Modeling student perceived costs and benefits to cooperative education programs (Co-ops) and pathways to participation

Cooperative education programs alternate education and practice, resulting in increased grade point averages, greater confidence in choice of career, and relatively higher post-graduation salaries. This study examines perceived benefits and barriers for students who choose not to participate in co-ops. Since students who participate in co-ops are more likely to persist in STEM fields, and there are differences in participation rates by race/ethnicity (i.e. Black and Hispanic students participate at lower rates), it is critical to understand the reasons for non-participation. Co-op and non-co-op students from a large Midwestern U.S. research university were surveyed and the responses are disaggregated by gender and race/ethnicity. Choice Theory provides a theoretical framework to model perceived benefits and costs of co-op participation. Decision tree modeling is used to describe the different pathways to co-op participation and examine relationships between student backgrounds and pathways. Constant comparative analysis is used to study open-response questions. Future work will include follow up interviews with students from this survey to gain a more nuanced understanding. Findings have implications for the diversification for the engineering labor force.