In this study, campus involvement, faculty mentorship, motivational beliefs (self-efficacy and utility value), and sense of belonging were examined as potential predictors of African-American college student academic persistence. Participants (n = 139) in the study were African-American college students from a large-urban university. Separate…

At community colleges, student preparedness for college-level work is a significant initial barrier. Over 70% of community college students are reported to be inadequately prepared for college mathematics. Because students need to pass college-level math in order to enroll in subsequent courses required for their majors or to complete general…

At two-year public community colleges, the 2011 three-year persistence rate was 23.9%. From 1988 to 2006, between 40% and 60% of all first-time community college students were referred to and enrolled in at least one developmental education course. More students begin college underprepared in mathematics than any other subject area, and only about…

With over 15 million students enrolling in institutes of higher education, it is critical to understand the factors that lead to course completion and graduation. This becomes especially important when considering students with disabilities, as this is historically a vulnerable population. Modern technology and online classes may be one way to…

Guided by the work of Hurtado and Carter (1997) as an alternative to Tinto's theory of student departure (1993), the purpose of this quantitative study was to explore the relationship of institutional and cultural factors to satisfaction with academic advising, sense of belonging to campus and retention among international undergraduate…

Low participation and completion rates in the science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) careers are a world-wide concern. This study tracked American college students over a 5-year period and identifies factors that lead to choosing a STEM major and in turn successfully earning a STEM degree. Characteristics of female and minority…

Previous studies have shown the impact of parental involvement on a number of student achievement, motivation, and engagement outcomes, but the extent to which parental involvement influences high school completion and postsecondary attendance has received less attention in the literature. Filling that gap, this study replicates and extends…

The framework for this study used Tinto's (1975) theoretical framework for student persistence and incorporated the examination of high school wealth, the absence of poverty, as measured by the percentage of students receiving Federal Free and Reduced Lunch, along with North Carolina Department of Public School performance measures, academic…

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine the impact of a first-year seminar (FYS) course on the success of community college developmental students as it relates to the years 2011-2014. Student success was examined by persistence, retention, and grade point average. Student success was also examined by selected demographic variables…

Grateful people experience more psychological well-being, social connectedness, and feelings of personal accomplishment, along with less burnout. They also use more adaptive approach-oriented coping strategies. Thus, we hypothesized that trait gratitude and grateful coping strategies would be associated with various indicators/predictors of…

This research study examined the 2006 cohort of First-Time-in-College students from all 23 community colleges in Virginia. The goal was to examine fall-to-fall persistence and success in the first college-level mathematics course. Predictor variables used were developmental status, age, gender, and race and ethnicity of the student. Interaction…

This study examined how self-efficacy and motivation affected student persistence at an urban community college. Self-efficacy was studied at two dimensions: self-regulated learning efficacy and self-efficacy for academic achievement. Motivation was also investigated at two levels: intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Results show that…

According to Kram's mentor role theory, satisfaction with mentoring and mentorship quality are key indicators of effective and successful mentoring. We contribute to mentoring research by demonstrating the relative importance of mentorship quantity, mentorship quality, and satisfaction with mentoring to the prediction of job satisfaction,…

Many U.S. universities are concerned with student retention. The current study surveyed 237 first time college students at a Midwestern university to determine the extent to which social-cognitive factors, such as high school GPA, ACT scores, first semester college GPA, college self-efficacy and perceptions of mentorship support influence…

Transfer students make up a significant portion of the student body in higher education today; yet, representation of their college experiences and outcomes in the literature seems sparse. This study explored transfer students to determine whether their level of engagement and belonging in college was related to their academic motivation. We…