Removing registration holds reduced alcohol prevention program completion without improving college student retention

Introduction: Several online alcohol prevention programs have been developed to reduce alcohol use and risky drinking behaviors among university students in the United States (U.S.). Many large universities have adopted these programs due to their high fidelity and low staff burden, though little research to date has investigated the implementation of these programs. Method: The current study leveraged a program implementation change at a large public university to investigate the effect of registration holds on program completion rates and student retention rates at the university. Registration holds were used to prevent students from continuing their enrollment at the university if they did not complete the required online alcohol prevention program within their first term of enrollment. The university stopped using registration holds to enforce program completion after concerns were raised that they were inhibiting student retention at the university. Results: This program evaluation indicated that when the university stopped using registration holds to promote completion of an online alcohol prevention program, program completion rates decreased from 87.9-98.6% in prior years to 81.2%, while student retention at the university did not change. An analysis of historical program data demonstrated that students who engaged in frequent alcohol use, students over the age of 18, male students, and Black and American Indian or Alaskan Native students were less likely to complete an optional follow-up program component. Discussion: Findings suggest that registration holds improved program completion rates and were not associated with decreased university student retention rates. Lower program completion rates may result in some students benefiting from prevention programming while others are left behind. College administrators and alcohol researchers working with college populations may use these findings to guide implementation decisions and spur future research about factors that influence the implementation of online alcohol prevention programs at colleges and universities.