What the research tells us

A significant body of research, dating back into the 1990s, illustrates the value of initiatives that comprise the universe of First Year Experience (FYE) and Student Success programming. The ‘National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition’ (USA) conducts regular and extensive surveys of both what institutions are doing and which practices prove to be most effective – the most recent of these surveys published is for 2017 (Young and Chung, 2019), but as the survey design changes from year to year, as the field evolves, there is support found in many of the recent years’ surveys.  

Hankin and Gardner (1996) helped to establish the value of an institutional focus on first-year transitions. Pascarella and Terenzini (2005) reported significant and positive outcomes of FYE courses including effective negotiation of the transition to college and persistence to second year. Kuh et al (2005) reported on the conditions that foster student success, emphasising the value of connecting students with peers, faculty, staff, and the institution. Finley and McNair (2013) and Feldman (2018) provide more recent and wide-ranging assessments of how FYE/Student Success programming engages students and increases retention. 

References: 

Feldman, R. S. (Ed.). (2018). The first year of college: Research, theory, and practice on improving the student experience and increasing retention. New York, NY: Cambridge.  

Finley, A., and McNair, T. (2013). Assessing underserved students’ engagement in high-impact practices. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities. 

Hankin, J. N., and Gardner, J. N. (1996). The freshman year experience: A philosophy for higher education in the new millennium. In J. N. Hankin (Ed.), The community college: Opportunity and access for America’s first-year students (Monograph No. 19, pp. 1-10). Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina, National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition. 

Kuh, G. H., Kinzie, J., Schuh, J. H., and Whitt, E. J. (2005). Student Success in College: Creating Conditions That Matter. San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass Publishers. 

Pascarella, E. T., and Terenzini, P. T. (2005). How college affects students: Vol. 2. A third decade of research. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.  

Young, D. G., and Chung, J. K. (2019). 2017 National Survey on The First-Year Experience: Creating and Coordinating Structures to Support Student Success. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina, National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition.