPA became an insignificant variable when the F2F programs were forced to move online during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this period, GPA also increased for students who had discontinued their studies. The accelerated online programs recorded a significant decrease in terms enrolled (Term Count) compared to the pre-accelerated baseline. These results add to the limited literature on student success at the master’s level in HSIs, thus filling a vital knowledge gap. This study provides two case studies focusing on how the pandemic and the accelerated online learning model impacted academic persistence at the master’s level at an HSI.https://www.mdpi.com/2813-4346/4/1/5COVID-19 pandemicaccelerated online programsgraduate student successlogistic regressionGPA inflation
spellingShingle Kenneth John Tobin
Jacinto De La Cruz Hernandez
José R. Palma
Marvin Bennett
Nandita Chaudhuri
Examining Master’s Students’ Success at a Hispanic-Serving Institution
Trends in Higher Education
COVID-19 pandemic
accelerated online programs
graduate student success
logistic regression
GPA inflation
title Examining Master’s Students’ Success at a Hispanic-Serving Institution
title_full Examining Master’s Students’ Success at a Hispanic-Serving Institution
title_fullStr Examining Master’s Students’ Success at a Hispanic-Serving Institution
title_full_unstemmed Examining Master’s Students’ Success at a Hispanic-Serving Institution
title_short Examining Master’s Students’ Success at a Hispanic-Serving Institution
title_sort examining master s students success at a hispanic serving institution
topic COVID-19 pandemic
accelerated online programs
graduate student success
logistic regression
GPA inflation
url https://www.mdpi.com/2813-4346/4/1/5
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AT joserpalma examiningmastersstudentssuccessatahispanicservinginstitution
AT marvinbennett examiningmastersstudentssuccessatahispanicservinginstitution
AT nanditachaudhuri examiningmastersstudentssuccessatahispanicservinginstitution