First-year seminar (FYS) courses tend to focus on preparing students for successful academic and social integration into the college environment. Many of the studies on FYS courses focus on measuring outcomes such as college grades, retention, and graduation rates. While there is notable documentation of several different types of FYS courses,…

Performance-based funding is becoming the norm in higher education. High-impact practices like first-year seminars hold promise for improving some of the key metrics in the funding model, such as first-year retention rate and first-year institutional GPA. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship of retention rate and institutional…

Colleges and universities are paying increasing attention to students' transition into post-secondary education, including the provision of support to freshmen through structured First-Year Experiences (FYEs). Although low- and-moderate-income students are participating in post-secondary education at increased rates, their performance remains…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not a difference existed in student retention and academic performance levels between or among program-specific orientation courses and general-population orientation courses at a postsecondary proprietary institution. This study specifically examined student retention and academic performance…

Despite the continued growth of common book reading programs on college and university campuses, little is known about the benefits of such programs on first-year students' development. Using a multi-institutional survey of undergraduates attending six large, public universities (n = 1,237), the present study examined relationships between…

In 1997 a medium-size Midwestern public university in the U.S. initiated a first year experience program. The program is designed to infuse added curricular and extracurricular components into core courses in an effort to integrate students into the university community. This article examined the FYE impact on grade point average (GPA) and…

College student degree attainment has been identified as a national issue, and recently has become a topic of emphasis for institutions of higher education. In the past, research has focused on retaining students from year one in college to year two. With the demand for baccalaureate-prepared graduates increasing and the charge to compete in a…

A study investigating the effect of a freshman seminar on students' social and academic adjustment to college (the University of North Carolina (Charlotte) found that seminar participants (n=150) had higher grades and participated in more out-of-class contacts with faculty than did a matched group of non-seminar students. (Author/MSE)

Survival analysis was used to model retention of 8,867 undergraduate students at Oregon State University from 1991 to 1996. Attrition increased with age and nonresident status; it decreased with higher high-school and first-quarter grades, and attendance in a freshman orientation course. Retention was also associated with race/ethnicity and…