This article challenges the "remedial" and "developmental" framing of summer bridge programs. The study used semi-structured interviews and focus groups to assess 63 students of Color who participated in a 5-week summer bridge program. Through the theoretical concept of counterspace, findings showed that the intentional…

This study examines the relationship between support from comprehensive college transition program (CCTP) staff and students' academic self-efficacy, academic behavioral change, and achievement. We surveyed 1,197 students across three campuses of the University of Nebraska system. Path analyses revealed CCTP staff support had direct and indirect…

Summer bridge programs (SBPs) are intended to promote student learning, academic achievement, and persistence to graduation. They are also a viable vehicle for supporting diverse minoritized student constituencies. Our study, guided by a student-centered assessment approach, examined the experiences of incoming first-year students. Findings…

At-promise students (low-income, first-generation college students, and/or racially minoritized) have long encountered disproportionate barriers in navigating higher education, resulting in disparate impacts during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, we examined how higher education practitioners in three comprehensive college transition…

This qualitative study explores how second-generation immigrant (SGI) college seniors experience and navigate their final year of college. Drawing on Schlossberg's theory of transitions, we analyze in-depth interviews with 34 SGI seniors. Emergent themes include: (a) perceptions of the senior-year transition, (b) challenges finding and using…

This study examined the physical, mental, and emotional health of former and current foster youth students participating in campus support programs during their first year at a four-year university. Findings indicated that foster youth students participating in campus support programs reported significant declines in many aspects of their health,…

Recognizing the changing demographics of students applying to college coupled with Trinity University's responsibility to help our students succeed, we have created a Summer Bridge program that focuses on first-generation, underrepresented students (FGUS). Trinity's Summer Bridge program has been a success--both in terms of student performance and…

Emerging evidence demonstrates that integrated programs, which combine academic and socioemotional supports and bridge boundaries between academic and student affairs, can improve college success rates for low-income, first-generation college students. This article explores the organizational value of integrated transition programs across several…

This study proposes an empirically grounded, non-deficit oriented, college transition program proactive advising model, called "mid-semester grade checks," to promote academic self-efficacy among first-generation, low-income, and underrepresented minoritized students. The grade checks model was developed based on data comprised of…

This article provides an overview of GED holders admitted into the Successful Transition and Retention Track (START) two-year pilot-project. An enhanced college-success course, career and mental-health counseling, and English and mathematics tutoring acclimated GED holders to college. Results suggest that postsecondary educational attainment of…

This paper describes the creation of a comprehensive First-Year Experience program for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and ally (LGBTQA) students. Background information on First-Year Experience programs, LGBTQA populations, and the benefits of providing this program are described. The authors discuss how to plan and implement this…

Student affairs practitioners at a large, mid-Atlantic research university created a learning community directed by the student union to support community college transfer students. The authors examined qualitative data and pre/post surveys from 40 learning community participants in the program's pilot year. Results suggested favorable effects of…

Research demonstrates that the experience of international students on U.S. university campuses is replete with cultural, social, relational, work-related, and linguistic challenges (e.g., Reynolds & Constantine, 2007). This study explored the experiences of international students from the Dominican Republic as they adjusted to campus life at…