Interventions in higher education and their effect on student success: a meta-analysis

Abstract

This article provides a meta-analysis on the effect of academic probation, student-faculty mentoring and need-based grants on various student outcomes. Using 25 (quasi-) experimental studies, we find that academic probation has a significant negative effect on retention (d = −.17), while it does not have an effect on graduation. Student-faculty mentoring, however, has a positive significant effect on both retention (d = .15) and graduation (d = .10). Need-based grants are proven to have a positive significant effect on enrollment (d = .05), retention (d = .05) and graduation (d = .05). Based on the general effect sizes of each intervention, student-faculty mentoring has the largest influence on student outcomes. The latter intervention improves retention and graduation of the treatment group by, respectively, 8% and 5% compared to the control group.