Education Commons^™

The Relationship Between Participation In A Student Success Course And The Retention Rate And Academic Success Of First-Year Freshmen At A Historically Black University, Madeline Martinez

Dissertations

Problem

Amongst the highest at-risk student populations are minority students (students of color), first-generation college students, students from low-socioeconomic status, students experiencing financial challenges, and those who enter college academically underprepared. Furthermore, studies have found a significant gap in the educational achievement of African Americans in comparison to other peer groups. Closing this achievement gap requires educators to take a closer look at the complex concept of student retention and understand the variables and factors associated with students’ successful outcomes from both an individual and institutional perspective. An in-depth examination of the effectiveness of strategies specifically designed for the retention …

Financial Aid Knowledge And Resources Among First-Generation College Students, Carmelitia J. Coleman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractFirst-generation, freshmen students struggle to complete the financial aid process at a 4-year private university in Louisiana, impacting their financial and academic well-being. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore first-generation, freshmen student perceptions of how they construct knowledge about the financial aid process and resources needed to help them complete the process. The conceptual framework of the study was comprised of Piaget’s theory of constructivism, which is grounded in the idea of learners constructing their own knowledge based on experience. The first research question addressed how first-generation, freshmen students constructed knowledge about the financial aid process. …

Diverse Perspectives On The Living-Learning Community Experience At A Large Public University, Amy Griffin Lorenz

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to investigate the specific experiences and program characteristics that students, faculty, and staff experience in the living-learning communities. This paper summarizes the findings of a program evaluation inclusive of a survey and interview protocol on the student, faculty, and staff experiences in living-learning communities (LLCs) at a large, public university in the southeast. The study employed a mixed methods design including a student survey and faculty/staff interviews. Data shows LLC students value the living-learning community experience and have positive experiences with the LLC academic and social climate and believe their peers support the diverse …

The Influence Of Cognitive And Psychological Well-Being Factors On Freshmen Community College Student Gpa: A Prediction Model, Barbara Karwacinski

Dissertations

Problem

One of the most significant issues for higher education in the early 21st century is student success. Research studies indicate that a large number of freshman community college students are unsuccessful in their academic endeavor. However, there is insufficient research conducted to determine the holistic causes of this problem. Current research focuses on two types of traditional predictors: cognitive (ability, academic factors) and non-cognitive (affective, non-academic factors). It seems, however, that traditional cognitive and non-cognitive predictors alone are inadequate measures for determining students’ full potential because they cannot account for the psychological processes that contribute to and influence a …

Listening To First-Year Community College Students, Mary Elizabeth Drake

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

First-year community college students are often from underrepresented groups who are unaccustomed to voicing their needs or to being recognized for having more and varied needs than other groups. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to gain an understanding of the factors that may engender or prevent success through listening to what first-year community college students have to say. Research questions addressed what students identified as challenges and successes during their first year and how first person accounts can contribute to the information college personnel need to understand.

Human development theories and models of student persistence informed this study. …

Developing A Sense Of Belonging For Commuter Students: A Mixed Methods Study, Eric S. Bloomquist

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In this mixed methods study, the researcher explored the experiences of commuter freshmen at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln—a large, four-year, public institution. Specifically, he sought to better understand how commuter freshmen feel that they belong on their residential campus and what they report as their greatest needs in order to succeed. Using a quantitative survey returned from a sample of 92 students (n = 92), he found that a majority of the commuter freshmen did report feelings of belonging. Additionally, responses relating to feelings of not belonging were correlated with lower first-semester self-reported GPAs. In a follow-up Nominal Group …

The Role Of Academic Factors, Self-Efficacy, Mentoring Relationships, And Learning Communities In Persistance And Academic Success Of Freshmen College Students, Stefanie Theresia Baier

Wayne State University Dissertations

Many U.S. universities are concerned with student retention. The current study surveyed 237 first time college students at a Midwestern university to determine the extent to which social-cognitive factors, such as high school GPA, ACT scores, first semester college GPA, college self-efficacy and perceptions of mentorship support influence freshmen's intent to persist and academic success.

Pearson Correlations, Standard Multiple Regression Analyses, PROCESS for Mediation and Moderation, and a MANOVA were performed. The study's findings show that college self-efficacy and perceptions of mentorship were the strongest predictors for intentions to persist past the first college semester. High school GPA was the …

An Exploration Of Undeclared Students' Expectations Of Experiences For Faculty Interactions And Co-Curricular Involvement, Lorie Anne Kittendorf

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Student persistence and achievement are areas of significant concern for institutions of higher education. With national college graduation rates hovering in the 50% range, it is important for colleges and universities to understand which student characteristics and campus environments lead to greater success, as well as the expectations students have of the college experience.

Research on undeclared students is vast and dates back more than 70 years, and many of the seminal studies and respected research data have led to the perception that they are at higher risk of attrition and have lower levels of academic achievement than their declared …

Chancellor’S Scholars Program: Exploring The Transitional Influence On Freshmen College Students, Alison P. Tepoel

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this study was to explore the fears and situations of Hispanic freshmen students enrolled at a large Midwestern University who had received the Chancellor’s Scholarship and were participating in the 2011-2012 Chancellor’s Scholars Program through the Office of Academic Success and Intercultural Services at this University. How participation in the Chancellor’s Scholars Program aided them in the transition process was also determined. Schlossberg’s Transition Theory (1981) presented factors that influenced a person’s ability to cope with a transition: situation, self, support, and strategies, which are also known as the 4 S’s. These four categories were viewed in …

Does Being Rural Matter?: The Roles Of Rurality, Social Support, And Social Self-Efficacy In First-Year College Student Adjustment, Allison L. Bitz Phd

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

One out of every three first-year college students will not return for a second year of college (Postsecondary Education Opportunity, 2010). Due to a variety of factors, minority students are at an even higher risk of dropping out of college. Rural youth, comprising approximately 22% of the nation’s total youth, form a significant minority population; yet the rural student experience in college has not yet been widely considered in research. The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore college adjustment and its predictors among first-year students, with an emphasis on the role of rurality in college adjustment. Social self-efficacy, …

Self-Directed Learning Characteristics Of First-Generation, First-Year College Students Participating In A Summer Bridge Program, Jeffrey Drummond Hall

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to advance understanding of self-directed learning characteristics of first-year, first-generation college students participating in a summer bridge program. Understanding the experience of these students in higher education can lead to the development of programmatic and pedagogical strategies to better meet the needs of this at-risk student population.

This study was conducted at the University of South Florida (USF), a large, public research university in Tampa. Participants were recruited from the Freshman Summer Institute (FSI), a summer bridge program for first-generation students at USF.

Theoretical frameworks from higher education and adult education literature merged to …

A Study To Determine The Influence Of Student Status And Gender On The Learning Styles Of Freshmen Students, Ali J. Morris

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this study was to compare the learning styles, as defined by David A. Kolb, of traditional freshmen students and non-traditional freshmen students to determine if there is a significant difference between them. The researcher also collected data to determine if there is a correlation between learning styles for gender and traditional/non-traditional student status.

Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory (LSI) was used as the survey instrument and was administered to all students in the sample. The stratified random sample population consisted of 550 students selected from the freshmen class and provided to the researcher by the Office of Institutional …