The Impact of Faculty and Staff on High-Risk College Student Persistence

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the attitudes and behaviors of faculty and staff that impact the success and persistence of highrisk students. Using an exploratory qualitative approach, 62 successful high-risk students from nine different colleges and universities were interviewed and asked to identify and describe someone on campus who had been most influential in their ability to persist. The 54 campus personnel who were identified by these students were interviewed twice to learn what they do to help students succeed and persist. Seven themes on how college personnel positively influence high-risk student success and persistence were identified.

Mentoring Undergraduate Students

“…Schreiner, Noel, Anderson, and Cantwell (2011) studied the mentoring experiences of at-risk students across nine institutions. Students were asked to identify someone on campus who had been influential in their ability to remain enrolled in college.…”

The work of faculty-in-residence: An introduction and literature review

“…A second group of studies has examined the impact that faculty-student engagement has had on specific student populations such as low-income, first generation, high-risk, and underrepresented racial/ethnic groups [17,44,45,59,62,72]. Researchers in these studies tended to agree that different populations needed different kinds of support to persist [59,72]; however, they disagreed about what type of faculty-student interaction were best when the student was a member of an underrepresented racial/ethnic group.…”

“…In this body of literature, scholars highlighted that such faculty members have made it a priority to interact with students, have viewed these relationships as part of their professional identity, and have genuinely enjoyed interacting with students [62]. Highly engaged faculty members held students to high expectations and invested an equal amount of effort themselves [15,41].…”

“…Many, for instance, have recommended that institutions adopt programs to promote consistent faculty-student engagement outside of the classroom setting and that those programs should emphasize quality of interaction over quantity [40,45,62,71]. In particular, a number of scholars have recommended that college and university administrators consider facilitating faculty-student interactions within an infrastructure of living-learning communities on campus [20,41].…”

Students with Physical Disabilities - Reflections on their Experiences with Work Preparation Programs, Services and Accommodations in a Higher Education Institution

“…Students who share personal characteristics with populations that do not have long histories of success in education may be considered at risk for failure in college (Schreiner, Noel, Anderson, & Cantwell, 2011). Researchers have also noted that SWPDs experience a higher attrition rate than their peers without disabilities (Bolt et al, 2011), likely due to the presence of an impairment that limits their life activities and affects persistence to graduation (Adams & Proctor, 2010).…”