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,…

The focus of this paper is on the relative contribution of participating in a first-year seminar to student satisfaction and the retention of students in the second year at a Research I, urban, and public university. The study compared the measured satisfaction levels of students enrolled in a first-year seminar with students who were not enrolled…