High-risk college freshmen (n=72), most African-Americans, who participated in a deliberate psychological education-based orientation course that addressed minority student needs and incorporated principles of student development, achieved significant increases in cognitive development, study skills, and course satisfaction. However, achievements…

After studying national literature and local needs, Kutztown University (Pennsylvania) created the Student Support Services Freshman Year Program to help at-risk freshmen acclimate to the campus environment and succeed in college. The program consists of five components: academic advising/counseling; a freshman colloquium; a student-mentor…

This booklet provides the program and abstracts of presentations given at the Fourth Canadian-American Conference on the First-Year Experience. It includes a list of the goals of the conference, sponsoring institutions, staff, and general information about the conference. The booklet then provides brief descriptions of the 51 sessions held over…

The purpose of this monograph is to update the research and general information that has been generated about undecided students in the past decade and to offer some practical perspectives on how to administer, advise, and counsel such students. Thirteen chapters include: (1) "A Profile of Undecided College Students" (Willard C.…

Comparison of the responses of Asian, black, and white honors students attending a first-year seminar at a large research university found that Asians differed most often from white and black students on all issues. Academic issues most often engendered group differences. Results suggest that racial subgroups in the honors student population have…

These proceedings report on a 1994 conference on the planning, implementing, and refining of programs designed to enhance the first-year experience of college students in urban settings. Early sections detail conference aims, background and policies. One section describes workshops on various topics, provides a profile on the keynote speaker, and…

A special transitional course (College Success) developed for college freshmen at the State University of New York College at Cortland is described in this report. Designed to meet standard problems of transition from high school to college and deal with detected deficits in learning and studying skills, it offers small group experience on issues…

This monograph contains 14 papers on all aspects of college and university student and family orientation programs. The papers are: (1) "Orienting Today's Students" by M. Lee Upcraft; (2) "Theoretical Perspectives on Orientation" by Michael Dannells; (3) "Trends and Issues in Orientation Programs" by Gerry Strumpf and…

This article documents the conception and development of a tool for providing academic and counseling support to meet the needs of minority adult students in an urban community college environment. Specifically, the tool is a course having as its base the proper assessment of student needs and the revision of the syllabus to fit those needs.…

The effectiveness of a California State University, Long Beach, program to prepare incoming students for university-level work and educational processes was assessed in 2 surveys of new students (n=1,100, n=1,613) and 1 of 80 who had taken the course previously. Key elements in program success were identified: course content; teaching techniques;…

This volume contains abstracts of the presentations on the freshman and entering student programs at over 100 colleges, community colleges, and universities in the United States and Canada. Each abstract describes institutional programs and provides a name, address, and telephone number of the person to contact for additional information. Among…

Guidelines to enhancing the freshman year experience are presented in the following chapters: (1) "A Comprehensive Approach to Enhancing Freshman Success" (M. Lee Upcraft, John N. Gardner); (2) "Who Are Today's Freshmen?" (Arthur Levine); (3) "A Historical Look at the Freshman Year Experience" (John Orr Dwyer); (4) "Understanding Student…

Discussion of a Dickinson College (Pennsylvania) first-year seminar identifies its teaching objectives, describes class activities, and examines transcripts from the simulation of a negotiation, the course's capstone experience. Evidence suggests the students mastered information and concepts, were thinking critically about issues, had developed a…

Kennesaw State College (Georgia) adopted an invitational approach to create an environment which encouraged and affirmed students, faculty, staff and administrators. A new institutional environment aimed at serving diverse, contemporary needs and involved commitment to shared governance, encouragement of leadership at all levels, community…

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…