Academic advising, retention, and transfer

Abstract

As the only structured service on campus that guarantees students some kind of interaction with a concerned representative of the institution, academic advising is critical for student retention and successful transfer.Students come to two-year colleges with a variety of goals-to take a few classes for personal enrichment or specific job training, to earn a one-year certificate, to earn a two-year degree in preparation for employment, or for continued education in a four-year college or university. Those of us working in two-year colleges have a responsibility to help students achieve those goals.Students also come with a wide variety of backgrounds. Many are firstgeneration college students with little or no understanding of how colleges operate. Others are undecided about their education and career plans. Many are underprepared, needing remedial assistance in reading, writing, and mathematics before they can successfully tackle college-level courses. And there are sizable numbers of students from underrepresented populations. As Boyer (1988, p. 9) has noted, "Members of minorities who complete high school are more likely than white students to attend community colleges. These colleges enroll 55 percent of Native American college students, 43 percent of all blackstudents, and 42 percent of all Asian students who attend institutions of higher education in America." Further, many community college students are returning adults, and almost all are commuters.First-generation college students, racial minorities, students needing remediation, and commuting students each possess characteristics that have been linked to higher college attrition. Consequently, two-year colleges need strong support services to help students remain in the institutions and achieve their goals. Academic advising is perhaps the most critical of those services.Academic advising is the only structured service on our campuses that NEW

Desiring to Fit: Fostering the Success of Community College Transfer Students in STEM

“…The finding is complemented by a study conducted by King (1993) that revealed that academic advising at the community college positively impacted the social adjustment of transfer students in STEM.…”

Academic Advising and the Persistence Intentions of Community College Students in their First Weeks in College

“…Some of these obstacles have the potential to impact persistence decisions from the outset. Despite Barnett's (2011) observation that we need a greater focus on community college classroom practices related to persistence, it remains true that, at least for the first weeks, an entering community college student's experience is characterized as much by the classroom experience as it is by early procedures and processes such as registration, placement, orientation, financial aid, and particularly academic advising (King, 1993). Even seemingly less critical intake procedures have been connected to student persistence within the community college literature such as registration timing (Hale & Bray, 2011;Smith, Street, & Olivarez, 2002) and course adding and dropping behaviors (Hagedorn, Maxwell, Cypers, Moon, & Lester, 2007).…”

“…Among early intake activities, the role of academic advising in particular has been connected to student persistence (King, 1993;Young, Backer, & Rogers, 1989), even as relatively few studies have presented empirical evidence supporting these claims (Bailey & Alfonso, 2005). What evidence we do have is in fact sparse and largely based on student perceptions of the quality of advising (Elliott & Healy, 2001;Metzner, 1989;Metzner & Bean, 1987) and frequency of advising sessions (Shields, 1994;Swecker, Fifolt, & Searby, 2013) rather than the nature and scope of issues addressed and tasks completed during advising sessions.…”

Transfer seminar : a case study of transfer students' experiences at a private, four-year college in Brooklyn, New York, using Tinto's model of persistence

“…As such, academic advising has a direct impact on transfer student transition in a variety of ways. The support of faculty advisors and advising departments also plays a key role in helping students become integrated within the academic and social systems on campus (King, 1993).…”

“…Faculty and academic advising can be seen as the hub of the student services wheel, providing the linkages with other support services, such as career development, counseling centers, offices of financial aid, and tutoring services (King, 1993). In these ways, the faculty member of the Transfer Seminar would be positioned and prepared to assist transfer students in a variety of ways.…”