Patterns of Student-Faculty Informal Interaction beyond the Classroom and Voluntary Freshman Attrition

In a test of Tinto's theoretical model of attrition, this study investigated the pattern of relationships between different types of student-faculty interaction beyond the classroom and college persistence during the freshman year. After controlling for student sex, academic aptitude and personality attributes, freshman persisters were found to have a significantly higher (p < .01) frequency of interactions along six dimensions than were voluntary leavers. Discriminant analysis indicated that student-faculty interactions focusing on discussion of intellectual or course related concerns contributed most to group discrimination.