Entering the UC Merced campus and turning onto Scholars Lane, students saw, in this order, large cow pastures surrounding the campus, tall chainlink fences enclosing construction materials, orange fences stating "limits of construction," and across the small road, the residence facilities. Students who were willing to brave this…

Findings from research studies that use the Defining Issues Test (DIT), a test of moral judgment development, are described. These findings are relevant to three major questions in higher education research: (1) the question of student outcomes (i.e., what does college experience do for and to people?); (2) the question of the relevance and…

Concordia Teachers College recognizes the need for creating a humane and developmental environment for student living. In an attempt to achieve this objective, a student paraprofessional housing program has been designed and implemented. Initially, this involved the removal of all professionally trained personnel in the student living units.…

This study investigated the nature of transfer student expectations of the college environment and how these expectations affect academic performance and satisfaction with the college experience. The sample consisted of 100 entering freshmen, 100 upperclassmen, 228 transfer students at a Collefe of the State University of New York. The students…

This report is the fifth in a series reporting data from a ten-year longitudinal study of a random sample of the 1966 entering freshman class at State University of New York-Buffalo. Students were asked to describe their reactions to the University experience, attitudes and opinions about the University, involvement in University life, and…

This introduction to the special issue on student political activism and attitudes notes the importance of college student attitudes toward politics, education, and society in affecting campus politics, academic choices, and society. (MSE)

A study examined university students' satisfaction with the on-campus living environment and perceptions of the importance of 63 environmental attributes. Subjects were 1,779 students not returning to campus housing the following fall semester. Two scales were developed to measure the relationship between perceived importance and satisfaction with…

The University of California's census survey of undergraduates, UCUES [University of California Undergraduate Experience Survey], presents an opportunity to measure both disciplinary and institutional differences in students' academic experience. Results from nearly 60,000 responses (38% response rate) from the 2006 administration found greater…

The study reviews the impact of the freshman year and 4 years of undergraduate study on the formation of character and its progression from late adolescence to young adulthood. Much of the empirical data used is drawn from the Sierra Project, a study originating in the 1970s that addressed traditional obstacles in higher education in meeting its…

Drew University encourages seniors to participate in a half-hour interview to express their feelings about positive and negative aspects of the institution as a means of monitoring its own progress at educating and fulfilling its responsibilities toward students. (MSE)

A high level of informal contact with faculty members by college freshmen was associated with positive views of their academic and non-academic lives and persistence at the institution. (MM)

Charles D. Foster, who entered the Citadel (South Carolina) in 1966 as its first black cadet, received little public attention at the time or in later years. Fellow cadets relate some incidents of bias, but an otherwise uneventful and undistinguished college career. His brother feels the experience was traumatic, and that he has not been…

Examines the ethnic identity development of Asian Pacific American college students in conjunction with their collegiate experience. Findings showed that these students recognized their unique minority experience as Asian Pacific Americans. Another finding of this study was explicit and implicit connections between students' academic and career…

Surveyed college students to determine which aspects of the educational experience are important in influencing student satisfaction. Found that "student centeredness,""campus climate," and "instructional effectiveness" have a strong impact, and that recruitment strategies may require emphasizing different aspects of…

Provides an institutional case study of St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia, a church-related college, regarding how post-World War II social trends reconfigured Canadian universities and substantially altered the undergraduate experience. Found that rising enrollments, physical plant expansion, faculty laicization, the campaign for…