Building A Retention Model

Aristotle declared there to be three primary causes to outcomes. The Efficient (natural), the Formal (momentary, explainable), and the Final (root) cause. Every year countless students start and abandon a formal college education. Each case is unique and should be treated as such when working with an individual student. However, when attempting to design policies and retention tools across the broader student body, we need to find some pattern in the sea of disparate circumstances that cause students to leave and not return. This is one scenario in which data science can help, if used correctly.