| The rapid growth of Hispanics in the United States cannot be “ignored” (Cerna et al., 2009, p. 131). Demographic studies estimate that this minority group will soon constitute one-fourth of the entire U.S. population (Llagas & Snyder, 2003). Although U.S. institutions are setting aside resources and integrating intervention strategies to help the Hispanic population succeed in college, Hispanic students are still underrepresented and underserved at a collegiate level (Schmidt, 2003).The study focused on Hispanic students enrolled in an Intermountain West institution that provided a remedial college course to help first-year students transition to college and increase student retention. One of the many principles emphasized in this course is Grit (Duckworth, 2016). This study took place over two successive academic semesters. The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between grit and retention for first-year Hispanic students taking a transitional college course at a predominantly white institution. This causal-comparative quantitative research was designed to determine if there was a statistically significant difference between first-year Hispanic students and first-year White students participating in a College Success course; in (1) pre-test Grit scores (2) post-test Grit scores; (3) Grit gain scores; and (4) the distribution of retained/non-retained students in the subsequent semester. The analyses for all four of the research questions revealed no statistically significant difference between Hispanic and White on each of these measures .It is recommended that additional research should be conducted to generate additional data that supports first-year Hispanic student retention .Key Words: Retention, grit, first-year Hispanic students. |