Navigating Academic Challenges: A Phenomenological Study of Undergraduate Students’ First-Year Experiences

<p>The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative inquiry is to understand (1) how undergraduate students conceptualize their experiences through the formal academic difficulty process during their first-year, (2) the critical supports and constraints that contributed to academic recovery, and (3) the role of belonging in students’ undergraduate experience after a formal academic difficulty standing during their first year. Through phenomenological inquiry, this research explores both the collective and individual experiences of 10 undergraduate students who received a formal academic difficulty notification from their institution during their first year. Study findings uncovered that the existing academic difficulty process is effective in students’ return to good academic standing, however, may not buffer against psychological implications that influences students’ self-perceptions of belonging. This study is intended for practitioners, administrators, and scholars, by providing recommendations to improve the academic difficulty process, such as leveraging sense of belonging and engaging students in the campus community, to create a high-touch structure of support for first-year students’ navigating the formal academic difficulty process.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Education, PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

Restricted to Claremont Colleges Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

School of Educational Studies

Year dc:date.available

2026

Author dc:creator

• Huddlestun, Danielle Christine

Contributors dc:contributor

• Emilie Reagan
• Frank Harris III

• academic recovery
• belonging
• college transition
• motivation
• qualitative research
• undergraduate students
• Education
• Educational Psychology
• Higher Education

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/1104

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarship.claremont.edu:cgu_etd-2126