Background/purpose. Improving student retention in open and distance education depends on understanding their preferences for the educational services provided. This study aimed to analyze students’ preferences for UT’s educational services to improve retention. Materials/methods. This study employed a descriptive quantitative method. The research sample consisted of 208 students. The data were collected using questionnaires and interview methods. The data were analyzed using descriptive analysis and the structural equation model (SEM). Results. The research results indicated that the students preferred printed teaching material highly; 88.5% of the respondents agreed and strongly agreed. For the tutorial service, the respondents strongly preferred online tutorials (83.6%) and course tasks (70.2%), while 45.7% preferred face-to-face tutorials and 47.1% webinar tutorials. The respondents had similar preferences for examination services between take-home examinations (THE) and offline written examinations; 77.9% said they were satisfied with the THE service, and 77.9% of respondents were also satisfied with offline written examinations. The result of the SEM analysis of the effect of student characteristics (X1), learning experience (X2), and participation in distance-learning success support service (X3) on the students’ preference for UT educational services, revealed that learning experience (X2) was the only variable influencing the students' preference for teaching material and online tutorial services with a t value exceeding 1.96 at t = 6.92, 8.52, and 7.04, respectively. Conclusion. The conclusions of this study indicate that students’ preferences for educational services at Universitas Terbuka show that the majority prefer printed learning materials and online tutorials. In contrast, the learning experience significantly influences students’ preferences for learning materials and online tutorial services. © The Author(s), 2025.
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