Studying the Impact of First-Year Seminar Completion on First-Generation Academic Success

<p>Of the first-time undergraduate students who enroll full-time at a four-year institution of higher education, only about half will complete a degree within six years (Kena et al., 2016), and this figure is even lower for those students whose parents did not attend college (Choy, 2001; Nuñez & Cuccaro-Alamin, 1998; Warburton, Bugarin, & Nuñez, 2001). The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of first-year seminars in increasing the academic success of first-generation college students. The study utilized OLS regressions, logit regressions, and predicted probabilities to examine the effects of first-year seminar completion on four elements of academic success of the firstgeneration student population: first-year grade point averages, first to second-year retention, four-year graduation rates, and six-year graduation rates. The study found that first-generation students who complete the first-year seminar course have higher firstyear GPAs, are more likely to return to the institution after their first year, and are more likely to graduate within six years compared to those who do not complete the first-year seminar. Completion of the first-year seminar does not significantly influence four-year graduation rates. The effects of completing a first-year seminar course on grade point averages, retention, and graduation are not significantly different for first-generation college students compared to continuing-generation college students.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Interdisciplinary Studies

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Multi-Disciplinary Program

Year dc:date.available

2016

Author dc:creator

• Middleton, Amber

Contributors dc:contributor

• Lee W. Payne
• Timothy Clipson
• Steve Westbrook

• First-year seminar
• Freshman seminar
• Higher education
• Academic persistence
• First-generation
• Continuing-generation
• Higher Education Administration
• Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/65

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.sfasu.edu:etds-1049