Vertical transfer from community college to a university offers a promising, although unrealized, pathway to diversify STEM disciplines. Studying how successful transfer-receiving universities support STEM transfer students can offer insights into the institutional practices that promote transfer student retention and success. Using institutional data is crucial to identify vulnerable populations within the STEM transfer population and to design necessary changes in practice or policy, especially at the department level. Providing discipline-specific multidimensional support throughout STEM transfer students’ undergraduate careers can improve transfer rates and retention and ease students’ transition to the university. Although universities have developed promising practices and programs, support for STEM transfer students is not systematically available and should be more targeted, intentional, and comprehensive throughout the transfer and adjustment process.
more »
« less
Purposeful Pairings: Roommate Selection Impact on STEM Majors
The declining number of undergraduate students declaring a major in a Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math (STEM) field is a national challenge. While many policies and practices have been researched to promote STEM retention, one area that lends itself to study is that of roommate pairings. This mixed-methods research investigates how policies impact first-year students adapting to university life, how their social-emotional needs can be met, and how intentional roommate pairing may lead to increased academic success and retention of STEM students.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 2050397
- PAR ID:
- 10597144
- Publisher / Repository:
- Tennessee Association for Student Success and Retention
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Student Success and Retention
- Edition / Version:
- 2024
- Volume:
- 9
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2641-2705
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 28-49
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- STEM roommate pairings first-year students retention student success
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Background: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) areas are one of the fastest-growing majors in the nation. Engineering is projected to add the second largest number of new jobs from 2016 to 2026 with 140,000 new jobs (Torpey, 2018).According to the National Center for Education Statistics despite all the research done throughout decades to improve the issue of retention in STEM areas about half of the students who pursue a degree in STEM will either leave or change majors. Purpose: This study aimed to sample at-risk college freshmen students from the College of Engineering & Computer Science, to describe and explain the association between retention after the first year of at-risk college freshmen students in a STEM program and completion of a STEM intervention, to identify the reasons STEM students decided to stay in the program after completing a STEM intervention, and to identify how to improve the STEM intervention. Method: A Chi-square test of independence was used to find if there was an association between the completion of a STEM intervention and the retention rate of at-risk freshmen students and focus group interviews. Results & Conclusions: The quantitative analysis, a test of independence X2 (chi-square)found no statistically significant association between STEM intervention completion and retention. The qualitative analysis provided five themes describing the students’ STEM intervention experience was also provided: learning activities and processes, mentorship, sense of belonging, and transitioning from high school to college. Key Words: STEM, College, Intervention, Student Progressmore » « less
-
McFarland, Jenny (Ed.)University science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) summer bridge programs provide incoming STEM university students additional course work and preparation before they begin their studies. These programs are designed to reduce attrition and increase the diversity of students pursuing STEM majors and STEM career paths. A meta-analysis of 16 STEM summer bridge programs was conducted. Results showed that program participation had a medium-sized effect on first-year overall grade point average ( d = 0.34) and first-year university retention (Odds Ratio [ OR] = 1.747). Although this meta-analytic research reflects a limited amount of available quantitative academic data on summer STEM bridge programs, this study nonetheless provides important quantitative inroads into much-needed research on programs’ objective effectiveness. These results articulate the importance of thoughtful experimental design and how further research might guide STEM bridge program development to increase the success and retention of matriculating STEM students.more » « less
-
Abstract Current policies and interventions to enhance student success and retention are often tied to full-time enrollment, which are substantiated by studies associating part-time enrollment with lower retention and poorer academic outcomes. However, these findings are limited to studies of first-time college students and do not represent today’s nontraditional undergraduate who may be transfer, online, and working adult students. To enhance retention of on-campusandhybrid online 2 + 2 transfer students in a STEM undergraduate program, need-based scholarships are awarded to students enrolled full-time as stipulated by the federal granting agency. Although the scholarship has helped >80 students to date, over 40% of eligible transfer students are excluded only because they are enrolled part-time, disproportionately affecting students in the hybrid online track who are more likely to be women and underrepresented minorities. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, this study explores enrollment behavior of transfer students (online and on-campus), its relationship with student characteristics and academic outcomes, and implications for scholarship eligibility. Full-time enrollment is a significant challenge for transfer students. While scholarship requirements are a key factor influencing full-time enrollment, online transfer students additionally cite work and family obligations as drivers of enrollment behavior. Thus, online 2 + 2 transfer students face different challenges than on-campus peers and are more likely to enroll part-time out of necessity, yet still have comparable GPA and graduation rates. These findings support a growing awareness of barriers nontraditional students face questioning the relevance of policies driven by “traditional” student outcomes, which perpetuate inequity in higher education.more » « less
-
There is nearly equal number of male and female student enrollments in primary and secondary level of education in Bangladesh, but at the tertiary level and at the job sector, a sharp drop in the number of women is observed. This paper explores the current status of female students’ enrollment in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) at the tertiary education system in Bangladesh. It is followed by explorations of challenges women face in technical workplace. Quantitative data for the paper come from more than 1.18 million students at tertiary level from eight public and private universities for three academic years from 2018 to 2020. In addition, a qualitative study was conducted with 48 participants in pre- and during COVID-19 eras to understand barriers hampering women in STEM-related education and jobs. The paper provides a guideline for future policies to ensure inclusive space for growth and retention for women in STEM.more » « less
An official website of the United States government

