Growth mindset characteristics and the strategies used throughout education to encourage students to develop an incremental belief about their intelligence provides supportive traits for college students. This qualitative descriptive study looked at how college students in the southeast of the United States describe their growth mindset characteristics developed using positive messaging during open education resource courses. The theoretical foundation for this study was the incremental theory of intelligence, which includes five characteristics: (a) embracing challenges, (b) persistence despite obstacles, (c) seeing effort as a path to mastery, (d) being inspired by others' success, and (e) learning from criticism. The research questions were based on the theoretical foundation of the study and were used as a guide for studying the phenomenon. Purposive sampling was used to identify 60 questionnaire and 15 interview participants for this study. The data was collected using a researcher-developed questionnaire (n = 60) and individual semi-structured interviews (n = 15). Data was then coded and thematically analyzed to answer the research questions. Findings revealed college students describing various support structures developed across all five of the characteristics of a growth mindset while experiencing consistent use of a positive messaging system. Among those structures is the use of a positive internal voice to remain persistent while valuing effort to manage challenges. College students identified the benefit of the message system to revisit the use of growth mindset strategies due to attrition. Further qualitative research exploring the influence growth mindset messaging system has with other OER courses, across multiple disciplines, is recommended. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]