In January 2010, the General Assembly passed the Complete College Tennessee Act (CCTA), a comprehensive reform agenda that seeks to transform public higher education through changes in academic, fiscal and administrative policies at the state and institutional level. At the center of these reforms is the need for more Tennesseans to be better…

This study assessed gender differences in student satisfaction with college to further understand what contributes to student persistence and student outcomes. The study gathered data from 494 first and second year honors students (1,000 were originally surveyed) at a large midwestern research university. Of these, 175 were male and 319 were…

This paper reports on the use of qualitative methods to determine first-year student perceptions of the Orientation program delivered by North Carolina State University. One hundred thirty freshmen were interviewed, in groups of 6 to 10, to learn about their orientation experiences, and why they felt some sessions were helpful, and where sessions…

One hundred freshmen students at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) School of Medicine were surveyed using the Lancaster Approaches to Studying Inventory to determine if the success of students at a highly selective combined baccalaureate/MD degree program is affected by their different approaches to learning. Analysis of the survey…

This report provides statistical data on retention and graduation patterns of first-time, full-time undergraduates at Maryland's public four-year colleges and universities from 1977 to 1997. Among major findings were: (1) the second-year retention rate of all first-time, full-time undergraduates was 82 percent for the cohort of students entering…

The study reported in this document tracked a cohort of Indiana freshmen (about 47,000) with reported majors and categorized them as associate and baccalaureate, resident and nonresident, and part-time and full-time students. The objective to determine how these students fared in the course of the 4 years examined (fiscal years 1985-88). Included…

This study examined the relationship between perceptions of diversity and overall satisfaction in students at the University of Maryland at College Park. An anonymous 100-item questionnaire on cultural attitudes and climate was mailed to first and third year students, with mail and phone call follow-ups resulting in an overall return rate of 60…