Course Project Background: Analysis of Structure and Dynamics

I have attached the instructions and a paper as a guide.  Please help with this assignment.

Course Project Background: Analysis of Structure and Dynamics

Be sure to address the following questions in your analysis:

In Week 3, you gathered information on best practices, providers, and target populations. This week you will complete the background research for your white paper by analyzing the structure and dynamics of student support (who is providing what kinds of services to which groups of students) and identify gaps that could impede student success.

· Are providers concentrated in one area of the institution (academic, student affairs, administration, etc.)? Is there evidence of collaboration between different areas? If so, describe those collaborative efforts.

· How many and what kinds of programs/services are targeted at first-year students? Can other practices be adapted for that population?

· Based on your knowledge of student persistence and retention theory, where do you see gaps in service?

10

Week 5 Application: Structure of Best Practices

Walden University

June 8, 2017

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for

EDUC – 6263- 2

Dr. Margaret Dam

1

Abstract

Student support services are required for students to succeed in higher education. Programs and support services are especially needed in the first year of college, when students are most likely to drop out of college. This paper looks at the changing structure of student support services, provides example of collaborative support programs for first-year students designed to address issues with transition into college and retention, and discusses gaps in student support services.

Background

Student support services have been demonstrated to be an essential component for student success in higher education (Bridges, 2008). This holds especially true for minorities, students who are financially disadvantaged, and first generation students (Savitz-Romer, Jager-Hyman, & Coles, 2009). There students are more likely to be under-prepared when they enter into higher education, and are more likely to drop out (Savitz-Romer, Jager-Hyman, & Coles, 2009). This paper looks at the traditional structure of student support services, provides example of collaborative support programs designed to address issues faced by first year students, and discusses gaps in student support services.

Structure of Support Services and Providers

Student support services and programs take many forms. According to Tinto & Pusser (2006), student success is encouraged by academic, social, and financial support. In terms of support for first-year students, some of the forms academic support may take include remedial education for under-prepared students, tutoring and additional help with coursework, and study groups (Tinto & Pusser, 2006). Social support for first-year students may be provided through counseling and advising, mentoring, and student centers for certain demographic groups and minority students (Tinto & Pusser, 2006). Financial support may be provided by institutional staff who assist students navigating through the available resources to apply for financial aid, scholarships, grants, or work-study programs.

Traditionally, different groups, as described above, have held the responsibility for providing student support services, and institutional staff provided support for students through academic, financial and career advising, and faculty and instructors took the lead in providing students with academic support (Laureate Education, 2011). However, research has indicated that successful institutions have instructors and staff, especially student affairs staff, which collaborate to provide students with sufficient support and support services (Kinze & Kuh, 2007).  In addition to collaborating and coordinating in regards to advising to provide students with more responsive and intensive support services, instructors and staff at successful institutions play dual roles in which faculty also serve as advisors (Kinze & Kuh, 2007).  This allows for more opportunities for interaction and observation of both academic and social progress and for more useful individualized advising (Kinze & Kuh, 2007). Support is most productive when it is not provided separately from the learning environment (Tinto & Pusser, 2006). There has been a shift away from the traditional delineation of who provides which support services, and we now see support service programs with more overlap in providers and more collaboration with faculty and staff and across institutional units (Kinze & Kuh, 2007).

Collaborative Programs and Services for First Year Students

Transition programs are important for first year-students (Hunter, 2006). For first-year students, entering into higher education is comparable to being thrust into a novel culture, where the rules, expectations, workings, environment, traditions, and language are different (Hunter, 2006). Student support services in the first year of college are crucial in order to retain students as this is when they are most likely to drop out (Tinto, 1988). Many economically disadvantaged students and students who are the first in their family to attend college use community college as an entry point into the higher education system (Whitmire & Esch, 2010). Unfortunately, for many of these students their experiences and circumstances do not lend themselves to achievement, as they face financial issues, conflicting work and family obligations, and find themselves underprepared for the academic expectations of the school (Whitmire & Esch, 2010). In order to address these issues, Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) introduced a transition and retention program called Pathway to the Baccalaureate in order to provide students at risk of not enrolling or not persisting in college with support when entering into community college (Whitmire & Esch, 2010). High school students are recruited into the program and provided with intensive counseling services to help them navigate their entry into community college (Whitmire & Esch, 2010). Support services include information on financial resources, registration, assessment testing, and completing the necessary paperwork (Whitmire & Esch, 2010). Once students are enrolled, the retention aspect of the Pathways program is initiated and collaboration between faculty and student support staff plays an important role. There is an early alert system for students who are underperforming academically, learning communities, remedial skills classes, and a required class that teaches skills for college success (Whitmire & Esch, 2010). The focus is not only on academic support however, and required intensive counseling support continues following enrollment and includes transfer and career counseling (Whitmire & Esch, 2010). Students in the program not only have higher attainment rates, they also perform better academically than students not in the program (Whitmire & Esch, 2010). Collaboration is the key to the success of the program, between faculty and staff, between departments within the college (e.g., both financial and academic advising are provided by the same staff member), and between institutions, because the program would not be possible without the support of the high schools where students are recruited.

While retention is a part of the Pathways program, there are specific first-year services designed with retention in mind, such as learning communities. Learning communities are another type of first-year program dependent on the collaboration between faculty and student support staff (Tinto, 1999). According to Tinto (1998), the structure of these communities promotes collaboration and teamwork amongst instructors and support staff as they must meet frequently and work together as both supervise aspects of the learning communities. Learning communities consist of a group of students who move through the college experience together, enrolled in the same classes they form a cohort that can study, learn, and progress simultaneously, around a specific theme (Tinto, 1996; Tinto 1998). Learning communities can provide students with a unified first-year experience, allow for team learning, collaboration, and accountability, while providing academic and peer support systems (Tinto, 1996; Tinto 1999). Students in learning communities demonstrate higher retention in continuing into their sophomore year of college, even when confounding and demographic factors are considered (Kuh, Cruce, Shoup, Kinzie, & Gonyea, 2008). Learning communities are successful retention programs because higher involvement and interaction, both academically and socially, leads to persistence (Tinto, 1998).

At Kingsborough Community College, students may be placed in learning communities that last from two to five semesters (Kingsborough Community College, n.d). The learning communities for entering students include a first-year seminar. (Kingsborough Community College, n.d). The college has recently created other learning communities for students in their sophomore year and beyond (Kingsborough Community College, n.d). These communities are organized around themes such as career opportunities, or English as a second language (Kingsborough Community College, n.d). Regardless of which year the student is in, each semester requires students complete a collaborative assignment that integrates all they learned throughout the semester (Kingsborough Community College, n.d). Research has indicated the learning communities are successful in student retention (Kingsborough Community College, n.d). Kingsborough notes the success of its leaning communities are due to “college-wide collaborations involving administrators and staff from Academic Affairs; Student Affairs; the Office of the Registrar; the Office of Institutional Research, Assessment, and Planning; and the Center for Academic Writing Success, among others, as well as faculty across Academic Departments, including the Library” (Kingsborough Community College, n.d, p. 1).

Gaps in Services

While many higher education institutions offer student support services, there are some gaps and limitations to services. Students need to be aware of these services in order to benefit from them, and many are not cognizant of available services, or lack the time to utilize them (Weissman et al., 2009). Additionally, the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) indicated that there is a need for student support services that focus on responsibilities students face that are not academic (Weissman et al., 2009), such as family and work responsibilities, which often compete and conflict with school responsibilities. Available student services are also limited by numbers of available faculty and staff, which results in a high student to advisor ratio and impacts the quality and extent of individualized services students receive (Weissman et al., 2009).

Conclusion

Student support services are needed to help students achieve success in higher education (Bridges, 2008), especially for minority students, low-income students, and first generation students (Savitz-Romer, Jager-Hyman, & Coles, 2009). Programs and support services are especially needed in the first year of college, when students are most likely to drop out (Tinto, 1988). Collaborative support programs for students entering college are needed to assist students in the transition into higher education and provide continual support so they remain enrolled.

References

Bridges, B. K. (2008). Student Support Services: A Practice Brief Based On BEAMS Project Outcomes. Institute for Higher Education Policy.

Hunter, M. S. (2006). Fostering student learning and success through first-year programs. Peer Review, 8(3), 4.

Kuh, G. D., Cruce, T. M., Shoup, R., Kinzie, J., & Gonyea, R. M. (2008). Unmasking the effects of student engagement on first-year college grades and persistence. The Journal of Higher Education, 79(5), 540-563.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive producer). (2011). Best practices for student success: Faculty and staff roles in student success. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Savitz-Romer, M., Jager-Hyman, J., & Coles, A. (2009). Removing roadblocks to rigor: Linking academic and social supports to ensure college readiness and success (Research report). Washington, DC: Institute for Higher Education Policy. Retrieved from

http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED509545

Tinto, V. (1988). Stages of student departure: Reflections on the longitudinal character of student leaving. The Journal of Higher Education, 59(4), 438-455.

Tinto, V. (1998). Colleges as communities: Taking research on student persistence seriously. The review of higher education, 21(2), 167-177.

Tinto, V. (1999). Taking retention seriously: Rethinking the first year of college. NACADA journal, 19(2), 5-9.

Tinto, V., & Pusser, B. (2006). Moving from theory to action: Building a model of institutional action for student success. National Postsecondary Education Cooperative, 1-51.

Weissman, E., Cerna, O., Geckeler, C., Schneider, E., Price, D. V., & Smith, T. J. (2009). Promoting partnerships for student success: lessons from the SSPIRE initiative. New York, NY: Manpower Development Research Corporation.

Whitmire, R., & Esch, C. (2010). Pathway to the Baccalaureate: How One Community College is Helping Underprepared Students Succeed. New America Foundation.

Directions

As you are compiling your Week 5 Course Project, which is due on Sunday, October 11, you should certainly use pertinent information that you gained from your exploration of the three institutions that you wrote about in Week 3. You may add additional information as well if your subsequent research revealed other specific organizational structures that were effective and merit inclusion. I recommend headings to show transitions in your APA formatted paper. These headings should reflect the criteria in the three “bullets” in the assignment criteria. You must include programs from three colleges.

After the introduction, here are suggestions for headings:

· Structure of Providers

· Programs and Services for First Year Students (You may elect to have subheadings under this heading to describe specific programs.)

· Gaps in Service

· Conclusion

Running head: SUPPORT SERVICES FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS 1

SUPPORT SERVICES FOR COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY STUDENTS 11

Support Services for College and University Students

Student Name

Date

Support Services for College and University Students

Introduction

The transition from high school to post-high school education can be quite challenging. Students who seek higher education qualifications have to change in many ways to adapt to the institution they join for post-high school education. Students are exposed to many new things at once, and this can be overwhelming. Research has revealed that most students drop out during their first year of college in comparison to drop outs of other years (Perchinunno, Bilancia & Vitale, 2019). It is safe to conclude that the transition process is quite cumbersome for many students seeking higher education, especially those who do not have support from friends and families. Minorities and first-generation students are the hardest hit as they try to juggle school life and their away-from school life. To reduce the number of students who drop out of college, various universities have introduced programs and services to support higher education students. This paper analyzes the challenges students get as they transition from high school to college, the services, programs available for college students to help with the transition process, and the effectiveness of the services and programs.

Challenges that students face when they join colleges or universities

There are five main challenges that students face when they join schools for their post-high school education. Top on the list is academic challenges. For most colleges and universities, their courses or programs require significantly much more effort than high school classes. According to Brady, Hard, and Gross (2018), colleges often pack two years’ worth of learning content into a single year. The majority of students take between 15 and 21 credit semesters, which is challenging for learners to do comfortably. The study demands push learners to consider dropping out of school to escape the demands.

The second challenge is money. Tuition costs in the nation and the world for higher education have been rising at alarmingly high rates. Furthermore, the costs of supplies, meals, textbooks, and transportation are also high. Many students drop out of school every year simply because they cannot afford the cost of completing school (Goldrick-Rab, 2016). Some students have been noted to opt to study part-time to get jobs to make ends meet. The majority of students do not graduate debt-free due to the financial demands of post-high school education.

The third challenge students face as they transition from high school to college is working while in school. To afford the high price of university tuition, many students get full-time jobs. Juggling a full-time job, 15 to 21 credits, and sports team or clubs strains many students. Trying to keep up with studies after a long day at work is challenging, leading to students not getting enough sleep. The strain of keeping up with work and study commitments causes many students to reconsider the worth of post-high school education. Furthermore, the strain leads to poor health, which can lead to further financial strain.

The fourth challenge that students face when they join colleges or universities is homesickness. According to Sun and Hagedorn (2016), first-year students are the most affected by homesickness. Some students have to go through many states to attend college. Some even have to seek a college education in other nations. The difference in culture, weather, and climate and the lack of friends make it hard for students to concentrate in school when they are in the first year of studies.

The fifth challenge is depression. Handling academic obligations, work duties, and being away from a familiar environment has contributed to the depression rates in students (Cooper et al., 2020). The majority of college students take up drinking and partying as a way to cope with their depression. Unfortunately, substance abuse and alcohol consumption do not help with depression; they worsen depression. When students are depressed, they find it hard to keep up with their studies and have a hard time in school.

The services and programs available to first-year students and all students, in general, to help with their coping with college studies.

Universities and colleges offer college tours to prospecting students as well as when new students join. The tours allow first-year students and prospective students to understand how colleges and universities run (Dmochowski et al., 2016). The students get to know where to access and enquire about different services and programs offered in their colleges. Furthermore, the students get to interact with older students who get to share with them their experiences. Moreover, the older students get to share the tricks and measures they have put in place to ensure that they keep up with school life and life in general.

First-year students are provided with online college forums. The students interact with other first years and other students in different stages of seeking post-high school education. The forums make it possible for students to know how to best cope in colleges, how to handle the financial constraints typical with college life, and how to make it through college with little hitches.

Joining college students are introduced to many programs run by their colleges. For example, there are anti-depression campaigns run by schools. The anti-depression campaigns share with the joining students what depression is and how students get depressed and how students can avoid getting depression, and how they can deal with depression. Through such programs, first-year students are taught on how to balance their lives to avoid depression. The programs offer counseling to students who are depressed or that believe that they are headed there.

Colleges not only in the United States but all over the world have alumni associations. The alumni associations help in the management of schools as well as in the mentoring of joining students. Schools create forums in which first years get to interact with the school’s alumni. The interaction forum helps in providing information that helps students cope with the stressful situations of college life. For example, a first-year can interact with an alumnus who will share how they coped with working fulltime and studying. Through the interaction, first-year students can know how best to juggle school and work, making it easy for them to complete their studies with little hitches.

Colleges are aware that it is easy for first-years to fall behind in studies due to transitioning challenges. College administration knows that adjusting from high school to college is severe for students who do not have support from friends or families. To reduce the likelihood of first-year students dropping out of school and prevent further lagging in academics, colleges have academics tracking programs. The programs track students that are struggling with their studies. Students who are identified as struggling are summoned by their deans, where they interact and share their experiences and challenges regarding college life. Through the interactive sessions, deans and college faculty advise first-year students to cope with the school and keep them in check.

The identified programs and services for first-year students and other students, in general, are good, but they are not sufficient in helping students cope with the challenges of college life. The majority of colleges and universities offer generalized programs and services. Also, the students have to seek out the services to benefit from them. To ensure that the timid students are also cared for, colleges ought to set up mentoring programs. All first-year students should be paired up with a mentor where the mentor can be a faculty member, an older student, or an alumnus of the college. The individualized mentoring program will play a significant role in ensuring that all first-year needs and concerns are addressed. Also, first-year students will be able to cope and adapt advice from their mentors, making their transition from high school to college much more bearable.

The concentration of student services providers

The majority of the services available for students focus on two main areas: academics and mental health. Students get many services and programs that advise them on getting extra credit (Pierce, 2017). Furthermore, they get much advice on how they can manage their tuition fee. Moreover, in the last ten years, there has been a focus on mental health, and colleges and universities have taken it upon themselves to advocate for mental health. Consequentially, many programs and services are running that advocate for proper mental health by campaigning and offering advice on depression, anxiety, and addictions. To protect their students’ mental health status, colleges are collaborating with healthcare providers to offer student- tailored health services.

There is a need for colleges and other college and university stakeholders to look at other programs other than those that affect academics and mental health. There is a need for them to consider education and to advise students on financial matters. They need to offer as much advice and counseling on the use of money, considering that most college students do not graduate debt-free. By focusing on finances, colleges and stakeholders will offer students an opportunity to learn financial management and influence how they acquire and spend money (Latham, Ringl & Hogan, 2020). Consequentially, less number of students will be challenged by finance matters.

Another area that college administration and stakeholders need to focus on is the delivery of services geared to help college students in relationships. Relationships stress many college students. Many students have reported that it is hard for them to make friends, whereas some have confessed that they find it challenging to maintain romantic relationships. The lack of relationships and poor relationship management negatively affects students’ abilities to concentrate on their studies. Stressed students fail in their academics and, at times, start considering dropping out of school. By offering collaborative services with counselors, college administrators can equip learners with skills to navigate past college relationships and equip learners with the knowledge to handle after school relationships.

Gaps in the service

As of the moment, the existing services and programs are not sufficient enough to handle all the significant challenges that college students encounter in the quest to get higher education. There is a need for service providers and colleges to think of ways to ensure that as many students cope with college life. The primary duty of colleges and universities is to offer students education, and by having many students drop out of school, colleges fail in their primary duty. Three main gaps exist in delivering services that can help students more so first-year college students cope with college life challenges. By sealing the gaps, college and students will edge closer to achieving their primary education delivery goal.

The first gap is that colleges and universities do not offer individual-tailored services to meet students’ unique challenges. College and university administrators offer blanket-like services that are general. By offering such services, the institutions only cater to the brave students to look for the services and programs openly. Timid students are not catered for in the current existing services and programs.

The second gap is that the currently offered services and programs only cater to students’ academics and mental health. Other matters that affect students are not catered for in the services. For example, higher education institutions rarely offer services that touch on sexuality and relationships despite the topics being hot topics in students’ lives. The failure to address topics like sexuality and relationships, higher education institutions overlook the supporting factors for quality education (Banyard et al., 2020). There is a need for the institution to offer such services for them to offer wholesome education; education that is focused on being book smart and focused on being street and life smart.

Conclusion

The transition from high school to post-high school education can be quite challenging. Students who seek higher education qualifications have to change in many ways to adapt to the institution they join for post-high school education. Students are exposed to many new things at once, and this can be overwhelming. Higher education institutions have a role in ensuring that students easily cope with the transition process and adapt to college life’s ever-demanding schedule. Higher education institutions need to offer more support services other than those that they are offering at the moment. The institutions need to partner with other organizations and individuals to offer wholesome education.

References

Banyard, V. L., Demers, J. M., Cohn, E. S., Edwards, K. M., Moynihan, M. M., Walsh, W. A., & Ward, S. K. (2020). Academic correlates of unwanted sexual contact, intercourse, stalking, and intimate partner violence: An understudied but important consequence for college students. Journal of interpersonal violence, 35(21-22), 4375-4392. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0886260517715022

Brady, S. T., Hard, B. M., & Gross, J. J. (2018). Reappraising test anxiety increases academic performance of first-year college students. Journal of Educational Psychology, 110(3), 395. Retrieved from https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2017-57283-001

Cooper, K. M., Gin, L. E., Barnes, M. E., & Brownell, S. E. (2020). An exploratory study of students with depression in undergraduate research experiences. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 19(2), ar19. Retrieved from https://www.lifescied.org/doi/full/10.1187/cbe.19-11-0217

Dmochowski, J. E., Garofalo, D., Fisher, S., Greene, A., & Gambogi, D. (2016). Integrating sustainability across the university curriculum. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJSHE-10-2014-0154/full/html

Goldrick-Rab, S. (2016). Paying the price: College costs, financial aid, and the betrayal of the American dream. University of Chicago Press.

Latham, C. L., Ringl, K., & Hogan, M. (2020). Transforming Students’ Educational Experience Through Cultural Mindedness, Peer Mentoring, and Student Input. Journal of Nursing Education, 59(4), 194-202. Retrieved from https://www.healio.com/nursing/journals/jne/2020-4-59-4/%7B51b57a7b-275c-4da8-9e9a-53112944bcac%7D/transforming-students-educational-experience-through-cultural-mindedness-peer-mentoring-and-student-input

Perchinunno, P., Bilancia, M., & Vitale, D. (2019). A Statistical Analysis of Factors Affecting Higher Education Dropouts. Social Indicators Research, 1-22. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11205-019-02249-y

Pierce, D. (2017). The rise of dual enrollment. Community College Journal, 87(5), 16-24.

Sun, J., & Hagedorn, L. S. (2016). Homesickness at college: Its impact on academic performance and retention. Journal of College Student Development, 57(8), 943-957. Retrieved from https://muse.jhu.edu/article/638559/summary