Early college high schools (ECHSs) are partnerships between high schools and colleges or universities designed to enhance college readiness and completion, particularly among students traditionally underrepresented in higher education. We compared the self-reported motivational profiles of ECHS students to traditional first-year university…

While access to higher education for racial and ethnic minorities improved over the last half of the 20th century, the percentage of these populations obtaining terminal degrees does not approach their respective percentage of society at large. By interviewing five African American males who completed a doctoral program at a Majority White…

This exploratory essay critically examines how social relations structure the production of space on a college campus. In particular, we analyze how the organization of one particular site--the student advising office at a southeastern university--calls attention to the relationship between race and space in ways that re-inscribe narrow…

In this qualitative study, we investigated the academic major and career decision-making processes of honors college students who were declared as "exploratory" students in their freshman year at a large, public, midwestern university. We used semistandardized interviews and document analysis as primary data collection methods to answer…

Immigrant college student populations continue to grow, but the complexity of their unique needs and issues remain relatively unknown. To gain a better understanding of the multiple contextual factors impacting immigrant students from a systems-based approach, I applied Bronfenbrenner's (1977) human ecology framework to the study. Students…

This study evaluates the relationship between elements of a college preparation program and the college readiness of low-income and/or Latina/o students at the completion of 6 years of participation in the program. Hours of participation in tutoring, mentoring, advising, college campus visits, summer programs, and educational field trips are…

Self-authorship, a theory developed by Robert Kegan (1982) and applied to college students by Marcia Baxter Magolda, is the ability to internally define one's own beliefs, identity, and relationships (Baxter Magolda, 2001). People who self-author have the ability to make career, academic, relationship, and life decisions that take into…

The relationship a doctoral student develops with his/her advisor is a crucial aspect of doctoral training across disciplines; but research suggests that many such relationships fall short of a successful apprenticeship or mentoring ideal. Because disciplinary cultures and structures vary considerably, what makes for a successful advising…

Online learning and communication requires new perspectives and habits of learning which oftentimes are not readily acquired by students and faculties. The sense of security in the old habits of face-to-face learning may become a hindrance in the development of positive attitude and ease in online communication. This study explored student…

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…

This research investigates science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) high school opportunity structures, including student experiences with math and science course sequences and progress, college guidance and counseling, and STEM extracurricular activities (Weis and Eisenhart, 2009), specifically related to STEM fields and career and…

While the literature indicates a link between retention and advising, almost all previous research has measured perceptions or satisfaction with advising. Because of this, it seems that there is a gap in the methodology used to assess the efficacy of advising services. Even though investigators may be able to locate studies that assert increased…

Today's students are working either full-time or part-time to complete their education as compared to their predecessors from earlier times. This brings up interesting perspectives on the campus' workload as to how Student Affairs, Financial Aid, and the Advising office can keep up with these students and the outside of campus work that they do to…

In this article, I report on the development and validation of a new survey instrument measuring first-year students' perceptions of the advising relationship. I collected survey data from 113 residential freshmen enrolled in a first-year seminar course at a small, public, midwestern university during the fall of 2009. Factor analysis of students'…

Advisors with a working knowledge about course workload and the levels of learning in specific classes provide the best possible advising. Unfortunately, they often have only limited information regarding important course characteristics. With a better understanding of these factors, advisors can assist students in making appropriate course…