Community college transfer student involvement experiences at a selective, private four-year university

2011-11-22This dissertation tested the constructs of academic and social involvement and adjustment on grades as a pathway to explain community college transfer student experiences beyond the concept of transfer shock. The study contributes to the growing body of literature on Latina(o) community college transfer student experiences with the application of conventional theories of student involvement at a traditional, highly diverse institution. The presence of transfer shock was examined as well as the degree to which the community college transfer student involvement model helped to explain student persistence, as defined by GPA. It was hypothesized that Latina(o) student involvement in social and academic activities would positively contribute to persistence. Factorial analysis of variance was used to test the relationship between two key variables: social and academic involvement and four independent variables: race/ethnicity, age, major, and gender. The analyses focused on seven research questions that examined the relationship between these variables and were conducted with two groups: the total sample of 517 students and a sub-sample of 75 Latina(o) students. The results of the study confirmed that the community college transfer student involvement pathway worked for the large sample. However, the pathway was not a good fit for explaining Latina(o) student involvement experiences. The student engagement construct is reviewed as a better fit for studying underrepresented transfer students’ higher education experiences. Limitations of the study are discussed including implications for practice and recommendations for future research