American Accounting Association 2006 Midwest Region Meeting March 30 – April 1 Chicago, Illinois

Friday, March 31, 9:40 a.m. - 10:20 a.m.
Forum Papers

Title: Factors Associated with the Duration of Completing a Baccalaureate Degree in Accounting: Freshman versus Transfer Students

C. T. Chen Northeastern Illinois University	Thomas Krissek Northeastern Illinois University
Myung-Ho Yoon Northeastern Illinois University

ABSTRACT: This study examines the factors associated with the duration of completing an undergraduate Accounting degree in a typical commuter public university located in a large city. The university in which we conducted this study enrolled a total of about 12,000 students and is diverse in terms of student body. Most of the students are the first generation in their family to attend college, and they combine studying, working and raising a family. One hundred forty two seniors mostly in the last semester of their degree program were surveyed in Summer and Fall semester of 2004 and in Spring semester of 2005. Since there were seven students with missing data, the final sample consisted of 135 students.

The main goal of this study is to identify factors which are associated with the duration of time students take to complete an undergraduate accounting program. The dependent variable of the study is defined as the number of consecutive semesters which students take to graduate from the program. The number of consecutive semesters begins with the semester the student enters the university as either a freshman or as a student who has taken courses in either community colleges or other universities and enters the university as a transfer student. The ending semester is the semester when the student prepares to graduate as reported in the survey. The number of consecutive semesters includes the semesters when students, for one reason or another, take a leave of absence from the university.

Demographic factors may be different between freshman and students who transfer from community colleges. Freshman students tend to be younger, work less hours to support themselves, and thus may take more courses during their program. On the other hand, transfer students tend to be older and may have more family responsibilities. In order to further eliminate potential bias resulting from transfer students who have studied in other colleges or universities and who have taken more than sixty hours in community colleges and thus potentially shorten the duration to complete their program at the university, this study divided the sample into three groups: Freshman, all transfer students, and transfer students with sixty hours transfer in credit. The sixty hours credit is required for all students to complete their Associate Degree from community colleges.

The results indicate that it takes an average of 5.72 years for a freshman and 3.42 years for a transfer student who transfers in sixty hours of course work to complete the degree program. Only 18.2 percent of freshmen complete their degree in four years and 23.5 percent of transfer students complete their junior and senior years in two years. For freshmen, age, GPA, and number of courses taking in the semester of survey are the significant factors associated with the time of their degree completion. For transfer students, age, GPA, and type of outside work are the significant factors.

This study shows that age is one of the significant factors which associated with the time of degree completion. High school students should be urged to move on to college before the assumption of other responsibility in their life. Since GPA is another significant factor which influences the degree completion, a probationary policy may be used to speed up the slow moving students through the program. For transfer students who need to work longer hours during the school year, additional scholarships or grants may help to speed up the time for their degree completion.

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