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Success In The First Year: Impact Of Alternative Advising On Students At A Liberal Arts College, James E. Swanson

Dissertations

Small faith-based liberal arts institutions are increasingly focused on recruitment and retention because it is critical to their existence. Because these institutions are completely enrollment driven, the numbers of students who persist through to their second year of college is a necessary administrative focus. Scholars have found that interactions between students and members of the institution, especially faculty, are critical to student persistence during the first year of College. Research has also demonstrated that academic advising plays an important role in first-year student persistence. A question remains, however, whether students are retained because of time spent with faculty or because …