In today’s society, a college education is more important than ever, and there is no shortage of institutions for students to choose from. So, how do prospective students make up their mind? What draws them to one institution over another? More than anything else, they look for a place they can call home. They consider what the University has to offer them. Student involvement in the campus community is vital to a successful college life. Prospective students don’t want to attend an institution where they will be isolated, and have nothing to do but study. While it’s true that students are looking for a good education, without a comfortable environment, learning won’t be possible.
The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE Studies) shows that student success is directly linked to student involvement. NSSE measures student involvement in academic and co-curricular programs and activities, and the effect they have on students. According to NSSE, the more involved students are in an institution, the more invested they will be. The higher the student involvement level the higher their grades are and the more likely they are to re-enroll for the next semester. Highly-engaged students are more likely to re-enroll than less-engaged students. An institution that offers inviting options for student involvement is also creating free, word-of-mouth marketing. The more a student likes an institution the more likely they are to promote and recommend it to others. Among institutions that scored appropriately in the NSSE student involvement and engagement study 93 percent of students reported having a favorable image of their college.
Because student involvement is so important, it is vital for an institution to create a culture, not just a campus. When students are involved and engaged, they feel like they are a part of something. This sense of belonging fosters loyalty and pride in their institution, as well as academic achievement, and community involvement. There are five benchmarks laid out by NSSE to gauge a successful student involvement environment.
These benchmarks are:
1. Sufficient level of academic challenge
2. Favorable amount of active and collaborative learning options
3. Quality faculty and student interaction
4. Abundant amount of enriching community interaction
5. Existence of a supportive campus environment.
Students who are involved devote more time and energy to academics, spend more time on campus, while participating actively in student organizations, and having more positive interactions with faculty and staff. All of this leads to a more productive educational environment that benefits every part of the institution. On the other hand, uninvolved students neglect their studies, abstain from extracurricular activities, spend little time on campus, and rarely contact faculty and staff. This lack of interest leads to a lack-luster college experience.
Students are not the only ones to benefit from an engaged environment. Student involvement is often the catalyst for other institutional and community improvements. Faculty, staff, and the surrounding community all benefit from student involvement. From volunteering, to relaxed and free flowing conversation, the benefits are endless. But, meaningful and worthwhile student involvement does not just happen overnight, it’s an investment process that takes time, effort, and money. But this is an investment that has been proven to be worth the effort. Student involvement on campus is one of the quickest ways for students to become part of an institution’s community and create a personalized college experience.
Tags: campus community, collaborative learning options, college experience, community, NSSE, retention, student involvement
Nicole, very good article. The idea of culture or community is huge in student recruiting and brand building by colleges and universities. You’re right. Students choice of where to go to school is heavily impacted by their sense about a college’s culture. So, if it doesn’t turn out to be that way, there’s a great sense of loss and disappointment. Mix that with the financial cost of attending college and the human cost of achieving in college, students will leave to find another place to where they feel more comfortable. It makes sense that getting them involved before that happens is an important strategy for college retention programs.
I can remember my first day of attending the University of Arizona – I was a stranger in a strange land, surrounded by 37,000 students. An intimidating experience for anybody. Yet, I was able to succeed and thrive on campus because I established for myself a sense of community. I did not live on campus, I was a commuter student who traveled the 12 miles to campus every day, for 4 and a half years, so I did not have the benefit of having an instant community as soon as I moved into a resident hall. What I had to do, and did do, was join an organization that allowed me to relate to peers and professionals who shared my desire for personal growth and service to others: the Arizona Blue Chip Program.
Upon graduation, I attended Bowling Green State University for my master’s degree in college student personnel. Again, walking onto a strange campus, in northwest Ohio, was again, an intimidating experience. However, I quickly established a community for myself within the program’s cohort as we studied everything about college student development and related it back to our own experiences. We took the self-knowledge and tools we learned in our classrooms to directly affect the students with which we worked. We had to establish for them, this sense of community that Nicole and Rick stated was so important.
Student involvement and student activities are increasingly important for colleges and universities across the country. Institutions have to offer students a means to establish a community for themselves in order for students to feel welcomed, comfortable, and secure. When these happen, as NSSE illustrates, students are retained, succeed, and graduate at higher rates. We all need to do a much better job of establishing communities for students to enter when they walk onto a college campus for the first time.
Rick, very good point. Building and maintaining a culture is key to recruiting students. Often I see campuses brand one thing, while in actuality the students have a very different experience. Many times the students leave dissatisfied or stay but disengage from the campus. The end-game should be retention, not just admissions.
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