This qualitative study reports on an on-entry orientation intervention designed to support and retain students transitioning to higher education at an Irish private higher education institution. Following the intervention, a qualitative study was conducted with the aim of exploring new undergraduate student experiences of transitioning to higher…

Transfer students are increasingly important to the enrollment health of colleges and universities. But how do transfer students search for a new institution to attend? The "2020 Transfer Student Experience Report" examines responses from a study of 1,100 current and prospective transfer students. This report discusses the following…

Many universities are hosting and enrolling international students as an important aspect of their internationalisation mission of higher education. However, many international students experienced significant problems adjusting into a host culture and social milieu. Informing this qualitative study were 45 international students in a top-tier…

Background: Increasingly colleges and universities are utilizing Outdoor Orientation Programs (OOPs) to help incoming students assimilate into college life. These programs have shown promise in recent analyses for enhancing desired outcomes with particular consideration shown to pro-social behavior and retention outcomes. Purpose: To examine how…

Background: Smartphones provide limitless opportunity for communication and access to the world through social media, texting, and numerous applications. As their popularity continues to grow among college students, it is important to understand the various advantages and disadvantages of their use on and off campus. Purpose: We explored the…

CCRC's 2015 book "Redesigning America's Community Colleges: A Clearer Path to Student Success" catalyzed a national community college reform movement. Since its publication, hundreds of community colleges have sought to implement whole-college reforms using the guided pathways model outlined in the book, either on their own or as part of…

There are a multitude of factors influencing the learning outcomes of students, with all previous studies basing their conclusions upon predetermined variables according to different theories and exploring the relevance between them. In this study, two important antecedents--the transfer of teachers' knowledge and student orientation--are put…

Background: Many postsecondary institutions offer outdoor programs to incoming students as a form of orientation or transition event. Positive outcomes for students are shown to result from these interventions but less is known about the mechanisms leading to these outcomes. Purpose: This article argues that "conversation" is one of…

First-generation college students have unique needs during their transition from high school to college. This quantitative study focused on the connectedness of first-generation college students prior to the start of their freshman year at a small university in the Northeast. Traditional and first-generation college students completed a pre-test…

This study evaluates if persistence and completion rates increased after (a) establishing a centralized advising center for entering freshmen, (b) developing a mandatory new student orientation program, and (c) revising the curriculum for the college's student success course. For this study, persistence is defined as the percentage of first-time…

This article traces the efforts made by Boise State's General Education program--University Foundations--and an undergraduate researcher to improve understanding of general education on campus. Undergraduate students often struggle to understand general education's goals. In order to improve this understanding, University Foundations committed…

Over the past three years, Jobs for the Future (JFF) has been supporting a community of more than 100 U.S. community colleges (CCs) and over 25 nonprofit organizations (NPOs) worldwide implementing the Google IT Support Professional Certificate training program. During this engagement, JFF has gathered valuable insights about best practices in…

Distance librarians working with an online doctoral program at Johns Hopkins University are asked by both students and faculty to provide a large amount of library support -- without being embedded into the curriculum or the individual courses. Program administrators and faculty were resistant to allow librarians into the course management system…

Until recently, most community colleges have done little through the new student onboarding process to help entering students explore academic and career interests, choose a program of study aligned to their interests, and develop a plan for completing such a program. This has been the case even though many students start college without clear…

Vertical transfer from community college to a university offers a promising, although unrealized, pathway to diversify STEM disciplines. Studying how successful transfer-­receiving universities support STEM transfer students can offer insights into the institutional practices that promote transfer student retention and success. Using institutional…