This study examined the mental health issues of low-income, high-achieving undergraduate students, a largely overlooked population in mental health research. Study participants provided in-depth reports across their first semester of college through interviews and semiweekly audio-diary transcripts. Factors related to race, community, money, and…

We explored the challenges with the unplanned change of abruptly shifting to online learning that the COVID-19 pandemic mitigation had on first-year students' perceptions of learning, their connection to the university, and the general college experience. We used a cross-sectional method to gather quantitative and qualitative data using an online…

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the differences in the academic outcomes of first-year academically underprepared TN Promise-eligible college freshmen who participated in a college bridge program. A comparative research design was applied to existing data, including first-semester GPA, first-semester credit completion rate,…

Feeling a sense of belonging in a learning environment can have positive effects on student success. The impact of this psychosocial variable on undergraduates' achievement and retention has been demonstrated in STEM disciplines, especially for women within physical sciences where large disparities in gender representation persist. The current…

The first year of university is often considered challenging and difficult for students who are adjusting to different academic and social demands. In this context, teacher-student interactions can play a crucial role in fostering student motivation, engagement in learning, a sense of belonging to the university and academic persistence. Although…

This article examines an academically oriented peer-mentoring program at St. John's University. The program targeted at-risk first-year students who were having difficulty making the transition to college and matched them with trained student mentors within their major discipline. In addition to meeting with one another bi-weekly, all of the…

The current study is a brief report building on previous research in which first-year university students in early 2018 reported the extent to which the New Zealand Fees-Free Policy had influenced their decisions to enrol in university and subsequent academic experiences (Sotardi et al. 2019). In the current work, we extend this research by…

We present results of a randomized, controlled, efficacy trial of a handbook intervention for parents of first-year college students. The aim of the interactive intervention was to decrease risk behaviors by increasing family protective factors. The handbook, based in self-determination theory and the social development model, provided…

The contribution of this article is to highlight how exploring various writing genres in the beginning of higher education can contribute to academic literacy. While many studies have addressed the transition into academia by focusing on academic writing, the use of various writing genres has scarcely been researched. Based on the thematic…

In this article, we present the question of our didactic research on the relative conceptual evolution and transition from high school to university in Morocco. We focused on the difficulties encountered by students in the first year of the Physics Sciences using a questionnaire which aims at evaluating the evolution of the concept of…

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…

Starting university is a significant life-event, commonly involving detachment from existing social networks and emotional stresses that increase risk of drop-out. The developmental need to form new peer relationships is prominent during this period and is correlated with successful adaptation. This study investigated the role of alcohol in the…

The transition to college can be difficult for many first-year students. Students who are conditionally enrolled may struggle more than their peers in terms of feeling comfortable in an academic setting. This case study explores how conditionally-enrolled students who participated in a summer bridge program read popular literature to explore their…

The transition to university is a stressful period for young adults; however, there has been limited research examining the predictive role of dispositional mindfulness in supporting first-year students' adjustment to university. The current study sought to examine the relative contribution of gender, self-efficacy, perceived social support from…

The present exploratory study evaluated perceptions of actual support received in relation to stress and well-being among first-year students attending Canadian and U.S. higher education institutions (N = 126). Given that traditional assessments of received support account only for how often support was received, the present research examined…