Research in higher education confirms the importance of self-efficacy in student persistence and success in college. The current study examined the role of self-efficacy in supporting academic and psychosocial adjustment in the critical first college year and the context of an academically-oriented first-year seminar (FYS). Students completed surveys at the beginning and end of the semester comprising Academic Self-Efficacy (ASE) and Psychological Well-Being (PWB) scales, and also provided background and demographic information. ASE increased over the semester, driven by improved confidence in research writing and class participation. Study/time-management self-efficacy remained mostly unchanged. ASE was found to predict academic achievement and PWB, confirming our expectation that students' confidence in their academic ability would support positive academic and psychosocial outcomes. Results are discussed in terms of the value of efficacy-based pedagogical interventions as an intentional component of FYS delivery and design, and as a means of supporting student retention and success.
This study examines the impact of an open-admissions summer bridge program geared toward first-year students at a large, public, land-grant university. The purpose of the study was to determine the impact of the program on first-year student success as defined by (a) first-year fall semester GPA, (b) end-of-first-year GPA, (c) first-year fall semester credit hours earned, (d) first-year spring semester credit hours earned, (e) end-of-first-year credit hours earned, and (f) retention to the second year at the university. This study employed propensity score methods to compare participants in the Summer Bridge Program at the selected university to similar non-participant matches. The results of the study did not suggest a definitive positive impact of the Summer Bridge Program on the academic success of the first-year students who participated.
We evaluate the effectiveness of companion classes designed to support at-risk first-year students in introductory biology and chemistry within the University of California system. Companion classes (co-classes) are optional classes associated with large, gateway biology and chemistry courses (parent classes) and provide three hours of instruction each week; two hours are devoted to content reinforcement, and one hour is devoted to advising. Recruitment into co-classes was focused on students who had attended high schools with high proportions of low-income families, English language learners, and foster youth. Co-classes incorporate pedagogical elements from multiple first-year initiatives but are distinguished by having content support and advising that address sociopsychological factors frequently identified as barriers to student success. Average recruitment into co-class sections was 20.8%. Multivariate regression, Heckman modeling, and propensity score matching showed positive effects on student performance with gains between 4-5% of parent course points. Challenges in implementation are discussed, and student perspectives of co-class benefits are presented.
To examine the relationship between participation in a research-based, academic first-year seminar (FYS) and the first-year achievement of STEM students, university data sets were collected from four cohorts ( N = 2,543) of incoming STEM students of whom 581 were FYS participants over the four years. Chi-square tests of homogeneity were used to compare persistence, and Welch's t-test was used to assess differences in first-term GPA between FYS and non-FYS cohorts by gender, admission status, and first-generation status. Analyses revealed significant differences in one-year persistence (some as much as 13% higher) between FYS and non-FYS participants among all groups excluding females. Additionally, first-term GPA was significantly higher for all FYS STEM students (some as much as 0.4 points higher on a 4.0 scale). Due to these results, participation in a three-credit, research-based academic FYS in the first semester is recommended for STEM majors.
This qualitative study explored contextual factors that inform the college choice process among Black students with lived experience in foster care. Drawing exclusively upon in-depth interviews regarding the college choice process, specifically at a historically Black university, we identify three central themes: (a) self-motivation and resilience from adverse childhood experiences, (b) the importance of a foster care-focused college support program, and (c) the role of extended family in facilitating college enrollment. Implications for research, policy, and practice emphasize strategies that college administrators, researchers, policymakers, and other advocates can implement to improve Black foster youth's college choice process and success.
This study examined the impact of a first-year seminar (FYS) on educational outcomes among students attending an emerging Hispanic-Serving Institution (eHSI) in the southeastern United States. Four undergraduate cohorts of first-year students between 2012 and 2016 were the focus of this study. After accounting for a variety of demographic characteristics through propensity score matching, we found that the FYS course increased the likelihood of students returning to college for a second year if they (a) expected very little financial contribution from their families, (b) were women, or (c) were African American men. The course also appeared to increase students' first-year GPA among women and African American men. While the effects of the program on the general population were small, underserved populations benefited from the course.
Successful first-year college experiences require transitioning from comfortable high school habits to new, and sometimes difficult, college standards. Academically underprepared students bear an additional transitional burden during this time; they must successfully complete remedial courses before they can move into major coursework. Many of these students fail to complete this additional transition. Therefore, there is a need to better understand predictors of their academic performance to help them overcome transition. This study examined the effect of demographic, cognitive, and non- cognitive variables as predictors of the fall and spring semester GPAs and credit hours earned among a sample of 510 specially admitted first-year college students. Findings indicated that non-cognitive predictors of academic behavior, time management, and academic integration improved the prediction of academic performance at different points of the academic year. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
College seniors face several potential stressors associated with the transition from college to career. This study examined the types of concerns reported by 320 college seniors and the degree of stress associated with these concerns. Researchers measured coping strategies with a focus on the use of problem-focused versus emotion-focused coping. The most common concerns were career- and financial-related, and reported levels of stress were quite high. Women reported more concerns, greater stress, and more use of emotion-focused coping than men. Nontraditional students reported fewer concerns and less stress, overall. First-generation college students reported more concerns over career issues. Seniors reported rarely using campus-based resources to cope with graduation-related concerns. Implications for college professionals are discussed.
The Ascender program was created in 2012 by Catch the Next Inc., to address the challenges of increasing community college retention and transfer rates, especially among Latinx students in developmental education. This study looks at the experiences of participants in this program and how it provided validating experiences and fostered their navigational capital on campus and through the transfer process. Results show that a rich first-year experience and additional engagement with the Ascender program helps students learn how to better navigate the complex systems of financial aid and transfer processes while also building their confidence as successful college students.
Summer bridge programs are cited as a beneficial precursor for historically underrepresented students who are transitioning from high school to college. Using Yosso's (2005) community cultural wealth framework, this exploratory study examined how 11 Black undergraduate men gained familial, navigational, and aspirational capital through their men's peer networks during and after their time in a summer bridge program at a historically White institution. Findings highlight the different ways this study's participants sustained bridges to capital and how they created bridges to cultural wealth as a strategy to persist in college. The findings from this study have implications for college access and precollege programs.
The Latinx population continues to be underrepresented in higher education. This qualitative study explored the perceptions of 137 Latinx first-year students on factors that affected their college adjustment. Two primary domains emerged through consensual qualitative research analysis: (a) Detrimental Factors (i.e., issues that hindered adjustment) and (b) Beneficial Factors (i.e., aspects that helped adjustment). The Detrimental domain included seven categories: Academic Challenges, Poor Time Management, Cultural Difficulties, Family Problems, Financial Limitations, Health Problems, and Social Struggles. The Beneficial Factors domain included six categories: Belonging, Cultural Identity, Motivation, Perseverance, Study Skills, and Social Support. Findings demonstrate the complex factors that first-year Latinx students grapple with as they attempt to adjust to college, with the role of Latinx peers emerging as a central factor. Findings stress the need for comprehensive programs that not only attend to social, financial, and academic needs, but also address cultural factors.
The transition to college includes exposure to new cultures, such as the college drinking culture, which is likely to be encountered within the first few weeks. We conducted a qualitative content analysis of 242 firstsemester undergraduate students' written comments to openended questions about their perceptions of and expectations for involvement in the college drinking culture. Four groups emerged from our analyses: NonEndorsers, Autonomous Drinkers, Have Bought In, and Law Abiders. A greater proportion of men than women were in the Have Bought In group. Groups were found to vary in their selfreported bingedrinking experiences, which was greater for the Have Bought In group compared to all other groups. In addition, the Autonomous Drinkers group had more bingedrinking experiences than the NonEndorsers and Law Abiders groups. Findings are discussed in terms of implications for alcohol-related intervention for transitioning students.
As the number of campus sharing partnerships between twoyear and fouryear institutions increases, so will the need for academic and student affairs professionals to address some of the nuances that come with navigating these new environments. Such partnerships may create unique challenges for firstyear students. Thus, this qualitative study explored how 20 students participating in a partnership program navigated emotions associated with trying to persist. Findings identified themes of procrastination and isolationism, which have a major impact on socioacademic integration. The authors discuss strategies that academic and student affairs professionals can employ to help students resolve issues related to emotional dissonance.
This study examined the relationship between college readiness of student veterans and retention, graduation, or transfer. I analyzed transcript and administrative data for student veterans who used GI Bill benefits at a public two-year college in Wisconsin. Results from logistic regression show that successful course completion rate (earning a C grade or above) is the strongest predictor for the probability of retention, graduation, or transfer. Those who had a higher Compass score in pre-algebra were more likely to persist, graduate, or transfer. Female and younger student veterans also demonstrated a higher probability of retention, graduation, or transfer than their male or older counterparts. However, those who transferred credits from military or other postsecondary institutions fared worse than those who did not. These findings emphasize the role of academic preparation on student veterans' achievement in a public two-year college context.
Former and current foster youth transitioning to adulthood through a four-year university campus require special consideration. Identifying barriers to academic success is critical to the overall success of this unique student population. This study examined the relationship between mental health and academic achievement during the first year at a four-year university for 114 foster youth students. Using mental health measures from the Medical Outcomes Study (Hays, Sherbourne, & Mazel, 1994) and self-reported measures of academic performance, researchers collected data just prior to the start of students' postsecondary educational journey and at the end of the first academic year. Results indicated minimal declines in the mental health of foster youth students during their first year. However, foster youth students with greater mental health problems demonstrated significantly poorer academic performance during their first year at a four-year university. The findings from this study have implications for child welfare advocates and student support services providers.
First-year students often search for spaces in which they feel comfortable, safe, and at home. Even though existing research emphasizes the value of spaces in which college students, particularly students of color, are understood, little is known about how they navigate their search for home. Drawing upon a symbolic interactionist approach and employing qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews with six students of color, this study examined students' meanings of home and the processes by which they found home on college campuses. The inquiry focused on students' choices of living in racethemed special interest halls during their first year and revealed the assumptions they had about shared culture and assumed bonds among co-ethnics. The study revealed that students do not merely discover home, they actively create it. Insights gained from this research can inform the work of higher education staff, administrators, and scholars developing more inclusive campuses.
Creating educated and informed citizens for our diverse democracy has long been one of the objectives of the U.S. educational system. Traditionally, service-learning has been the primary tool for colleges and universities to promote civic outcomes; however, other practices, particularly those requiring substantial student investments of time and energy, also hold the potential to improve civic outcomes. Using data from nearly 13,000 first-year students who responded to the National Survey of Student Engagement's Civic Engagement module, we found that service-learning, learning communities, and research with faculty were positively and significantly correlated to two measures of democratic engagement. The results have important implications for how postsecondary institutions promote civic outcomes.
The purpose of this study was to explore sense of belonging across race and gender using Strayhorn's (2012) sense of belonging model as a conceptual framework to guide both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection and analysis. Survey data confirmed findings from previous literature concerning disparities between belongingness among white women who had the highest sense of belonging as compared with other racial and gender identities. Contrary to the survey analysis, narratives of belonging were articulated more often among men across racial categories with some perceiving sense of belonging through a more static lens, while others perceived belonging as more fluid and dynamic. Women across racial lines often told more complex and relational narratives of belonging, focusing on their actual, rather than abstract, experiences. Implications concerning relationality and sense of belonging, sense of belonging as a dynamic process, and first-year residential programming are discussed.
This study examined the experiences of first-semester college women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields participating in a leadership service-learning course. The participants were first-year students in the Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) program at a large, public, four-year midwestern institution. We used the leadership identity development (LID) model (Komives, Owen, Longerbeam, Mainella, & Osteen, 2005) as a qualitative framework to examine how service-learning influenced student leadership identity development in the first semester of college. Key findings include the influence of individual and group on solidifying participant leadership identity development, thus increasing their persistence in male-dominated STEM fields. The authors offer recommendations for establishing a collaborative leadership curriculum to support the retention of women in STEM fields.
In this prospective study, we assess the relationship between being with high school friends during the college transition and binge drinking. Across analyses ( n = 489), the presence of high school friends during the college transition was associated with reduced binge drinking at the end of the first college semester among individuals at risk for this behavior because they drank in high school, associated alcohol use with the student role, or engaged in binge drinking at the beginning of the fall term. This is consistent with research linking social integration to behavioral regulation and suggests the presence of high school friends during the college transition serves as a source of social control at a juncture characterized by a reduction in normative constraint. Implications for practitioners seeking to assess new students' risks for binge drinking and to more effectively meet the needs of vulnerable groups are discussed in relation to the study results.
