Social integration for lateral transfer students (four-to-four-year) is promoted by a living environment that encourages learning about campus, connecting to resources, and developing peer groups. Interviews with 27 lateral transfer students revealed that those who had previously lived on campus had expectations that residence halls would provide…

To protect the welfare of students, staff, and other clients in housing and residence life (HRL), administrators must understand what behaviors are unacceptable. Professionals might make idiosyncratic and unconstrained decisions when there is no conduct code or set of informal rules. Informal rules may become norms comprising normative structures…

Universities recruit international students for a number of reasons, including enhancement of global contacts and reputation, to increase enrolment, and to generate revenue from tuition. These students face unique challenges as compared with domestic students, but no published studies or reports exist on this issue. In this article we report our…

Participating in religious services has many benefits for college and university students. In this study, I examined qualitative data provided by college students regarding what they value and gain by participating in religious services. While the 58 student participants resided on campus at the time of data collection, they attended off-campus…

Incorporating an understanding of religiosity and spirituality into the professional development of residence life staff can give them the knowledge and insights needed to successfully utilize students' already heightened awareness of their own religiosity, spirituality, and mindfulness, creating an environment that meets their emotional and…

This study investigated the level of satisfaction that international students experienced with student support services at a liberal arts University in the North East. The University's International Students Services Office (ISSO) is the sole point of contact for students studying under an F1 VISA. Services offered range from government…

Student housing plays a critical role in student development and retention by providing diverse experiences, resources, and opportunities that support students' academic pursuits. In Canada, Aboriginal students' retention rates are significantly lower than those of their non- Aboriginal counterparts, so it is the purpose of this article to explore…

This qualitative study was performed at a liberal arts university in the southeast United States. Thirty-nine undergraduate minority first-generation students were interviewed to acquire knowledge of their satisfaction levels with four student services: tutoring, campus housing, financial aid, and career planning. The purpose of this study was to…

International students experience unique challenges as they pursue higher education in the United States. This study explored the relationships and traits that impact international students' social and academic integration (together called institutional integration). A purposeful convenience sample of international students enrolled at two small…

Retaining and graduating Hispanic students are paramount to the overall success of colleges and universities. Given the excessive amounts of money spent to recruit students, and the impact on the institution when students depart prematurely, action needs to be taken by institutions to increase Hispanic student retention and counter the negative…

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the influence of financial knowledge and selected demographic characteristics on student retention from the second to the third year at a public research university in the southern region of the United States. The accessible population was defined as students in the Fall 2013 entering freshman…

Increasing costs and discount rates and decreasing persistence have led to deteriorating net tuition revenue at many colleges and universities. The lack of clarity about the relationship between student persistence and incoming student characteristics was interfering with the development of optimal tuition discounting policy and required research.…

Think College Reports present descriptive data in narrative or tabular form to provide timely information to researchers, practitioners, and policymakers for review and use. This report provides an overview of descriptive program and student-level data provided by Transition and Postsecondary Programs for Students with Intellectual Disabilities…

The supreme court's ruling in "Christian Legal Society v. Martinez", its most important case to date on student associational activities, upheld a policy at a public law school in California that required recognized student organizations (or clubs) to admit "all-comers" even if they disagreed with organizational goals and…

For this study we identified factors exerting significant influence on homesickness and explored the impact of the homesick experience on students' academic performance and retention in the first year in college. The findings reveal 2 constructs underlying the homesickness scale: homesick separation and homesick distress. Demographic variables…