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Chapter 6 - Undergraduate Students’ Purpose and Persistence in Higher Education

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2025

By
Nicholas A. Bowman  and
Mohammad Hassan Al-Ansari
Edited by
Patrick Hill  and
Anthony L. Burrow
Patrick Hill
Affiliation:
Washington University, St Louis
Anthony L. Burrow
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
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Summary

This chapter explores how undergraduate students’ purpose and motivation for attending postsecondary education contribute to their retention, persistence, and graduation. As a lens for understanding these dynamics, this chapter provides an overview of the Interdisciplinary Theory of College Student Success, which posits that students ask several key questions that determine whether they stay in higher education; one of those questions pertains to their purpose for pursuing a degree and remaining at their current institution. According to this framework, there is not a single “best” type of purpose, since students have different motivations that can drive them to persist in the face of challenges and setbacks. The theory also highlights the role of educational intentions as a key driver of college decision-making. This chapter then discusses research that has directly explored students’ purposes for attending college, which often suggests that the development of purpose and educational intentions are informed by students’ identities and socialization.

Keywords

undergraduatespurpose developmenthigher educationeducational intentions

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Purpose In Life As Ancient but Nascent
Perspectives from Psychology, Philosophy, and Human Development
 , pp. 107 - 129
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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