4-year Institutions Research Articles

Where and with whom does a brief social-belonging intervention promote progress in college?

A promising way to mitigate inequality is by addressing students' worries about belonging. But where and with whom is this social-belonging intervention effective? Here we report a team-science randomized controlled experiment with 26,911 students at 22 diverse institutions. Results showed that the social-belonging intervention, administered online before college (in under 30 minutes), increased the rate at which students completed the first year as full-time students, especially among students in groups that had historically progressed at lower rates. The college context also mattered: The intervention was effective only when students' groups were afforded opportunities to belong. This study develops methods for understanding how student identities and contexts interact with interventions. It also shows that a low-cost, scalable intervention generalizes its effects to 749 4-year institutions in the United States.

Spending at Baccalaureate-Granting Community Colleges: A Focus on Institutional Aid

ABSTRACT Community college baccalaureates (CCBs) provide an affordable pathway to baccalaureate-level education but increasing tuition rates present a potential financial barrier for students. Institutional aid as a cost-constraining mechanism has historically been less utilized in the 2-year sector when compared to traditional 4-year institutions. Yet, resource dependence theory and tuition discounting literature suggest amidst growth into 4-year institutions, community colleges may leverage institutional aid to address affordability concerns. Utilizing IPEDS data spanning 1999 to 2018 and leveraging a generalized difference-in-difference technique, this study explores the relationship between CCB adoption and institutional aid policy. Results suggest no distinct shifts in approaches to institutional aid after CCB adoption. Implications for practitioners and future research are discussed.

Moving Across 2-Year Institutions: Who Are Lateral Transfer Students? What Are Their Degree Outcomes?

Objectives/Research Question: This study aims to explore who transfers between 2-year colleges (lateral transfer students) and how these students fare in terms of degree attainment. More specifically, this research explores two research questions: (1) What are the predictors of lateral transfer? (2) Is lateral transfer associated with degree attainment outcomes, time to earn a degree, or cumulative loan debt by the sixth year? Methods: Using the Beginning Postsecondary Students 12:17 data, I compared lateral transfer students to students who never transferred (non-transfer students) to identify the predictors of lateral transfer and examine degree attainment outcomes. I used multinominal logit, logistic regressions, and inverse-probability-weighted regression adjustment matching models. Results: Lateral transfer students were more likely to be female and take college courses in high school than non-transfer students. Six years later, lateral transfer students were more likely to earn all types of college credentials, except for an associate degree, complete a degree more quickly, and still attend college if they had not yet earned a credential than non-transfer students. However, lateral transfer students took out a greater amount of federal loans than non-transfer students. Conclusions: Given the positive degree attainment outcomes, policymakers, and practitioners should reconsider the role of lateral transfer in the college completion agenda and pay more attention to why students make lateral transfers and the nature of their college pathways. This study suggests that lateral transfer has great potential to improve persistence and graduation for students who start their education at a community college.

Editors’ notes

New Directions for Student ServicesVolume 2023, Issue 181 p. 5-6 EDITORIAL Editors’ notes Lucy A. LePeau, Lucy A. LePeauSearch for more papers by this authorSamuel D. Museus, Samuel D. MuseusSearch for more papers by this author Lucy A. LePeau, Lucy A. LePeauSearch for more papers by this authorSamuel D. Museus, Samuel D. MuseusSearch for more papers by this author First published: 21 June 2023 https://doi.org/10.1002/ss.20457Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL No abstract is available for this article. REFERENCES Jayakumar, U. M., & Museus, S. D. (2012). Mapping the intersection of campus cultures and equitable outcomes among racially diverse student populations. In S. D. Museus & U. M. Jayakumar (Eds.), Creating campus cultures: Fostering success among racially diverse student populations (pp. 1– 27). Routledge. Kuh, G. D. (2008). High-impact educational practices: What they are, who has access to them, and why they matter: Association of American Colleges and Universities. Museus, S. D. (2014). The Culturally Engaging Campus Environments (CECE) Model: A new theory of college success among racially diverse student populations. In M. B. Paulsen (Ed.), Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research (Vol. 29, pp. 189– 227). Springer. Museus, S. D., Chang, T., & Zilvinskis, J. (2020). Merging cultural diversity and academic quality to (re)envision 21st century college campuses: The promise and power of culturally relevant high-impact practices in promoting racial equity in higher education. In C. B. Newman, C. S. Platt, A. A. Hilton, & B. Hinnant-Crawford (Eds.), Multicultural education in the 21st century: Innovative research and practices. Information Age Publishing. National Center for Education Statistics (2017). Graduation rate from first institution attended for first-time, full-time bachelor's degree-seeking students at 4-year postsecondary institutions, by race/ethnicity, time to completion, sex, control of institution, and acceptance rate: Selected cohort entry years, 1996 through 2008. Author. Volume2023, Issue181Special Issue: The Role of Culture and Identity in Making Practices High ImpactSpring 2023Pages 5-6 ReferencesRelatedInformation

Motivation, College Integration, and Intentions to Persist Among First-Generation College Students: A Latent Class Approach

The current study investigated the relationship between motivation to attend college, college integration, and persistence intentions among first-generation college students (FGCS). Participants consisted of 414 FGCS from two 4-year institutions in the mountain and southwestern regions of the United States. Through latent class analysis, this study 1) examined first-generation college students’ motivation profiles as characterized by intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, 2) described the characteristics of individuals in each motivation profile by examining the differences in personal characteristics across latent classes, and 3) examined the association between the outcome variables (i.e., college integration, commitment, and persistence intentions) and latent class membership. Three distinct profiles of college motivation among FGCS were observed, suggesting heterogeneous motivation orientations exist among the FGCS population. Students in the High Motivation group showed the most desirable outcomes among the three groups. Implications for career development theory, practice, and research are discussed.

Social Capital for Vertical Transfers: The Multidimensional Predictor of Post-Transfer Adjustment and Academic Performance

Vertical transfers, those who transferred from a 2-year institution to a 4-year institution, often face multifaceted challenges and lower success rates upon arriving at the receiving 4-year institutions. This quantitative study focused on three forms of social capital related to post-transfer adjustment, retention, and success for vertical transfers. The author administered an online survey to vertical transfers who successfully transferred from a 2-year college to a research-intensive, public, 4-year university located in a Southern state in the United States and matched the survey data with students' transcript data. A factor analysis discovered three distinct social capital constructs: transfer capital, 4-year faculty social capital, and 4-year staff social capital. Subsequent regression analyses revealed that 4-year faculty social capital positively predicted the post-transfer grade point average (GPA), while the transfer capital and 4-year staff social capital had a positive association with post-transfer social adjustment. Implications for policy, practice, and future research are discussed.

On the Tenuous Track: Unionization Efforts among Contingent Faculty at Private Colleges and Universities

This study examines unionization efforts among contingent faculty members, who now account for the majority of the academic workforce. Drawing on data from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and other sources, this article uses an event history analysis to identify factors associated with efforts to establish a contingent faculty union at private, 4-year institutions. Even after accounting for other state and institution characteristics, this study finds increased odds of contingent faculty unionization at institutions located in states where the legislature is more liberal and where more contingent faculty union certification elections have been held previously.

The Genomics Education Partnership: First findings on genomics research in community colleges.

The Genomics Education Partnership (GEP), a consortium of diverse colleges/universities, provides support for integrating genomics research into undergraduate curricula. To increase research opportunities for underrepresented students, GEP is expanding to more community colleges (CC). Genomics research, requiring only a computer with internet access, may be particularly accessible for 2-year institutions with limited research capacity and significant budget constraints. To understand how GEP supports student research at CCs, we analyzed student knowledge and self-reported outcomes. We found that CC student gains are comparable to non-CC student gains, with improvements in attitudes toward science and thriving in science. Our early findings suggest that the GEP model of centralized support with flexible CURE implementation benefits CC students and may help mitigate barriers to implementing research at CCs.

Access to Online Formative Assessments in Lower-Division Undergraduate Biology Courses: Investigating Barriers to Student Engagement.

Instructors use a variety of online formative assessment (FA) activities to support learning outside class. Previous studies have revealed barriers for students in online courses, but little is known about the barriers students experience when completing online FA assignments. Understanding these barriers to access is critical to fostering more inclusive learning for all students. Using a framework from previous work in online learning, we examined student perceptions of online FA access with respect to five barrier categories: technical resources, instructor organization, social interactions, personal engagement, and learning environment. We developed and administered a survey to more than 1200 undergraduate biology students at 2-year and 4-year institutions. Students responded to statements using Likert scales and open-ended prompts. Statistical models indicated differences in access across the barrier categories and revealed that demographic characteristics were associated with certain barrier categories. Furthermore, technical resources, instructor organization, and personal engagement barriers were associated with lower course performance. In open-ended responses, students most frequently suggested that changes to scheduling logistics, course delivery, and FA format would improve their online FA experience. We discuss how these findings and student suggestions can inform instruction, particularly how instructors can alter their FA characteristics to better suit their student populations.

Abstract 10976: Midlife Caregivers: At Risk for Cardiovascular Disease?

Introduction: Caregivers remain an invisible population that may be at increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) secondary to the additional stress of caregiving. Some groups of caregivers demonstrate as much as an 82% increased risk of CVD compared with non-caregivers. Purpose/Hypothesis: The purpose of this study was to describe characteristics of midlife caregivers from a large, publicly available dataset and to identify CVD risk factors among a subset of these caregivers. Methods: This was a secondary analysis of data from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study. The sample was limited to participants who reported caring for someone else. Data were collected using sociodemographic questionnaires and survey instruments. Key CVD risk factors examined were for a subset of caregivers with complete data for these variables: blood pressure (BP), cholesterol levels, body mass index (BMI), perceived stress (Cohen’s perceived stress scale [PSS]), depression (Centers for Epidemiological Studies Depression Inventory [CESD]), and anxiety (Spielberger Trait Anxiety Inventory). Results: In the overall sample of 417 midlife caregivers, the mean age was 52±13 years, 62.1% were female, 62.1% were married, and 18% graduated from a 4-year institution. The most common care recipient was the mother of the caregiver (24.2%), 52.3% lived with their care recipient, and the average number of care hours per week was 25.13 ± 27.23. Care given included help bathing, dressing, and toileting (55.4%), shopping, cooking, laundry, and housework (88.7%), and help with transportation in and out of the home (65.2%). Data regarding CVD risk factors were available for a subset of 66 caregivers. Of those, 71.2% were either overweight or obese, mean systolic BP was 128±20, mean diastolic BP was 78±11, 57.6% had high density lipoprotein cholesterol <60, low density lipoprotein >100 (48.5%), 31.8% had total cholesterol >200, and 13% had triglycerides >150. The average score on the PSS was moderate at 22.5±6.5. Mean depressive symptom score was 8.7±7 and mean anxiety was high at 34.9±9. Conclusions: Caregivers at midlife are a unique subgroup, often caring for parents, and show unfavorable levels of CVD risk factors such as low HDL, high LDL, and high perceived stress and anxiety.

Racial Equity in Transfer Incentive Policies: A Critical Mixed Methods Analysis

Objective/Research Question: This article examines the racial equity of transfer incentive policies by responding to the research question: How do students of differing races and ethnicities vary in their opportunity to benefit from transfer incentive policies? Methods: We utilized a mixed-methods approach, grounded in Critical Race Theory (CRT). This study included an analysis of state policies’ components and mechanisms to consider whether they are grounded in racially unjust assumptions. The critical policy analysis is combined with a QuantCrit analysis of national data from the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS) to understand how identified aspects of the policies would affect students of differing races/ethnicities. Results: Our critical policy discourse analysis demonstrates that states’ transfer incentive policies could foster racial inequity through the requirements students must meet (e.g., full-time status, being under the age of 24) and assumptions about what students may know or need regarding transfer. The QuantCrit analysis revealed that many transfer incentive requirements from the policy analysis findings would have a disproportionately negative effect on racially minoritized students’ transfer eligibility. Together, findings and results illustrate how transfer incentives can contribute to educational inequity for racially minoritized students via color-evasive and meritocratic policies. Conclusions/Contributions: Implications include policy reform needed for the development of incentives aligned with closing the racial transfer gap and focused on incentivizing 2- and 4-year institutions in improving the transfer rates of racially minoritized students.

When Patients Become Colleagues

When Patients Become Colleagues

“They Helped Me to Get Through”: Investigating Institutional Sources of Support at Two-Year Colleges that Facilitate the Transfer and Persistence of Black Engineering Students

Introduction: While a considerable amount of extant scholarship describes the importance of and strategies for improving the postsecondary pathways of Black engineering students, most literature is contextualized within 4-year institutions. Objectives: The purpose of this article is to illuminate Black engineering students’ experiences at community colleges in order to understand ways in which they engage different types of 2-year institutional support. Methods: We draw from data obtained through a series of focus groups and interviews facilitated between fall 2018 and fall 2019 with 13 engineering undergraduates. Results: Findings include evidence of important connections with faculty at 2-year colleges, such as positive engagement with them inside the classroom, as well as during office hours and general advising. In addition, we describe support from academic advisors regarding transfer pathways, as well as from campus staff who helped identify scholarships or other valuable resources on campus. Conclusion: We offer implications and conclusions that highlight the tremendous capacity of community colleges to support and educate future Black engineers. We also discuss the significance of underrepresented students of color working closely with faculty, adding that research to date notes that these interactions often tenuous for underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities. Finally, we discuss ways in which our results can inform the broader landscape of undergraduate engineering education, which—like other STEM fields—has often created unwelcoming and competitive environments that lead to student attrition for students from all demographic backgrounds.

Relative Impact of Values-Oriented and Mindset-Oriented Interventions on Academic Success of Introductory Biology Students Attending 2-Year or 4-Year Institutions.

Diversifying the STEM workforce is a national priority, yet white males continue to dominate the ranks of professional scientists and engineers in the United States. This is partly due to disparities in academic success for women and minoritized students in prerequisite introductory STEM courses, leading to higher attrition from B.S. degree programs. Past research has demonstrated that when social-psychological interventions targeting "stereotype threat" or "fixed" mindsets are implemented in STEM courses, equity gaps may be significantly reduced. We incorporated two such interventions into introductory biology courses for life science B.S. majors and Associate's degree allied health students taught at a regional research university and a community college. We observed no significant effects of the values-affirmation interventions on grade outcomes for students in any of the courses, regardless of students' gender identity, race/ethnicity, or first-generation status, suggesting that students, on average, were not experiencing stereotype threat on either campus. We found a significant positive association between completing more weekly reflective journal entries and higher mean content-based grades for students in the university majors course overall, especially first-generation students, although the association was significantly negative for women. Our results confirm that context matters when implementing interventions aimed at reducing achievement gaps, and we propose that educators assess their students' social-psychological characteristics and then select interventions accordingly.

Perception of the Bachelor of Applied Science degree at 4-year institutions: a look through the lens of university personnel

ABSTRACT Using Academic Plans in Sociocultural Context as a framework, this study examined university personnel’s perspectives of the Bachelor of Applied Science degrees. Through quantitative techniques, the findings from this study show university faculty and administrators associated with liberal arts education view Bachelor of Applied Science degrees differently than those associated with specialisation majors. It was also found that workforce demand was a strong predictor of university personnel’s support in the offering of a Bachelor of Applied Science. In addition, results suggest university personnel background characteristics, such as academic position and the type of courses taught, were associated with their support of the offering of a Bachelor of Applied Science. The findings of this study are informative to academic leaders, faculty, administrations, and policymakers who are interested in the development or revision of Bachelor of Applied science degrees at 4-year institutions.

MOCCA-College: Preliminary Validity Evidence of a Cognitive Diagnostic Reading Comprehension Assessment

As access to higher education increases, it is important to monitor students with special needs to facilitate the provision of appropriate resources and support. Although metrics such as the “reading readiness” ACT (formerly American College Testing) of provide insight into how many students may need such resources, they do not specify why a student may need support or how to provide that support. Increasingly, students are bringing reading comprehension struggles to college. Multiple-choice Online Causal Comprehension Assessment-College (MOCCA-College) is a new diagnostic reading comprehension assessment designed to identify who is a poor comprehender and also diagnose why they are a poor comprehender. Using reliability coefficients, receiver–operating characteristic curve analysis, and correlations, this study reports findings from the first year of a 3-year study to validate the assessment with 988 postsecondary students who took MOCCA-College, a subset of whom also provided data on other reading assessments (i.e., ACT, n = 377; Scholastic Aptitude Test [SAT], n = 192; and Nelson–Denny Reading Test [NDRT], n = 78). Despite some limitations (e.g., the sample is predominantly females from 4-year institutions), results indicate that MOCCA-College has good internal reliability, and scores are correlated with other reading assessments. Through a series of analyses of variance (ANOVAs), we also report how students identified by MOCCA-College as good and poor comprehenders differ in terms of demographics, cognitive processes used while reading, overall comprehension ability, and scores on admissions tests. Findings are discussed in terms of using MOCCA-College to help gauge which students may be at risk of reading comprehension difficulties, identify why they may be struggling, and inform directions in actionable instructional changes based on comprehension processing data.

Diversity in allied dental programs and community colleges.

Student retention is the most critical challenge facing most traditional 4- and 2-year institutions. Challenges related to student belonging and retention are among many that colleges must contend with daily. Once students arrive, they are met with an academic environment that may greatly differ from their high school and home experiences. There is evidence that classroom success is influenced by faculty tone setting and the overall campus climate. Other studies have shown that creating a sense of belonging on college campuses is essential. Classroom success can be moderated by relationships with faculty, especially with faculty of color and other minoritized groups. Given the predicted shortages of minority dental healthcare providers in the United States and the expanding diversity of the general population, it is important to recruit and retain an ethnically and culturally diverse allied dental workforce. The objectives of this research were to identify strategies to recruit underrepresented (underrepresented minority [URM]) students into health professions, understand the significance of underrepresented (URM) faculty's influence on the number of URM student recruitment, retention, and graduation rates, and how to implement best practices for overall minority student success.

A scoping review of brief alcohol interventions across young adult subpopulations.

Brief alcohol interventions (BAIs) have historically centered on young adults attending 4-year predominantly white institutions. The purpose of this scoping review is to determine BAIs evaluated among young adults with one or more marginalized/understudied racial, ethnic, sexual, gender, and military/Veteran identities and/or who are embedded in an understudied context based on houselessness, attending a 2-year institution, or not attending college. A secondary objective is to explore definitions of the constructs young adult and brief to inform subsequent systematic reviews. Sources had to be published in English between January 1, 1999 and December 31, 2019 and report the evaluation of an intervention ≤ 5 hr long, delivered over ≤ 4 weeks, among participants aged 18-30 years (or 16-30 in college contexts) within a specified marginalized/understudied subpopulation/context wherein alcohol use and/or consequences were a primary outcome. Systematic searches were conducted in APA PsycNet, the EBSCO Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, PubMed, Sociological Abstracts, and Web of Science. Screening was independently performed by two coders who also extracted data. Of 4,825 identified records, 158 provided data; 86 described interventions fitting our definition of brief; of these, only 21 met criteria based on our definition of young adult, with nine meeting full inclusion criteria based on young adult subpopulation. Findings signify a need for additional research evaluating BAIs among young adult subpopulations and highlight the importance of carefully defining and reporting participant characteristics. Increased attention to sociocultural considerations and strengths relevant to the diverse contexts and intersecting identities of young adults may strengthen extant BAIs and equitably mitigate alcohol-related harm. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Key Risk Indicators reloaded

Although Key Risk Indicators have been a staple for Operational Risk Management reports in financial institutions for years now, they are rarely drivers for action and their relevance is waning. The authors argue that, for Key Risk Indicators to become more relevant, they should be recast as predominantly business (first line of defence) driven and made practical rather than theoretical. After describing the current state of Key Risk Indicators and the future for such indicators in case no action is taken, an ideal situation is outlined and five recommendations are presented that serve as practical steps towards that ideal state.

The Link Between Financial Stress, Financial Precarity, and Educational Outcomes at Community Colleges

ABSTRACT In a time of increasing economic inequality, lower levels of government investment in higher education, and rising tuition costs, students vying for a college degree experience financial concerns as important influences on their college experience. An emerging body of literature has focused on the relationship between student finances and academic outcomes. This study sought to understand how community college student financial situations are linked to academic outcomes. Specifically, we examined whether financial stress and financial precarity are associated with students’ academic outcomes at 2-year institutions. Prior community college research on this topic has generally been limited to single institution studies. This study extends current research by using a multi-institutional dataset of 21 community colleges and accounting for multiple financial factors in our statistical models to describe community college students’ financial situations and knowledge in a nuanced manner. Financial stress and financial precarity emerged as significant predictors of several academic outcomes. Financial stress explained more variance in academic outcomes than several other financial and demographic variables in the models, including financial knowledge. We discuss the importance of developing research that is more nuanced in its approach to financial influences on community college student trajectories toward a degree.