Each year, millions of students enroll in open-access two-year colleges with the hope of earning skills, training, and most importantly, a degree that will allow them to pursue their goals, including transferring to a four-year institution. Developmental, or remedial, education has been found to present multiple barriers to two-year student…

With the passage of the Post-9/11 GI Bill in 2008, more than 1.4 million service members and their families became eligible for higher education benefits, and veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan enrolled in colleges and universities in record numbers. The first wave of research about these new student veterans focused primarily on…

Over the years, a number of interventions aimed at increasing student engagement and performance have been implemented in higher education. Some of these, labeled high-impact practices (HIPs), when done well, have led to documented evidence of student success. Two approaches that have been identified as HIPs--first-year seminars and learning…

In January 2014, the White House urged that college be made more accessible for low-income Americans. Yet, moving beyond access to success requires knowing more about the experiences of these students. A new research report captures the challenges low-income, first-generation students faced in their collegiate journey, examining the strategies…

Less is known about the second college year compared to other transition points, and fewer high-impact initiatives and curricular programs tend to be offered to sophomores. To increase our knowledge of this important, but sometimes neglected, year on the collegiate journey, "Investigating Sophomore Student Success" presents findings from…

For a quarter century, the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition has been examining the prevalence, structure, and administration of first-year seminars on American college campuses. The 2012-2013 administration of the national Survey of First-Year Seminars was expanded to explore the connection between…

"Thriving in Transitions: A Research-Based Approach to College Student Success" represents a paradigm shift in the student success literature. Grounded in positive psychology, the thriving concept reframes the student success conversation by focusing on the characteristics amenable to change and that promote high levels of academic,…

In 2011, the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition revisited its 1999 National Survey of Senior Seminars and Capstone Courses to explore the current state of culminating experiences in American higher education. Drawn from a sample of public and private colleges and universities across the country, the…

Designed for students and educational professionals researching students' movement into and through higher education, "Crafting and Conducting Research on Student Transitions" is a concise resource, describing both qualitative and quantitative methods. The authors walk readers through the process of selecting a topic, designing a study,…

Findings from the ninth triennial administration of the National Survey of First-Year Seminars, describing the nature and extent of first-year seminars on American college campuses. Drawn from a broad sample of colleges and universities from every institutional type, control, and size, the survey addresses topics including seminar characteristics…

Organizing for Student Success draws on data from more than 50 institutions to provide insight into how university colleges are organized, the initiatives they house, and the practices in place to ensure their effectiveness. Twenty case studies from 15 different campuses offer an in-depth understanding of institutional practice. Ultimately,…

The inaugural report in the National Resource Center's new research series on college transitions examines institutional initiatives designed to support students in the second college year. The authors report on findings from the second administration of the National Survey of Sophomore-Year Initiatives, describing the kinds of programs offered…

Residence life programs play a key role in recruiting students, helping them make a successful transition to a new institution, and in retaining them, whether students are enrolling for the first time, transferring from another institution, or entering graduate school. Chapters in this book address theories of learning and development, new…

The connection between knowing the right or good thing to do, and then actually doing it has long been a puzzle. "Watch what we do, not what we say" goes beyond the revealing admission of a former Attorney General of the United States to the broader reality of human behavior. Parents, teachers, employers, religious educators, and society…

This volume argues that international/intercultural experiences are powerful vehicles for first-year college students to learn the perspectives and skills necessary to function interdependently in a rapidly changing, increasingly complicated world. The authors develop this thesis through an in-depth case study of efforts to provide such learning…