ERIC Number: EJ1245918
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2019
Pages: 5
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1086-4822
EISSN: N/A
Developing a Sense of Belonging in Community College Students
Martinez, Edward F.; Munsch, Patricia
About Campus, v24 n5 p30-34 Nov-Dec 2019
Community colleges are a 20th-century phenomenon. This sector of higher education started in 1901 and historically served any number of varying purposes, such as teacher training, homemaking, and, potentially, transfer credits for admission to a four-year college and the receipt of a baccalaureate degree. In the early 20th century, because of its important purposes, the number of community colleges increased across the country. The demographic makeup of community college students is very diverse students, whether considered by race, ethnicity, income, family background, and so on. In the fall of 2017, 44 percent of Latinx undergraduates enrolled at community colleges, 35 percent were black, and 31 percent of were white. Additionally, 55 percent of low-income students, those with a family income under $30,000, enrolled at community colleges (Community College Research Center, 2019). The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center found that among first-time college students who enrolled in a community college in fall 2012 either part-time or full-time, 39.2 percent earned a credential from either a two-year or four-year institution within six years. The data on equity outcomes for these diverse students, when disaggregated by race, reveal very different results. During the same time, the six-year completion rate for White students was 48.1 percent, for Asian students 49.1 percent, for Latinx students 35.7 percent, and for black students 27.5 percent. For the purpose of this article, the authors want to focus upon a community college student's "sense of belonging," and they employ Strayhorn's definition: "In terms of college, sense of belonging refers to students' perceived social support on campus, a feeling or sensation of connectedness, and experiences of mattering or feeling cared about, accepted, respected, valued by, and important to the campus community or others on campus such as faculty, staff and peers. (Strayhorn, 2019)."
Descriptors: Two Year College Students, Community Colleges, Sense of Community, Demography, Student Personnel Services, Student Personnel Workers, Cultural Awareness, Minority Group Students, Faculty Development, School Orientation, Social Media
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2814
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Two Year Colleges; Postsecondary Education; Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A