DREAMS DEFERRED: A QUALITATIVE EXPLORATION OF PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL CHALLENGES OF STUDENTS FACING UNIVERSITY DROPOUT

Academic dropping out is a serious problem in the system of higher education, and its consequences are complex in regards to the psychological human integrity of the students who drop out, their identity, and continued perspectives. This paper discussed the life experiences of students at risk of dropping out of college and university using emotional, social, and institutional processes to inform their journeys. Based on a qualitative design, the semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed thematically relying on the six-step approach of data analytic provided by Braun and Clarke (2006, 2019). They were classified into five themes: psychological distress and emotional turmoil, coping mechanisms, and resilience, social support and interpersonal relationships, professional identity, and role conflicts, and aspirations, growth and meaning-making. The results were as follows: students reported feeling stressed out and failures upon encountering financial difficulties and pressure to succeed. This was because social and familial expectations placed a lot of emphasis on self-concept and persistence at school with the absence of incidental institutional support increasing the vulnerability. But most learners used adaptive mechanisms like resilience, meaning-making and access to peer and/or family support to resolve difficulties. The research has given this idea to the universities to devise more focused psychological, financial, and institutional support systems to reduce the risk of drop out. This study provides actionable implications in the form of an evidence-based research that supports the emerging body of literature on academic persistence, and this research has policy implications relevant in higher education policy, counseling of students at the higher education institutions, and institutional change.