The purpose of this study was to examine if types of housing accommodations impacted grade point average and degree attainment for incoming migrant freshman students participating in a College Assistance Migrant Program at a public, four-year university in south Texas. For the purposes of this study, housing accommodations refers to students…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of one of the latest Texas legislative efforts to increase the college readiness of Texas high school graduates. The study assessed whether students falling under this mandated measure of college readiness are as successful in their college level math and English courses as students who…

As the push towards lowering attrition of university students intensifies, particularly for first-time-in-college freshmen, administrators and campus leaders are increasingly designing and implementing co-curricular programs to support this population in order to positively impact student outcomes, namely, the grade point average, student…

Various individual and institutional factors have been identified as relating to student retention. Student demographics, past academic record, students' intentions and commitment level, integration into the institution, and institutional factors have been identified by past literature as factors relating to student retention. This study focused…

This study was a quantitative point-biserial correlation analysis on students' motivation to go to college using the AMS-C28 survey instrument. The study implemented Self Determination Theory to explain the characteristics and traits of traditional and non traditional students' motivation to succeed in college after completing the freshmen…

Dual enrollment, also known as dual-credit enrollment or concurrent enrollment; is an innovative phenomenon that has swept through education in the last few decades closing the gap in the transition from high school to college. Dual enrollment allows high school students to be dually enrolled in courses that will earn them both high school and…

Although access to postsecondary education for ethnic minorities has increased since desegregation in 1954, the college completion rates for these groups have not, particularly for African Americans. For this reason, it is important to continue to examine strategies that contribute to increases in completion rates for African Americans. The…

The purpose of the study was to describe and compare if self-determination factors differed in first and non-first generation college students and success levels. Additionally, comparisons of college readiness levels were measured, and finally a measure of factors that contribute to college success based in first and second semester grade point…

Can success rates in a gateway course be improved by linking it to a college success course? This article describes the results of a pilot study that linked a first-year biology course that had a high drop-out and failure rate to a college success course that included study skills. The proposal to link courses came from the work of a faculty…

Undecided undergraduate students are often considered to be "at risk" for lower academic performance and lower retention rates than students with declared majors. First-year seminars and learning communities are two interventions the retention literature suggests can enhance the success of at-risk students. This paper summarizes the…

Employing a non-experimental, ex-post facto design, the study examined the relationship of student demographic information and internal characteristics identified from the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI) to student persistence, grade point average, and academic success. Cognitive Learning Theory (CLT), which focuses on the internal…

This study examines how a selected Hispanic-Serving Institution is implementing Advancement Via Individual Determination as a strategy for improving retention and time to graduation for 1st-generation Hispanic college students. A quasi-experimental design approach was used in which the retention rates and 1st-semester grade point averages of a…

Approximately half the students who enroll at an institution will complete a bachelor's degree within six years (Kuh, Cruce, Shoup, Kinzie, & Gonyea, 2008). The majority of the students who decide to leave their initial institution do so during their first year (Tinto, 1993). Tinto reported that the withdrawal rate is highest during the first…

Texas' 2006 House Bill 1, which required all high schools in Texas to provide students with the opportunity to earn a minimum of 12 hours of college credit prior to their graduation beginning the fall of 2008, changed the high school experience. The goal of the bill was to smooth the transition from high school to higher education. By looking at…

The study tested the hypothesis that self-efficacy, stress, and acculturation are useful predictors of academic achievement in first year university science, independent of high school GPA and SAT scores, in a sample of Latino students at a South Texas Hispanic serving institution of higher education. The correlational study employed a mixed…