Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Measuring the impact of a university first-year experience program on student GPA and retention

  • Published:
Higher Education Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In 1997 a medium-size Midwestern public university in the U.S. initiated a first year experience program. The program is designed to infuse added curricular and extracurricular components into core courses in an effort to integrate students into the university community. This article examined the FYE impact on grade point average (GPA) and retention after 1 year for the fall 2006 cohort of entering students. The findings suggest no positive FYE effect on retention, but on average FYE students earned higher GPAs than non-FYE students. Reducing the sample to include only courses identified as goal compatible FYE courses yielded a positive effect on retention and also accentuated the GPA differential. The estimated positive FYE impact on retention was larger for below average students (especially females) and smaller for above average students.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. The timing of orientation is important because FYE course availability may be limited for students who attended later orientation sessions.

References

  • ACT. (2007). http://www.act.org/research/policymakers/pdf/retain_trends.pdf.

  • Barefoot, B. O. (2000). The first-year experience: Are we making it any better? About Campus, 5, 12–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crissman, J. L. (2001–2002). The impact of clustering first year seminars with english composition courses on new students’ retention rates. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory and Practice, 3(2), 137–152.

    Google Scholar 

  • Day, J. C., & Newburger, E. C. (2002). The big payoff: Educational attainment and synthetic estimates of work-life earnings. Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fidler, P. P., & Moore, P. S. (1996). A comparison of effects of campus residence and freshman seminar attendance on Freshman dropout rates. Journal of the Freshman Year Experience, 8(2), 7–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodman, K., & Pascarella, E. T. (2006). First-year seminars increase persistence and retention: Evidence from how college affects students. Peer Review: Emerging Trends and Key Debates in Undergraduate Education. The Association of American Colleges and Universities, 8(3), 26–28.

  • Hendel, D. D. (2006–2007). Efficacy of participating in a first-year seminar on student satisfaction and retention. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory and Practice, 8(4), 413–423.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hotchkiss, J. L., Moore, R. E., & Potts, M. M. (2006). Freshman learning communities, college performance and retention. Education Economics, 14(2), 197–210. doi:10.1080/09645290600622947.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pascarella, E. T., & Terenzini, P. T. (2005). How college affects students: A third decade of research (Vol. 2). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Boss.

    Google Scholar 

  • Porter, S. R., & Swing, R. (2006). Understanding how first-year seminars affect persistence. Research in Higher Education, 47(1), 89–109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Potts, G., Schultz, B., & Foust, J. (2003–2004). The effect of freshmen cohort groups on academic performance and retention. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory and Practice, 5(4), 385–395.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schnell, C. A., & Doetkott, C. D. (2002–2003). First year seminars produce long-term impact. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory and Practice, 4(4), 377–391.

    Google Scholar 

  • The College Board. (2005). Education pays. Washington, DC: The College Board.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tinto, V. (1987). Leaving college: Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tobolowsky, B. F., Mamrick, M., & Cox, B. E. (2005). The 2003 national survey on first-year seminars: Continuing innovations in the collegiate curriculum. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina, National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition.

    Google Scholar 

  • U.S. Department of Education. (2006). National Center for Education Statistics. http://www.nces.ed.gov/ipeds/.

  • U.S. News & World Report. (2008). U.S. News and World Report on college rankings. http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/about/weight_brief.php.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, 105 Garfield Avenue, P.O. Box 4004, Eau Claire, WI, 54702-4004, USA

    Eric Jamelske

Authors
  1. Eric Jamelske
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eric Jamelske.

Appendix A

Appendix A

Table A.1 Retention trends 1983–2007: Freshman to Sophomore year
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Jamelske, E. Measuring the impact of a university first-year experience program on student GPA and retention. High Educ 57, 373–391 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-008-9161-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-008-9161-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation