Identifying at-risk students at an early stage is a challenging task for colleges and universities. In this paper, we use students' oncampus network traffic volume to construct several useful features in predicting their first semester GPA. In particular, we build proxies for their attendance, class engagement, and out-of-class study hours based…

Despite the expansion of online and blended learning, as well as open education, little research has been undertaken on what motivates students to enrol in particular study modes at university level. This project addresses this gap in higher education research by exploring the reasons why humanities students choose to study through specific modes.…

School attachment has received considerable attention in K-12 literature but it is relatively unexplored at the post-secondary level. The university attachment scale (UAS) is a new instrument designed to bridge this gap and previous research suggests transfer students score lower on group attachment than non-transfer students. However, these…

This paper presents the results of a 3 year study on violence between students at the University of Maryland. The study was designed to: (1) describe the prevalence of fighting between students; (2) analyze, by gender, students' description of their most recent physical fight with another for proximal influences on these altercations; (3) analyze…

This conference presentation describes how Virginia Wesleyan College's (VWC) arbitration process, in conjunction with the ideas contained in Ernest Boyer's special report, "Campus Life: In Search of Community", enhances the concept of community at VWC. The paper opens with a brief profile of VWC, a 1,400 student liberal arts school…

During the fall of 1987 Arizona State University received a grant to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of using student professionals to teach assertive and decision making skills to their peers. These skills were taught as an early intervention strategy to address the dynamics of peer pressure in drug use among high risk college age…

This document describes the Heritage Developmental Community (HDC), a program implemented by Brigham Young University's Housing Department and Counseling and Development Center to facilitate and accelerate student development and to create an ecosystem within a university residential setting wherein all parts relate and interact to reach…

As increasing numbers of postsecondary learners enroll in commuter campuses, speech communication departments can identify the characteristics which make commuting students somewhat different from their counterparts on residential campuses. Priorities of these two groups differ--students whose primary focus in life is the college experience…

Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) conducted campus-wide surveys on drug and alcohol use in 1977, 1983, 1987, and 1992. This survey was generated during the 1992 Fall semester. Results show that alcohol and drug use at MTSU has changed little in 15 years. The most noticeable change was the reduced use of marijuana by males. Cigarette smoking…

Social support systems often relate to a person's ability to cope with stressful events. When the stressful event involves relocation, however, the benefits of social support may not extend beyond the relocation. A study was conducted to examine how a move to college affects social support and homesickness. College freshmen (N=70) who were from…

The personal problems and psychological needs of college students may vary according to their living arrangements. To compare the types and number of problems resident and commuter students bring to a university counseling center, the intake data of 345 students (152 dormitory residents, 193 commuters; 177 women, 168 men) seeking individual…

This study involved the third administration of a survey of drug and alcohol use among students at Middle Tennessee State University. The original study was completed in 1977 (N=1,551), the second in 1983 (N=1,198), and the third in 1987 (N=1,535). Findings from the 1987 survey revealed that females and fraternity and sorority members were…

This report presents results from a discovery study questionnaire, using forced choice and open-ended items, to assess the types of problems resident assistants (RAs) at the rural campus of Auburn University (Alabama) encounter, their level and sources of preparedness to deal with these problems, and the ways in which the residence life staff can…

When Governors State University looked to television as a strategy for improving the efficiency of its instructional programs in 1982, a proposal was made to turn certain courses taught by professors semester after semester to large numbers of students into television courses that could be taken by students throughout the academic year. The…

Indirect student costs at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington were studied: semester expenses for food, shelter, clothing, books and supplies, personal items, health care, transportation, and child care. Selected cost data were also compared to student characteristics including: whether they had ever received financial aid from the…