Date of Award

12-1999

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Geography

First Advisor

Dr. Joseph Stoltman

Second Advisor

Dr. Chansheng He

Third Advisor

Dr. Henk Aay

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Campus Only

Abstract

Enrollment trends show that private colleges are seeing an increase in enrollment. This increase is even more noticeable at Christian colleges (Digest of Education Statistics 1997; Reisberg 1999). This study examined the relationship between the following independent variables: the distance between the centroid of each state and Calvin College, number of Christian Reformed congregations, Christian Reformed membership, Christian Schools International (CSI) schools, college age persons, if a state received a visit from a Calvin College Admissions counselor, and Christian College Coalition (CCC) member schools per state; and the dependent variable student enrollment at Calvin College for the test years 1960, 1970, 1980, and 1990. An explained variance of at least 80 percent in the dependent variable was predicted. Multiple, stepwise and simple linear regressions were used.

Data indicated that Christian Reformed membership had the largest impact on the student enrollment at Calvin College, but other variables were important as well. Implications for Calvin College were discussed along with limitations of this study and suggestions for future studies.

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