STEM Attrition: College Students’ Paths Into and Out of STEM Fields

Level
State
Institution
Process Stage
Planning
Role
Institutional Leadership
Math Department
Partner Disciplines

U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics United States policymakers have targeted reducing STEM attrition in college, arguing that retaining more students in STEM fields in college is a low-cost, fast way to produce the STEM professionals that the nation needs (President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology [PCAST] 2012). Within this context, this Statistical Analysis Report (SAR) presents an examination of students’ attrition from STEM fields over the course of 6 years in college using data from the 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study and the associated 2009 Postsecondary Education Transcript Study.