College adjustment is particularly challenging for students from rural Appalachia, causing rural students to be more likely than their suburban and urban peers to withdraw from college. However, little is known about rural Appalachian college students' adjustment. We explored 18 rural Appalachian students' college adjustment experiences and…

This study quantitatively examines how students' cocurricular involvement in their first year of college relates to their pre-college attributes and perceptions of the role of cocurricular involvement on employability. We situate this study in Astin's (1984) theory of student involvement, Ajzen and Fishbein's (1980) theory of reasoned action, and…

Universities have long sought to contribute to civic engagement and democratic participation by their development of students. This study examines political orientation changes that occur within the first year of college and student background characteristics, plans, and experiences that predict these changes. Descriptive statistics first describe…

Previous studies examining the relationship between instructional "good practices" and first-year students' development have often centered White students, limiting our understanding of the degree to which these practices might be beneficial for racially minoritized students. This study used a critical quantitative approach to examine…

Research in higher education confirms the importance of self-efficacy in student persistence and success in college. The current study examined the role of self-efficacy in supporting academic and psychosocial adjustment in the critical first college year and the context of an academically-oriented first-year seminar (FYS). Students completed…

Despite the demands for innovation, adaptability, and creative problem-solving as seen in the fourth Industrial Revolution, many institutions of higher education struggle to center creativity in the learning experience. This qualitative, grounded theory study examines how first-year courses using design thinking approaches can introduce creativity…

First-year seminars that teach foundational academic skills are common in universities around the world, but few studies have been conducted to determine whether the specific skills students develop in these courses transfer to other academic contexts. Our research presents a case study that addresses this gap by measuring students' perceptions of…

Research in both education and in entrepreneurship has shown that certain attitudes, skills, and behaviors are helpful in working through problems to achieve success (Brown & Ryan, 2003; Dino, 2015; Duckworth et al, 2007; Dweck, 2009; MacCann et al., 2012; Metcalfe & Shumamura,1994; West et al., 2016). Fortunately, many of these attitudes,…

The purpose of this paper was to examine whether there is an effect of common reading program participation on first-year students' academic engagement, faculty interactions, and sense of belonging. Using a multi-institutional sample, propensity score matching, and linear regression techniques, the results suggest that common reading programs have…

To shed light on how first-year (FY) experiences affect student well-being, the current study used Saks and Gruman's (2018) socialization resources theory to examine the mediating effect of student course engagement on the relationship between FY onboarding usefulness perceptions and changes in student satisfaction and depression. Additionally,…

The use of peer leaders as a component of first-year seminars (FYSs) is designed to assist in the academic success of first-year college students. Although the positive impact of peer leaders is well established, the understanding regarding the mechanisms through which peer leaders influence students' academic achievement and persistence is still…

We investigated changes in students' reported sense of community in the context of a one-semester first-year seminar course using the Community and School Community Inventory (CSCI) research instrument across two years with differing instructional formats. We report a statistically significant increase in students' sense of perceived classroom…

The personal, social, and academic challenges during the transition from high school to college contribute to lower retention rates and lower GPAs. These challenges are even more pronounced for historically underserved populations. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, students face new challenges and a lack of access to the typical resources and…

The transition to college includes exposure to new cultures, such as the college drinking culture, which is likely to be encountered within the first few weeks. We conducted a qualitative content analysis of 242 first-semester undergraduate students' written comments to open-ended questions about their perceptions of and expectations for…

As the national youth mental health crisis continues to impact campuses, HBCUs have not been immune. Despite the critical role HBCUs play in providing safety and social mobility for Black students, the ways in which they address student mental health well-being remain underexplored. To that end, this study explored the lived experiences of mental…