From an Advisor

The new to college student has many faces and backgrounds.

The new to college student could be:
    1)..an adult learner that is changing a career but never attended college(this is a first year Adult Student)
    2)..a student with disabilities
    3)..a student from a color community(e.g.African American, Asian and Pacific Islander American, Latino, Native American, multiracial and biracial)
    4)..a LGBT(lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) student 
    5)..an International student
    6)...a first-generation college student facing first-year challenges
    7)..a veteran
    8)..an honor student

I am sure there are many other faces but the above list just gives a few.

From a Long Time Advisor

As advisors, we see so many different types of new-to-college-students!Each semester we see such VARIETY in their ages, life stages, socioeconomic backgrounds, family educational aspirations, cultural differences, and you can name many other variations that make our students somewhat unique from those possibly found at other colleges.Just yesterday working in the advising center I had a woman who is 56 going  to school for the first time who had been helping the elderly in their homes. She wanted to start at Richland but then go on to El Centro for Vocational Nursing. I also had a young man who was here to sign up for 5 classes (required number for the military), and then was going off to the army. He was all of 19 years old with a wife and a child. I also had another student right out of high school with high reading and writing scores who needed his math assessment testing.

Is it possible, Gary, to actually some of these very new to college students to have them give us input about what would like to see offered in a class like this? As professionals we have a good idea of relevant topics; however, I don't know that we do many focus groups with actual students to see what their needs are...

My ideas for relevant topics:
Career planning
Campus resources
Library tutorials
Study skills
Time management
Investigating class formats (DL, cooperative learning, learning communities, studies abroad, honors, global studies, etc.)

Good luck with this very worthwhile endeavor!

From a Veteran High School Specialist

I have just finished working with a around 700 high school seniors who had not yet made a college plan in their senior year.

Here's their profile: largely from under-represented groups (our target); primarily Hispanic followed by African American, Asian and a smattering of Anglo, most qualify for free or reduced lunch. A large percentage were born into a language other than English but have attended US schools for much of their lives.  Not many exempted from TSI based on TAKS, SAT or ACT scores,  very few make our cutoff scores on Accuplacer, quite a few can't read at college level or perform well with grammar but for some reason manage to pass the essay portion of the Accuplacer at a higher rate than one might expect.  As for math, even those who are in Pre-Calc or Trig have difficulty with the Accuplacer math assessment--why,you ask?  Well, they forget how to work fractions, percentages, decimals, and manipulate  algebraic properties AND they are so use to using a graphing calculator they've forgotten or never learned the math theories that are the foundation for the buttons they're pushing. (They're not really good about prepping for assessment either, even though they get plenty of information about how to do so.)  Most will need some financial assistance to attend college.  Most will be working while attending college.  Almost all will be living at home while attending college.  Their parents are very interested in their welfare and will attend sessions the college offers re enrolling in college, even if their child chooses not to attend.

I know this is just one segment of our 2009 class but, I would bet good money it comes close to the median description you'll be developing.

From a Committed Advising Administrator

They run the whole gammit. First generation college students to parents & siblings that have all attended ahead of them. 

A high percentage are not anywhere near prepared for college work in regard to their level of learning, study skills, time management skills, and critical thinking skills.

Very diverse cultures and for the most part have been raised in sheltered environments. 

They don't understand how the courses in core tie into their overall college career and life career, even though it is covered in a required online orientation & then again at a registration orientation. 

They need to hear things appx 4 times before it begins to have meaning.

They are more non-traditional students than traditional in that for the most part they all work at least part-time jobs, most full time jobs while trying to attend school and be successful.  Many have home responsibilities as well.

Many more than disclose are on behaviorial modication medication for all sorts of afflections that effect their learning.

I could probably write for another 30 minutes, but this is brushing the surface for my 2 cents worth.

From a Reading Instructor Who Recently Did a Major Course Redesign

 

OPRIE did a recent survey of our students in the   new redesign classes.  Our population is mostly first time in college students, and many come from impoverished backgrounds.  The majority are female, and there is a significant percentage of ESL students.  The bulk range in age from 18-25.  There are also many Latino and African Americans, two of our retention-related KPI issues being addressed in course re-design.

There's a huge gulf between college work and what they did (more accurately didn't do) in high school.  Until recently, many have been unable to bridge the divideIt's also fair to say that our students frequently lack support for their efforts from parents and peers.  This is especially true when it comes to motivation and persistence.  About 1/3 of our students in 0093 give up before they finish the course (about .25-to-.33 don't even take the course exit assignment!) .  In DWRI, we are addressing the problem with study skills workshops.  For example, we use LASSI to teach students about their deficiencies.  In addition, developmental education students typically lack good technology and social skills. 

For another source, take a look at SENSE from UT-Austin.  Survey of Entering Student Engagement looks at entering students across the country; it also provides great information on developmental education students.  In fact, SENSE team participated with OPRIE in a focus group of our instructors.  I hope this helps, Gary.