Date of Publication

Fall 12-8-2014

Document Type

Undergraduate Project

Professor's Name

Dr. Burakowski

Abstract

Abstract The focus of this research was to take a look at the retention rates of Division III football programs over a four year period. The purpose of this study was to show how some schools are struggling to keep their retention rate up year to year. A second reason was to see which type of institution had a higher retention rate and to see if there is a connection between retention and the type of institute. At the Division I level there many articles about retention rates and student athlete adjustment, while at the Division III level there is none. A cross sectional design was used with a sample of 40 Division III football programs. Roster information was collected of freshmen student athletes over a four year period from 2009-2013. Results indicated that the average retention rate for the 2013 senior class of the 40 Division III football programs was 27.35%. Private schools programs were found to have a slightly higher retention rate of the 2013 senior class then public school programs. These findings are important in that it sheds a light that Division III schools are struggling to keep their football programs retention rate. Also With these findings it brings up the problem of why these retention rates are so low and may spark a ways on how to increase these.

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