An Examination of Late-Registering Students' Success in Online and On-Campus Classes. Issue 5 (4th May 2019) - Tompkins, Patrick
ABSTRACT: Late registration is a common practice in community colleges, but the evidence-based argument for the presumed deleterious effects of late registration on student success is weaker than is commonly believed, and there has been no published research on how success rates may differ for late registrants in online and on-campus classes, and for students who complete a college success skills course. Using nearly 100, 000 matched enrollment cases from Virginia's Community Colleges, we predict the effect of late registration on student success for first-time-in-college students. The statistically significant results indicate late registration is negatively related to student success, especially for students with other success risk factors. Attending face-to-face classes as well as completing a college skills course were independently and positively related to course success. Interestingly, late registration interacted with both course delivery mode and college skills course completion indicating that late registration does not impact students equally.