The issue of college student retention remains a critical concern in higher education. Institutions have begun to address this issue through the development of academic enhancement programs. These programs are designed to increase student success and prior research largely supports their efficacy. However, a paucity of research exists to…

Objective: Superiority experiments supply a critical lens to probe higher education interventions because they can dismantle the collective effect of a program and identify the relative contribution of the core components. However, such lines of inquiry are generally absent in higher education literature. We draw on experimental data to probe the…

Preventing attrition for racially minoritized, first-generation, and low SES postsecondary students continues to be a challenge despite significant efforts of educational researchers, college administrators, and high school teachers and counselors. Cultural capital (skills necessary to successfully navigate an environment) may help to explain and…

While peer mentor programs for students with disabilities in higher education are increasing in prevalence, the research examining the effectiveness of these programs remains limited. In this study, the effect of one college peer mentoring program on academic performance at a small, private four-year university was examined. The sample was drawn…

We aimed to compare the findings of three research designs to bracket effect estimates of a strongly worded warning letter delivered by certified mail to students on academic probation. We embedded an experiment within a regression discontinuity design and calculated two achievement estimates, average GPA and percentage of students remaining on…

During the 21st century, more students have been enrolled in U.S. higher education than ever before. These individuals are entering postsecondary education from more diverse backgrounds and with a much broader range of overall goals, values, and skills than their peers before them. As first-year students begin to navigate higher education, they…

It is well known that university students with ineffective learning strategies and low motivation are at risk for lowered grades and stress. Given the needs of these students, Mount St. Vincent University developed the Student Success Course (SSC), a 14-week intervention that offers instruction in learning strategies, selfmanagement, and…

Urban college students on academic probation seldom utilize the academic support services offered in most colleges and universities. This study assessed a successful academic support program that emphasized the unique psychological, sociocultural and communal aspects of at-risk urban college students and how those aspects contributed to the…

This longitudinal study examined the effects of a mandatory counseling program for students placed on academic probation at a university in South Korea. The study compared longitudinal changes over three semesters in the grade point average (GPA) of students who were on academic probation. Two groups, 46 students with mandatory counseling and 49…

Student attrition from colleges in the United States is a widespread phenomenon, posing real stresses to students, their families, and to universities. We examined the causes of poor academic performance in students' first semester through interviews and questionnaires and administered a small intervention course to freshmen on academic probation…

A substantial number of university students are placed on academic probation each year, many of whom never succeed in academia. Hence, it is critical to identify who these students are, why they end up on academic probation, and most importantly how best to intervene. To determine this, an empirical study of students on academic probation for the…

Retaining and aiding students on academic probation is a concern for all institutions of higher education. Students placed on academic probation by Rockingham Community College (RCC) have been encouraged to participate in an intervention program since the summer of 2006. When treated as an aggregate, the data regarding the program indicates that…

Students on varying degrees of academic probation were randomly assigned to one of three intervention strategies that incorporated controlled content but divergent levels of intrusiveness. The most intrusive intervention resulted in higher cumulative grade point averages and higher retention rates. Students with the highest risk of dismissal were…

Universities have recognized student attrition as a problem for some years, and measures to improve this critical issue are being sought. One such effort used at Lamar University is the Monitored Probation (MP) program. The MP program is a comprehensive early intervention academic retention program intended to assist with the academic success of…

A study was conducted at William Rainey Harper College (WRHC) in Palatine, Illinois, to evaluate the effectiveness of a new academic probation intervention program. Probationary students are those who are warned the previous semester but whose grade point averages (GPA's) still fall below 2.0 (4-point scale). Students on probation must participate…