Undergraduate Student Perceptions Of Characteristics Attributed To Millennial Generation College Students And Implications For University Recruitment And Retention

Author : Tammy Shannon
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (138 download)

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Download or read book Adult, First-Generation College Students' Perceptions of Belonging written by Tammy Shannon and published by . This book was released on 2023 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Adult, first-generation college students' perceived sense of belonging is the subject of this dissertation. Academic literature supports that sense of belonging plays a key role in persistence to graduation amongst traditional-age college students. Tinto, in his book, Completing College: Rethinking Institutional Action (2012), is quoted in his section on involvement, meaning and the sense of belonging: "Involvements, academic or social, do not occur in a vacuum. They take place within specific social and cultural settings and among individuals whose values give them meaning" (p. 66). The need to better understand sense of belonging in adult, first generation undergraduates was first revealed in my role as academic adviser through direct contact and dialogue with these students. This, along with my own history as a non-traditional, first-generation college graduate led to insights, researching of the literature, a pilot study, and the completion of this dissertation. The results are particularly poignant because they look at sense of belonging during a worldwide pandemic with interviews done in the summer of 2021. The adult, first-generation college student perceptions of belonging generated a view slightly different from that of their traditional aged peers. Data analysis produced a grounded theory model: Sense of Belonging: Connections through Communities of Practice. The grounded theory produced a snapshot of a population of students as they navigated the university. Studying during the pandemic created an opportunity to discuss nuances of belonging in different environments and what that might look like for students moving forward. It is the goal and objective of this dissertation to better understand sense of belonging in adult, first-generation undergraduates and how that contributes to academic persistence. One value of this study is learning how adult first-generation undergraduates connect, find community, and develop a sense of belonging. The second value is an historical glimpse of this population's views during a worldwide pandemic. The third is the study's model which frames the data into an understanding of how participants communicated their sense of belonging and connection. The model provides administrators, faculty, and those interested in first-generation student success a useful set of implications and recommendations for policy and practice. Opportunity for further discussion, and future research is also present. Adult, first-generation undergraduate students are trailblazers; reading their perspectives on sense of belonging, and proposed ways for support and connection at the university, may offer insights and fresh ideas to the general reader and researcher alike.