Students change their majors for various reasons, and academic advisors often assume the role of facilitating that change through institutional agreements or contracts. Therefore, advisors need to identify time periods during enrollment with the greatest likelihood that students will seek to change majors. They must also examine the student…

When COVID-19 struck, higher education experienced major disruptions. Important functions like academic advising were no exception, and the traditional face-to-face model shifted online with remote academic advising (RAA), which uses synchronous communication technologies (e.g., Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meets). In this quantitative research…

Utilizing data from the multi-institutional "Student Experience in the Research University" survey, we examined self-identified working-class students' experiences in higher education. The results suggest that working-class students experience a lower sense of belonging, perceive a less welcoming campus climate, and pursue fewer social…

In an effort to standardize academic risk assessment, the NCAA developed the graduation risk overview (GRO) model. Although this model was designed to assess graduation risk, its ability to predict grade-point average (GPA) remained unknown. Therefore, 134 individual risk assessments were made to determine GRO model effectiveness in the…

In this study, we examined patterns of persisting in and switching from an intended college major (chosen in high school) in the third year of college. We focused on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) major persistence because of the national effort to increase those entering STEM careers. Results showed differences in persistence…

The "Survey of Academic Orientations" ("SAO") measures six orientations in college students believed to represent desirable or undesirable perspectives. Previous research established the connections of "SAO" orientations with grades and persistence. This study shows the extended utility of the "SAO" as an early warning indicator, enabling advisors…

A study (n=510) investigated students' cognitive and noncognitive variables predicting success and persistence in an undergraduate engineering program. Students performing well in science and mathematics and genuinely interested in engineering were more likely to persist and succeed. Predictor variables changed over the students' first two years.…