Research Critique: the Freshman Seminar

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) are experiencing low retention rates with first generation college students. The students are not graduating within a four to six year enrollment period, and or are not returning after their freshmen year. As the American workforce looks to colleges and universities to fulfill the workforce pipeline with educated diverse workers, HBCUs are in the spotlight to produce qualified minority graduates. Moreover, HBCU’s are looking to refine their methods of inclusion and buy-in, this will in-turn manifest a higher level of retention amongst first generation college students.

Western Oregon’s retention rate for part-time students is 36%, while their rate for full-time students is 72%. This statistic speaks loudly for the good environment, social community, and classroom environment! The safe environment of this small liberal arts college brings many students in to the college. The serious crime rate (per 1000 students per year) is 0.96, the drug or weapon incidents is 5.59, and as you could guess the highest rate is alcohol encounters at 13.12. Though these statistics might seem high they are actually very low compared to other colleges. The graduation rate for males is 33%, while the rate for females is 43%. The rate of getting a bachelor’s degree within four years is 16%, but the percentage goes all the way up to 34% after five years of studies.

The writers of “First-Year Seminars Increase Persistence and Retention: A Summary of the Evidence from How College Affects Student” believe that first-year seminars improve the academic performance of college students across the nation. According to the summary, the main goal of the seminars is to increase the performance of the students in academic fields as well as social and to increase the number of students who get

Sample and Method The sample for this study consisted of 1,204 undergraduates who participated in the NSSE survey as freshmen, from the spring of 2003 through spring of 2006. The setting was a large, public research university in the southeastern United States. The school is characterized as a predominately white institution (> 85% majority students) and had at the time the NSSE was administered, and continues to have, a substantial residential component as part of its campus environment (more than two-thirds of freshmen lived on campus). Bivariate correlations and regression analysis were used to determine an overall statistical relationship between NSSE scores and the two outcomes of interest, time to graduation and GPA (Pedhauzer, 1997). As a follow up, multivariate analysis (MANOVA) was used to investigate differences in NSSE factor scores and scale items for students grouped using two criterion. First, students were grouped by whether of not they had graduated within six years. Six years has become the benchmark used by the U.S. Department of Education for reporting graduation rates and likely represents the outermost extreme that is palatable for those in governance positions in higher education. There now exits pressure from various consistencies and stakeholders for students to graduate from college faster, as evidenced by the

Attending college is a major accomplishment for many students. Students come from various backgrounds which include first generation attendees and minorities. Unfortunately, many students who begin fail to matriculate to their second year at a higher learning institute. Student retention is a long standing issue with no clear cut solution. Many researchers have conducted studies to try and understand the lack of attendance after the student’s first year.

In recent times Clayton State has had trouble in graduation rates, many people do not continue their education at Clayton State. In order to solve this situation my group creates a primary goal on how we can improve retention, and make students want to stay and graduate. We first establish our primary goal, this goal is a way for us to establish the criteria and come up with our overall solution. Our goal was to increase the graduation rate by wanting people to stay at CSU, and attract new comers to want to continue their education at CSU.

Robichaud, Wendy. "Orientation programs to increase retention in online community college courses." Distance Learning, vol. 13, no. 2, 2016, p. 57+. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, ndcproxy.mnpals.net/login?url=http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/AcademicJournalsDetailsPage/AcademicJournalsDetailsWindow?disableHighlighting=&displayGroupName=Journals&currPage=&dviSelectedPage=&scanId=&query=&prodId=&search_within_results=&p=OVIC&mode=view&catId=&limiter=&display-query=&displayGroups=&contentModules=&action=e&sortBy=&documentId=GALE%7CA464244296&windowstate=normal&activityType=&failOverType=&commentary=&source=Bookmark&u=mnanorman&jsid=b02d1183d0d1fed1d9415a9f503a3066. Accessed 28 Nov.

In order for institutions to continue to focus on retention, the proper funding is needed in support services. Services should include support for first generation college students, underrepresented diversity students, academically underprepared students, and even services for your students who are doing well. Intrusiveness

I would like to implement the freshman interest group as one of the models of the learning community, into the academia at Citrus Community College. It entails three freshman courses being linked together, usually involving an area of interest. Weekly peer advising session will be held where the students can meet and discuss their coursework, professors, and college life in general. One of the courses that all students would be required to take is a general course called “College 101.” This course involves various aspects of college life such as student success, develop and transition into college. Each week a topic is discussed

Today, more than any other time in history, student demographics of college and university students in the United States are experiencing rapid and profound changes. Along with these increases in nontraditional student enrollment comes an increasing percentage of working nontraditional college students with a multitude of commitments that serve to create barriers to educational success that traditional student learners do not have in a traditional college setting (Wyatt, 2011). Based on this information, many institutions hurry to seek solutions to the barriers without considering the existent of the underlying causes. It becomes the conjecture that the solutions to the barriers can be met quickly; consequently, this assumption

2004). If community colleges are able to provide resources for students to formulate culturally based clubs and organizations in efforts to aid in the retention and persistence efforts amongst minority students. Research also indicates the correlation amongst student engagement and student persistence (Astin, 1985; Tinto, 1993; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005). A recent study conducted by (Wang and Shiveley, 2009) showed improvement in the retention of first-year students because of their participation in extracurricular activities. Students who are involved in activities are more likely to be successful.

In 2014, the average percent of students returning from freshman to sophomore year for a bachelor's degree was 64% (National). This means that over one third of college freshman do not return. Many factors hurt a student's chance of returning because the change of college life from high school is drastic. To ease the transition from high school to college, students need to learn how sleep, independent learning, and their mindset affect their success. With a better understanding of how these things can improve their lives, there will be a higher retention rate.

This study determines the successfulness of student programs for non-traditional students. The study can be valuable in helping higher education institutions decide whether or not they should implement similar programs.

Upon identifying programs available on various college campuses as they relate to first year students; it has become noticeable that university leaders are concerned with the retention of students within their first and second year of college. Therefore many universities have developed programs that are focused on the success of the freshman student and ensuring that group of students’ matriculations throughout their degree programs. As quoted in “The Dynamics of Organization in Higher Education (Kuh, 1996) “the frequent and increasingly predictable accusation that institutions of higher education operate in “silos” is based on their various schools, colleges, and athletic programs operating in parallel with one another, more focused on promoting than on adhering to or accomplishing broader institutional

Many colleges and universities throughout the United States and several other countries face a common problem. Student retention is a growing problem across the nation for all ethnic groups and all ages. Each individual who chooses to drop out of school has their own personal reasons as to why they do. However, many drops out can be completely avoided. When students drop out they are not clearly thinking about how it’s going to affect their future, the future of their children and even grandchildren. Although there are several reasons as to why students drop out of school, we will be exploring a few as it relates to why student retention is a growing problem.