Adjusting to College Life

by Cindy Bond

A hug. A wave. A promise to call tonight. You pull away from the dorm and head out of the parking lot. Your little baby is now a Big Man on Campus. But will Big Man make it to his senior year?

National statistics tell us that less than half of all college students finish their four-year college degrees. Slightly more than half of those who don't finish leave school before the start of their second year. Schools are very aware of this trend. According to John Gardner, executive director of the University of South Carolina's National Resource Center for the Freshman Year Experience, all colleges are trying to help their college freshman be more successful. They want Big Man to stick around.

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

If learning is about meeting new challenges, why shouldn't an institution of higher education give its students a helping hand? How about a freshman-year course called "Adjusting 101"?

Salem State College in Massachusetts offers a course just like this: The Freshman Seminar. All undeclared first-year students have to take this class on succeeding in the college environment. Students meet in small groups with faculty or administrators for advice about finances, studying, and living with 300 strangers in a dorm without freaking out. David Sartwell, Assistant Dean of Enrollment Management at Salem State, says the freshman seminar allows students to connect with their peers and teachers. "The one thing we know about retention is that students who develop relationships have a greater chance of finding the college a warm, accepting place - and staying."

This class isn't the only reason that Salem State's retention rate has stayed the same for the past five years, adds Sartwell. "We reach out to students in others ways, too. We offer an honor program with advanced, small classes, allow some students to work at the admissions office for credit, and have popular marketing and communication clubs."

Some schools have decided that both students and faculty benefit from an orientation program. The University of South Carolina's "University 101" course teaches faculty about the academic and social needs of its students. The course also has special sections for its older, honors, undeclared, declared and Upward Bound students.

According to Vincent Tinto, professor of Education at Syracuse University, the most effective programs help students become integrated, both socially and academically, into the college life. "They conscientiously reach out and make contact with students, establishing strong personal bonds between students and teachers."

Tinto describes how colleges retain their students in his book, Leaving College: Rethinking the Causes and Cures of Student Attrition (The University of Chicago Press, 1993). Some schools allow students to form "learning communities." Groups of students enroll in classes together. They study together, drawing support from each other. There are also advising programs for undecided students that can help them chart their academic course. Some colleges offer students living/learning programs, where students with a common interest, such as pottery, languages, or dance, live together in a dorm.