Increasing student retention is one of the greatest challenges faced by community colleges. First-year community college students face a complex set of issues in grappling with their new academic roles and identities. Therefore, there is a need for effective retention efforts that support students during this time of transition. First-Year…

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to explore and understand the reasons why community college music majors choose to persist, leave the major, or leave college, and what effects a first-year seminar designed specifically for music majors might have on their intent to persist.A questionnaire was used to compare the likelihood of…

All incoming students have a first experience with their institution. This article reviews literature on adult education, online learning, and first-year student success to articulate the scope of experiences and programs that ought to be included in institutional efforts aimed at helping adult students be successful in their first year of online…

The purpose of freshmen orientation is "bridging the gap to college" (Tinto, 1993, p. 159). All college orientation programs have three objectives: provide information, set expectations, and provide social integration (Greenfield, Keup, & Gardner, 2013; Schofield & Sackville, 2010). Research supports a positive relationship…

This paper uses Middle Tennessee State University's MT Scholars Academy, an extended early arrival program targeting first-year students who are classified as at-risk by a variety of measures, as a case study for demonstrating the effectiveness of AASCU's Re-Imagining the First-Year (RFY) initiative. In particular, this case study demonstrates the…

For more than 30 years, John Gardner has elevated the discussion about the importance of student success in the first-year of college, with a heightened emphasis on first-year seminar courses and their value. Many colleges and universities offer some version of a first-year experience seminar, which is true for the Midwestern MAC School discussed…

The study aims to empirically test the relationship between types of campus adaptations across academic years of engineering undergraduate B. Tech students pursuing a four-year study at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT's) and National Institute of Technology (NIT's) in India. The Multivariate Analysis of Variance (Manova) test was run with SPSS…

Retention of students in university or other postsecondary education programs is a common problem for many institutions, with retention from first year to second year of study being particularly problematic in Canada and the United States. A number of factors are known to affect retention, and a number of measures have been identified which can…

As access to higher education has continuously risen throughout the second half of the twentieth century, community college student success has not kept pace. Within this climate, institutions look to cost-effective initiatives and programs to encourage student success in order to produce more certificate and degree earners. While many first-year…

The current study investigated the potential role that social networking Web sites (e.g., Facebook) played in creating both actual and virtual learning communities within the first-year seminar. Researchers conducted a 2-year longitudinal study to assess whether students who were connected within a university-founded virtual network persisted in…

This study involved students enrolled in a first-year service-learning course and explored the relationship between service-learning, academic self-confidence, and integration into the college experience. Descriptive statistics and qualitative document analysis of participant-produced texts were used to depict the students' perceptions regarding…

First-year seminars have become common at liberal arts and other colleges across the United States. An accumulating body of research appears to demonstrate that this curricular element is associated with increased retention of students and is positively correlated with graduation rates, student adjustment and involvement, student satisfaction,…

To assist integration of incoming freshman into the academic environment, improve social acclimation, and increase student retention, Northern Michigan University created a first-year experience program with community as its central focus. Its key to success is the use of block scheduling, combining a freshman seminar with other classes. Pilot…

Researchers have begun to analyze community college retention data in terms of students' stated objectives upon entry. By categorizing students based upon their most important reason for attending college, meaningful follow-up and assessment of students' goal attainment can be conducted. Program evaluation studies have produced evidence that…

Two studies evaluated outcomes of a University Experience (freshman seminar) course to ease the transition to college and enhance student retention at the University of South Florida. In the first study, course evaluations of "typical" USF students (N=540) who completed the course in fall 1998 were overwhelmingly positive in support of…