Education Commons^™

Online Prehealth Advising: Impact Analysis Spring 2017 To Fall 2020, Alasdair Ekpenyong, Mykel Beorchia

Publications

At Utah State University, various online, Canvas-based advising programs complement the traditional in-person advising program. The online prehealth advising service assists students who are considering health professions graduate school.

This report explored the association between online prehealth advising participation and student persistence to the next term at Utah State University.

Responding To The College Completion Crisis In New Mexico: A Case Study Of The University Of New Mexico, Kalith Smith

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

New Mexico’s funding of higher education has facilitated student access to college and helped the state rank fourth nationally in college attendance rates. However, the state ranks 47^th in the country in college completion rates. A majority of students who enter college in New Mexico do not complete their degrees, a situation which deprives the state of the highly skilled workforce that is necessary to attract and retain business and industry. While low-cost or free college has increased attendance rates, the low college completion rate has incited an economic crisis for the state. The state’s flagship institution, the University …

Understanding The Development Of Honors Students’ Connections With Faculty, Shannon R. Dean

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Nearly 40% of full-time students enrolled at four-year institutions depart within the first year. Previous research has shown college students are more likely to graduate if they have meaningful interactions with faculty. Honors students provide unique perspectives because of their high levels of interaction with faculty, yet not much is known about how these connections develop. The purpose of this study was to understand how honors students develop connections with faculty. Six upper-division students were interviewed, and participants reflected on meaningful connections made with faculty during their first year. Two themes were identified as influential in developing connections: approachability of …

The Relationship Between Financial Literacy, Financial Status, And Academic Success In College Students, Brian Douglas Brausch

Dissertations

As the cost of college continues to rise, an increasing number of students are relying on loans and credit cards to fund their postsecondary education. In an effort to curb student debt and increase retention and graduation rates, many universities have begun to offer financial literacy initiatives to stimulate financial knowledge and promote positive money management behaviors.

This study examines the relationship between a for-credit personal financial literacy course and student academic success and economic status. Students who took a personal finance course during their first or second year of college are compared to a random sampling of students who …

A Phenomenological Exploration Of The Non-Academic Factors That Cuban Female Non-Native English Speakers Perceived To Have Been Principal Influences On Their Successful Attainment Of A Baccalaureate Degree In The U.S., Nelson Magana

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cubans arrive in the U.S. with more formal education than other Latino immigrants, and they arrive to communities with long standing networks of support. Though their baccalaureate degree attainment is better than their non-Cuban Latina counterparts, Cuban women still lag behind White, non-Latina women. The qualitative study aims to explore the principal influences and non-academic factors that 15 adult Cuban non-native English-speaking women in South Florida attribute to the successful attainment of their baccalaureate degree.

There are many differences among the various immigrant Latino communities in the U.S., and Cuban women are largely absent from the research. Nearly 75% of …

Students' Perceived Value Of The Community College Experience: A Mixed Methods Study, Robin A. Duncan

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this study was to explore students’ perceived value of their community college experience and its relationship to other factors often related to student persistence in college, namely satisfaction, academic quality, service quality, and engagement. The research was guided by three focused questions: How do students describe and define perceived value of community college; what components emerge from exploratory factor analysis of items designed to measure perceived value; and how, if at all, is a student’s perception of the value of a community college experience different from related measures such as satisfaction, engagement, or quality? Data were collected …

A Correlational Case Study On Distance From Home And Attrition Of First-Time, Full-Time Students, James L. Baldwin

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

As institutions face increasing demands to maintain or increase enrollments, colleges and universities have begun to recruit students from greater distances. The purpose of this ex-post facto case study was to determine the existence of a relationship between the institutional distance from home and the attrition of traditional-aged, first-time, full-time students prior to the second year at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, one of the four-year campuses of the University. Following the correlational analysis, further analysis was conducted to determine if a non-linear relationship existed between the institutional distance from home and attrition of first-year students prior to their …

Practical Applications For Student Affairs: A Phenomenological Exploration Of How Black Male Undergraduate Persisters Describe Retention And Social Integration At A Midwestern Pwi, André L. Fortune

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

For decades higher education has incurred challenges with increasing undergraduate retention and degree attainment. Lately these challenges, including focus on increasing Black male undergraduate degree attainment, have become a national concern. Scholars like Vincent Tinto (1987, 1993, 2012) have dedicated research to explain why students leave or stay in college. His findings identified the majority of students voluntarily leave institutions for nonacademic reasons that occur outside of class. On many campuses outside of class experiences, which Tinto labeled social integration, are primarily facilitated by student affairs practitioners.

The concept of social integration as a factor in student retention provided …

Undergraduate Research: An Essential Piece For Underrepresented Students' College Success, Yuleinys A. Castillo, Antonio Estudillo

Faculty Publications

Undergraduate research represents a high impact practice for higher education institutions to improve the college experience of underrepresented students. The integrative and mentoring aspects of undergraduate research can help to enhance the academic and social participation of underrepresented students. Undergraduate students provide opportunities for students to develop valuable skills for personal and professional growth. Specifically, participation in undergraduate research can foster work-related skills for underrepresented students for future career and interpersonal relationships. In this literature review, the benefits and perceived challenges for underrepresented students as well as institutional investment in undergraduate research are explored to potentially offer valuable information to …

The Impact Of Academic Advising On The Retention Of First-Year Students In A Gulf-Arab University, Selma Hagahmed

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

This study investigated academic advising and retention in a Gulf-Arab university. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered in order to understand how academic advising could have potentially contributed to the improvement of student retention. The focus of the study was on first-year students in the College of Business and Economics and the College of Law in a Gulf-Arab national four-year institution. The study compared the Grade Point Average (GPA) and the number of credit hours in two groups of first-year students: 1) a treatment group of students who utilized academic advising services and (2) the control group of students who …

Efficacy Of Hybrid Coursework On Retention Rate In Online Higher Education, Kevin Struble

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Recent developments and technological advances in online education have provided the adult learner with new opportunities to obtain a college education. However, online coursework offers new challenges particularly for online student retention, as these rates are lower than traditional students on a college or university campus. The following research outlines a quantitative study for the perceived effect of social learning for adult online learners through hybrid coursework on undergraduate retention rates through two research questions using a causal-comparative design for research question one and a correlational design for research question two. This study examined retention theory in regards to social …

Exploring The Construct Of Social Integration In A Community College Environment, Scott Mertes

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

Among current retention models, Tinto’s Interactionalist Model has reached near paradigmatic status. When his model has been applied to two-year college settings, the social integration results have been inconsistent. This has led Maxwell (2000) and Deil-Amen (2011) to suggest that a different construct of social integration exists in community colleges, and that this construct may not be related to the traditional construct of social integration in four-year university settings. The current study sought to ascertain whether these two constructs of social integration were related. A random sample of two-year college students were asked to complete a survey consisting of questions …

Adult Learner Considerations In Admissions And Enrollment, Tammy R. Johnson, Sonja G. Cantrell

Admissions Faculty Research

As national focus on retention and student success increases, many states and institutions are looking for ways to increase the number of students who ultimately earn degrees. Many are realizing that the non-traditional adult student population is a historically untapped demographic that can provide almost instant, positive changes in graduation rates. This group is often considered low-hanging fruit and can be targeted to quickly complete unfinished degrees. This is especially true for institutions that have a large number of non-completers with high numbers of earned hours. Many non-returners have 90 or more earned hours and simply need some encouragement and …

The Impact Of Students' Academic And Social Relationships On College Student Persistence, Lindsay K. Wayt

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

The purpose of this research study was to determine the connection between students’ relationships and their choice to persist at a post-secondary institution. Although other literature has centered around why students chose to leave an institution or the importance of student involvement and engagement, this study focused on who is most influential in encouraging students to work toward their degree attainment. The study includes results of the influence of peers, family, college faculty, and college student affairs staff on student persistence decisions. This research sought to make a contribution to the literature on retention and attrition issues at colleges and …

Reclaiming Our Voice: Strengths First-Generation African American Males Use To Succeed In College, Kelly A. Irby

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

The purpose of this study was to add to the small body of literature exploring the successes of African American males in college. In this particular study, I sought to explore the strengths that first-generation African American males perceived as important to their success at a primarily White institution in the Midwest. Personal interviews were utilized to learn which self-identified strengths were important to success in college for each participant. The result was a candid portrait of the difficulties African American males face and an in-depth understanding of the strengths they utilized to overcome difficulties and succeed.

This study explored …

The Effects Of Academic Advising On College Student Development In Higher Education, Kelly K. Pargett

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

This paper explored the relationship between faculty academic advising and college student development by examining factors such as a student’s academic success, including grade point average, campus involvement, expected graduation date, and job placement upon graduation. The research studied the relationship by examining the student’s age, gender, academic year, ethnicity, and grade point average. Results from this study will be significant to retention, graduation rate, and overall student success at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In addition, information gathered from student surveys can help the improvement of faculty advising for all advisors on campus. Results also indicated that the majority of …

Senator Retention And Incentive Ad-Hoc Committee Meeting Agenda 7/27/2011, University Of South Florida. Student Government Senate

Legislative Branch Publications

Student Government Senate Ad-Hoc Committee for Senator Retention and Incentive meeting agenda for 7/27/2011

Senator Retention And Incentive Ad-Hoc Committee Meeting Agenda 7/20/2011, University Of South Florida. Student Government Senate

Legislative Branch Publications

Student Government Senate Ad-Hoc Committee for Senator Retention and Incentive meeting agenda for 7/20/2011

Senator Retention And Incentive Ad-Hoc Committee Meeting Agenda 7/12/2011, University Of South Florida. Student Government Senate

Legislative Branch Publications

Student Government Senate Ad-Hoc Committee for Senator Retention and Incentive meeting agenda for 7/12/2011

Senator Retention And Incentive Ad-Hoc Committee Meeting Agenda 7/06/2011, University Of South Florida. Student Government Senate

Legislative Branch Publications

Student Government Senate Ad-Hoc Committee for Senator Retention and Incentive meeting agenda for 7/06/2011

Senator Retention And Incentive Ad-Hoc Committee Meeting Agenda 6/28/2011, University Of South Florida. Student Government Senate

Legislative Branch Publications

Student Government Senate Ad-Hoc Committee for Senator Retention and Incentive meeting agenda for 6/28/2011

Go Abroad And Graduate On-Time: Study Abroad Participation, Degree Completion, And Time-To-Degree, Heather Barclay Hamir

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

Over the last four decades, participation in postsecondary education has grown, yet degree completion rates have not risen at a proportional rate (Bound, Lovenheim & Turner, 2009; National Center for Educational Statistics, 2008; Turner, 2004) and the length of time to graduation is increasing (Tinto, 1993; Turner). At the same time, the benefits of degree completion for the individual and society are well documented (McMahon, 2009). Significant research since the 1970s explored factors related to student retention and attrition in an effort to understand and intervene in these processes. Building on Astin’s (1984) Theory of Student Involvement, Kuh and associates …

First-Time First-Year Full-Tim Students Transitioning From High School To The University Of Kentucky: The Academic Readiness Program, 2009-2010, Randolph Hollingsworth

Undergraduate Education White Papers

This documents the collaborative efforts between the Deans Council, Office of Enrollment Management, Office of Institutional Diversity, Division of Student Affairs and the Office of Undergraduate Education in rolling out the University's response to the state's regulations on college admission and placement for students whose ACT scores are below the regulated cutoff scores. The Academic Readiness Program was developed using the learning outcomes developed by the Directors of Undergraduate Studies in the UK departments of Mathematics and English as well as the expert consultants in the Collaborative Center for Literacy Development. This paper includes the assessment of the 2009-10 Program …

Measuring College Student Satisfaction: A Multi-Year Study Of The Factors Leading To Persistence, Felice D. Billups

NERA Conference Proceedings 2008

Using Tinto's (1987) social integration theory as a framework, this study measured student satisfaction in six transformative areas: educational experience, skills development, faculty interaction, personal growth, sense of community, and overall expectations. Emerging as a strategic planning process priority, this project sought to identify those areas where students succeeded or were at risk. Employing a three-phase mixed methods approach, this descriptive, longitudinal study was conducted from 1990-2004 at a highly selective specialized college and assisted college administrators in developing or modifying programs that would enhance student satisfaction to ensure degree completion.

Research And Analysis On The Success Of African American Students At The University Of Kentucky, Randolph Hollingsworth

Undergraduate Education Faculty Presentations

A summary of a year-long analysis campus-wide at the University of Kentucky by the Committee for Research and Analysis on the Success of African American Students was presented to the Deans Council and Faculty Senate Council in Fall 2006. The report is the result of five separate research projects designed to help the UK leadership better understand the African American experience on campus and the correlates of success. Interim Provost Scott Smith charged the Committee members (listed below) to (1) analyze those factors that predict and/or propmote success of African American students at the University of Kentucky, and (2) assist …