...“Undecided,” and “In Transition”: Implications for Academic Advisement, Career Counseling, & Student Retention Joe Cuseo Introduction The objective of this article is twofold: (a) to critically review research on how students’ process of decision making with respect to selecting college majors and careers relates to their persistence in college, and (b) to tease-out practical implications of this research for improving the academic advisement, long-range planning, and retention of first-year students. The majority of new students entering higher education leave their initial college of choice without completing a degree (Tinto, 1993), and national attrition rates have been increasing since the early 1980s at two-year and four-year institutions, both public and private (Postsecondary Education Opportunity, 2002). At all types of higher education institutions, including highly selective colleges and universities, the most critical period or stage of vulnerability for student attrition continues to be the first year of college (“Learning Slope,” 1991). More than half of all students who withdraw from college do so during their first year (Consortium for Student Retention Data Exchange, 1999), resulting in a first-year attrition rate of more than 25% at four-year institutions, and approximately 50% at two-year institutions (ACT, 2003). Retention research suggests that student commitment to educational and career goals is perhaps the strongest factor associated with...
Words: 9388 - Pages: 38
...The first year as a teacher is difficult and there will be many obstacles along the way, both for the teacher and the students. That being said, there are a few important tips that every first year teacher should focus on to increase their chances of success. Every first year teacher should seriously focus on classroom management, time management, a strong support system, organization, and attitude. By focusing on these important characteristics, the success of a first year teacher is greatly improved. First year teachers need to realize that classroom management is incredibly important. As a teacher, having control of your classroom is essential to ensuring that your students receive optimal learning in a structured environment. This also ensures that the students are paying attention and being respectful of their teacher. Although the students' voices should be heard and not ignored, the teacher must have the ultimate authority and respect. Time management is also incredibly important to master. As a first year teacher, making sure you take the time to plan accordingly and account for your entire day before the day starts will go a long way. First year teachers must be adaptable and understand that things aren’t always going to go how they plan it. Having back up work, like games, on hand can be incredibly helpful when your plans go askew to keep your students busy. Although there is a lot to teach your students and cover in one day, don't burn them out with constant...
Words: 674 - Pages: 3
...outcomes for first-year and senior college students at a large, public, Midwestern university. The findings suggest a complex portrait of the relationships between affiliation, engagement, and learning outcomes. Fraternity/sorority membership appeared to facilitate social involvement during college but may have limited the diversity of relationships. It was associated with higher levels of community service, but also increased the odds of excessive alcohol use. In the presence of controls for important, confounding influences, being a fraternity/sorority member had little consistent influence on grades or perceived impact of college. There was little support for gender differences in the impact of affiliation. Finally, implications for student affairs professionals in their work with undergraduate fraternity/sorority leaders and members were considered. Most institutions of higher education hold student learning and success as parts of their primary missions (Kuh, Kinzie, Schuh, Whitt, & Associates, 2005; Kuh, Schuh, Whitt, & Associates, 1991). Faculty members, staff members, and administrators have attempted to distinguish between the in-class and out-of-class experiences that foster – as well as inhibit – student learning and success (American Association of Colleges &Universities [AAC&U], 2002). Developing a thorough understanding of the relationship between fraternity/sorority membership, student engagement, and student learning has important implications for student...
Words: 2213 - Pages: 9
...Tuition, Fees & Other Expenses Undergraduate, Graduate & Professional Students www.enrollment.vcu.edu/accounting TUITION & FEE CHARGES Tuition is determined by the student’s residency status, the number of credit hours for which the student is registered, the student’s course of study, and the student’s classification level. Undergraduate An undergraduate student (freshman, sophomore, junior or senior) registered for 12 or more credits hours during any semester is classified as full-time. Non-Block Undergraduate Student: Students who are newly admitted to an undergraduate degree or certificate program beginning in or after the Fall 2013 Semester are classified as non-block for tuition assessment purposes. Non-block undergraduate students registered for less than 15 credit hours are charged tuition at a per-credit-hour rate. If registered for 15 or more credit hours, tuition for the additional credits hours (15 or more) will be assessed at a reduced per-credit-hour rate. The mandatory fees are charged at a per-credit-hour rate for one to 12 credit hours. The mandatory fees cap at 12 credit hours. Block Undergraduate Student:: Undergraduate students who were enrolled in a degree or certificate program prior to the Fall 2013 Semester and are not required to reapply for admissions to the University are classified as block for tuition assessment purposes. Part-time undergraduate students, those enrolled in fewer than 12 credit hours are charged tuition...
Words: 7526 - Pages: 31
...Compare - FAFSA on the Web - Federal Student Aid 12/21/14, 11:44 AM Compare School Information The following information is a subset of data that has been obtained from the College Navigator Web site, developed by the National Center for me: QUEENSBOROUGH COMMUNITY COLLEGE Address: 222-05 56TH AVENUE FIN AID OFF City: BAYSIDE Federal School Code: 002697 Web site: www.qcc.cuny.edu 71% Transfer Rate: 18% Additional Information from College Navigator: NA The information provided above is updated quarterly and may not reflect recent changes. If you are attending a branch campus, the information provided here may be for the main campus. College Navigator may have more specific information. The amounts for tuition and fees apply to full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking students. Net Price Average is the average yearly price charged to full-time, first-time undergraduate students receiving student aid at an institution of higher education after deducting any grant and scholarship aid received. Average Net Price provides students and families with an idea of how much a first-time, full-time undergraduate student who receives grant/scholarship aid pays to attend a particular institution after subtracting out that grant/scholarship aid. Graduation rate is the percentage of a school's first-time, first-year undergraduate students who complete their program within 150% of the published time for the program. Retention rate...
Words: 306 - Pages: 2
...Challenges of being a Teacher First day of school! First day of teaching! First day to change children's lives! Many first time teachers get discouraged because they aren’t prepared for their first year of teaching. Starting your first job at a new school can be intimidating because you don’t know what that year has in store for you. However it’s okay if you ask other teachers for advice as you work with students throughout the year. Being a teacher comes with a lot of challenges and rewards. Some rewards that I will face while teaching are building relationships with students and parents, influence a child's life, and share my passion for teaching with students. Some of the challenges that I will face while teaching are time management, bullying, and conflict between students. To begin with teaching is one of the most rewarding jobs. A national survey found that teachers are generally satisfied with their career choices and their level of satisfaction has increased in the last 25 years (MetLife, 2009). Teachers have the opportunity to build relationships with students and their parents making their bonds very strong. The teachers spend most of their time with parent’s children and it's important to let parents know that they will be taken care of. I believe that it is important to know each student individually and make every one of them feel like they are important to the teacher and to their classmates. In addition one challenge that I will face is time management. Teachers generally...
Words: 903 - Pages: 4
...Formative Essay on Student Transition to University Contents Introduction 1 Content 2 1. Key issues 2 2. Approaches 2 3. University support 2 4. Student strategies and actions 2 Conclusion 3 References 3 Introduction Student transition is a complex problem and researches were conducted to find the best solution. This essay presents the key issues of this problem but also the approaches and strategies that can help the students to integrate and accommodate with life in universities. Content 1. Key issues The experience demonstrated that the transition from the high school to university is difficult and raises a lot of problems. The researchers identified the key issues regarding this transition : “'academic involvement', 'goal direction', 'classroom interaction', 'institutional belongingness', 'alienation' and 'social isolation' as the key environmental and motivational factors affecting students.” (Whittaker, 2013) Mostly alienation and social isolation appear at the students from other countries or cities. That’s why the social events organized by universities or campuses are welcomed. In multicultural environment, the academic involvement is more powerful in the first year of studies. “Administrative transition centres on issues surrounding enrolment, managing timetables, keeping track of information and submission due dates, and maintaining contact with academic staff.” (Whittaker, 2013) 2. Approaches Stella (2013) recommends...
Words: 849 - Pages: 4
...examinations, including information on Student ID cards, permitted materials, use of calculators, and late arrival - http://www.uq.edu.au/myadvisor/index.html?page=108936 Information about the examination timetable: Exam start times: Students should arrive at the examination venue at least 15 minutes prior to the commencement time of the examination and 30 minutes if the examination is held at the UQ Centre. Please note that start times for examinations held on Saturdays differ to those held Monday to Friday, eg. first exam session at 9:30am on Saturdays, and 8:00am on Mondays. Venues Venues are displayed with the Building Name, (Building Number), and Room Number. Where 'Contact School' is shown as the venue, please contact the School for details. Please check your exam venues thoroughly before your exam, and ensure you know where the venue is located. You will not be permitted entry to an exam venue if you arrive 30 minutes after commencement of working time, and no additional time will be granted. Student Split Where an examination is held across multiple venues, students are allocated to a venue based on Family Name. The surname split is displayed in a range and is shown as FAMILY NAME, First Name (first 3 letters). Students should ensure they attend at the allocated venue as there is limited seating capacity in each venue. Changes to the final timetable Should there be a need to make a change to the scheduled date, time or venue of any examination after release...
Words: 19924 - Pages: 80
...and the Academic Performance of Students at the De La Salle Health Sciences Institute, College of Medicine in the First Semester of the School Year 2012-2013 General Objectives: To determine the effect of Family Functionality in the Academic Performance of Students at the De La Salle Health Sciences Institute, College of Medicine in the First Semester of the School Year 2012-2013 Specific Objectives: 1. To determine the proportion of students who has a Functional family and students with a Dysfunctional family based on the Family APGAR scale. 2. To determine the proportion of students with High and Low Academic Performance for the First Semester of the School Year 2012-2013. 3. To compare the proportion of students with a Functional Family APGAR score to High and Low Academic Performance. 4. To compare the proportion of students with Dysfunctional Family APGAR score to High and Low Academic Performance. Research Hypothesis: There is a relationship between family functionality and the academic performance of students of the De La Salle Health Sciences Institute, College of Medicine for the First Semester of the School Year 2012-2013. Conceptual Framework: Dependent Variable Academic Performance Independent Variable Family Functionality Confounders Age Gender Family Income Operational Definition of Variables: a) Family Functionality - it refers to the level of family relationship as perceived by the students and its effect to the academic...
Words: 2637 - Pages: 11
...play an important role in fostering young peoples’ healthy development through the adolescent years (Meece, 2003). Thus, ignoring the developmental needs of students in school might result in the students developing a wrong notion of school until adulthood. Students’ eagerness and motivation to go to high school may decline as they go through their first year in high school if they may still lack the interaction they need to become familiar with and to be exposed to the high school’s norms and environment (Eccles & Midgley, 1989) (Barone, Aguirre-Deandreis, & Trickett, 1991). First year students tend to become lost in the “new world” they are in (Mizelle, 1995; Phelan, Yu, & Davidson, 1994) as they are expected to be more independent in high school, with less spoon-feeding of information and more application of good study habits. The new first year students are expected to be more mature as they deal with new classroom subjects, adopt a better value system, and be more proactive in all classroom activities, both extra- and co-curricular. Dealing with new and sometimes unfamiliar lessons, numerous projects and deadlines, adjusting in a new environment and taking on a different and new culture contribute to low marks in some of their subjects (Baronne, Aguirre-Deandreis, & Trickett, 1991). If not remedied, the students would lose their motivation to...
Words: 24959 - Pages: 100
...Stress Students attending college are subjected to varying amounts of stress depending on what classes they enroll in from semester to semester. But the classes a student takes is not where the stress begins it really begins when a student even thinks about going to college. Then when they start registering for classes and applying for financial aid the stress level is multiplied. Another huge stress factor for students is also when they must live on campus away from home for the first time and around complete strangers. Yet even another high stress factor for college students is trying to maintain a high grade point average. Before a student is able to enroll into the classes that they want, they have to stress over the application process of the college that they want to attend. The prospective student has to fill out a mountain of paperwork that is contained in the college packet. At some colleges students even have to write an essay along with their application. Even after all this paperwork there is still the overwhelming amount of paperwork required for applying for financial aid to complete. After the packets of paperwork for admissions and for financial aid are completed there is still the long drawn out process of waiting for a response from the student’s college of choice to contact them to let them know if they have been accepted into the school and if they have been approved for financial aid. Each day that the potential student has to wait seems like an eternity...
Words: 937 - Pages: 4
...First-generation college students are defined as students who are from a family where no parent or guardian has earned a baccalaureate degree, a common definition used in most studies (Soria & Steepleton 2012; Choy 2001). Roughly, one third or 32% of undergraduate students are first-generation college students (National Postsecondary Student Aid Study [NPSAS] 2012). It is important we understand the needs of first-generation college students as the number of students entering college increases (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2009) and colleges push to increase retention and graduation rates (U.S. Department of Education, 2009). This essay will argue that retention rates of first-generation college students are much lower compared...
Words: 1109 - Pages: 5
...where the students seemed uninterested, too talkative, or even worse a blow up occurred and nothing got accomplished. Thankfully the average combined with the positive days outshine my negative days. Through my 3 months of practice teaching, one event stands above the rest as my absolute best teaching experience. Through it I learned so much about teaching and dealing with students. My hope is that the student involved was at least partially changed for the better from the experience as I was. I also hope that there is something in this story that can help inform and inspire you. Being a student teacher is not an easy task. Lots of demands from your mentors must be attained. High expectations are given to you. There are lots of tears that were shed due to remake of lesson plans, grades, and mentors' comments. you must be strong in meeting the hardship of being a student teacher but I do believe that through the hardship I've experienced inside ILS will mold me to be a best teacher someday. All my sufferings will be all worth when I'll be in the real battle field as being a teacher. One thing I could say about my learners is that they are very noisy during our first met. there are times that they did not respect their student teachers, thus, it creates a gap and hate between us (student teachers) and them. As days went by, I've learned that even though they are very stubborn they are still sweet and lovable in their own little ways. To my fellow student teachers...
Words: 4174 - Pages: 17
...QUESTION 3:Financial performance indicators or measurement for public tertiary education institutions In 2010 financial performance of tertiary education institutions generally improved compared to the previous year. Operating surplus clearly increased and there were slight increases in working capital and liquid assets. Net cash flow was unchanged from 2009. Indicator Description Key financial performance indicators for tertiary education institutions – operating surplus; liquid assets; working capital; and net cash flow. Why This Is Important The operating surplus of an institution provides it with the opportunity to invest or reinvest funds in further teaching, research and student learning and to provide something of a safety margin against budget variations and other untoward events. It is helpful to express the operating surplus (or deficit) as a percentage of income, to give the return on income or operating margin. The public tertiary education sector typically produces a relatively low return on income. The level of return varies according to many institutional circumstances, including capitalisation levels, depreciation levels, the extent of plant or equipment leasing, development strategies and overall efficiency of operation. Generally, however, an operating surplus of 3% or more is regarded by the Ministry of Education as an indicator of adequate financial health. Liquid assets, working capital, and net cash flow are also important indicators of the financial...
Words: 2547 - Pages: 11
...tests are formal assessments because the tests are given in the same manner every time. They are fixed choice tests. It is a published achievement test. These are assessments that have been made to allow students to answer a vast amount of questions in a short time period. Since these tests are standardized they will all be the same unless there are different versions of the same test with the questions in different order. By using the same tests the answers can be machine scored. There will not be any mistakes due to grading error. They are convenient to assess student’s knowledge. These are the advantages of using standardized tests. With any given test there are some disadvantages to them, even those designed to be the best. Since standardized tests are fixed choices tests, they can exaggerate accurate information and minimal level skills at the sacrifice of advanced order problem solving and conceptual skills. They also take away from teaching time. These tests usually last a few hours, and during this time students are not learning. Standardized tests also do not assess the same curriculum. Every state has its own curriculum that it follows. Therefore not all students have learned the material that is given on standardized tests. It can also direct instruction to be conflicting with current comprehension of cognition and learning that accentuates the significance of engaging students in the interpretation of knowledge and their own comprehension rather that the...
Words: 1564 - Pages: 7
