FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENT ATTRITION RATES IN UNIVERSITIES IN KOGI STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Education is a crucial driver for national development, with nations engineering their educational programs to provide mass literacy and quality human resources. However, achieving these goals has remained a challenge due to high levels of student attrition in higher education institutions. This study investigated the specific factors that affected student attrition rates in universities in Kogi State, Nigeria. The research was guided by the Mutereko (2022) Conceptual Model of Nontraditional Student Attrition (CMNSA), which argues that attrition is the result of an interplay of variables including background factors, academic potential, environmental conditions, and social integration. The study adopted a past-tense, descriptive approach to analyze the situation, utilizing existing data to highlight the significant scale of the problem and provided a focused analysis of these issues within the specific context of Kogi State, Nigeria, addressing a gap in previous research which tended to focus on other regions. Key findings indicated issues such as improper career selection, poor academic performance, scarce funding, and challenges with the medium of instruction as contributing factors.