Retention of Minority Students in Higher Education

Carolyn Cristancho
Dr. Brenda Marina 12/6/2012

Retention of minority students in higher education

Higher education has become somewhat of a norm for many young adults. Whether or not a young adult wants to go to college, current jobs often require a degree of some sort. While getting into college and pursuing higher education is a great step, the issue that needs to be focused on is retention, specifically the retention of minority students. Hispanics and African Americans are the only ethnic groups that are not growing in population on college campuses ("New data indicate," 2010). Research shows that Hispanics, particularly immigrated Hispanics, have the lowest rate of degree attainment due to lack of a high school diploma or equivalent degree, the inability to speak English fluently, or even the lack of legal status ("New data indicate," 2010). More surprising, however, is the persistence rate among African Americans. While the rate of black students who attend college has increased, only 35% of black males and 45% of females who enter college graduate within 6 years (EurPublisher, 2010). These low numbers should boost administrators drives to reach out to these students in order to increase retention rates in minorities, but many administrators seem to be unsure where to start. Each university has a different approach to students and student development, but my experience has been in a public co-ed school that includes graduate school. These schools have a large amount of students, state-mandated tuition, and a rather large freshman and transfer class each year. In the state of Georgia, Georgia Southern University and University of Georgia are good examples of this type of university. These universities often have so many students that it is hard for administrators to focus on one small group of students. These universities rely on programs that attract hundreds of students at once in order to educate and involve students. By assessing student development using Chickerings 7 Vectors of Student Development and strategically implementing programs for minority students, administrators can increase retention rates of these students. While every department serves as a place of importance for students, I believe the most

Retention of minority students in higher education

crucial functional areas for minority students are Housing, Multicultural and International Student Services, and Student Activities. In a large university, the way to reach the most students is through housing. According to US News, 48% of college students live in student housing (Wecker, 2011). Many of these colleges require incoming freshmen to live on campus which gives the university an opportunity to reach students, specifically minorities. Chickerings 7 Vectors of Student Development can be used to create housing programs that reach minority students in the proper way. The first vector of Chickerings model is achieving competence. In this vector, students increase competence in academics as well as interpersonal skills (Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005). Many minority students have to adjust to not just college life, but to being in an environment different from their own. Adjusting to college causes stress in students' lives and students who cannot handle the stress often drop out of college (Kadison & DiGeronimo, 2004). In order to prevent this stress from taking over students lives, housing administration can implement programs that effectively help students associate with campus and campus life. Implementing general, mandatory programs that introduce students to specific departments on campus is the first step. Whether these programs take place during hall meetings or during a separate event, educating students on how to use departments like the Multicultural Student Center or Student Activities can aid minority students achieving competence. Another very important program to host would be a diversity program. Diversity programs not only offer students the opportunity to educate themselves on minority populations, but it also gives students a chance to meet people of a similar background. The second and third vectors of Chickerings theory, managing emotions and moving toward interdependence, both work on the students ability to depend on others and receive support (Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005). Programs for this vector would include events that are group

Retention of minority students in higher education

specific, possibly run by students or student organizations. Even advertising different minoritygroup student organizations through-out a dormitory can offer a minority student the opportunity to become involved on campus. While freshmen make up a good percentage of the on-campus housing population, many upperclassmen live on campus as well. These students are more likely to be in vectors four through seven of Chickerings theory. Vector four involves developing mature relationships (Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005). Since students may already be plugged into organizations or activities on campus, programs for these students should focus on how to develop those relationships. Programs that are co-sponsored by a Multicultural Center on campus offer a great opportunity for minority students to develop relationships. These programs could include guest speakers that speak about specific minority groups, educational workshops on relationship building, or even a cultural fair in which different minority groups all come together to educate others about their culture as well as form relationships with others. Vectors five through seven involve developing identity, purpose, and integrity (Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005). These last vectors are crucial in a students life and if housing focuses on counseling students on their purpose in college, students are less likely to leave (Kadison & DiGeronimo, 2004). Speaking from personal experience, students often panic in their last years of undergrad because they realize they do not know what exactly they want to do with their life after college. If housing offered programs that educated students on what to do when these emotion arise, students would be prepared to deal with these feelings. Seminars and workshops that deal with academic pressures and finding your purpose after college would give students the opportunity to increase their motivation to stay in college and complete their degrees. The second most important way a large university can reach minority student is through Multicultural Center. Kadison and DiGeronimo mention the micro-aggressions minority

Retention of minority students in higher education

students feel when attending college. These micro-aggressions often include incidents in which a minority student is wrongly accused of a wrongdoing because of their race as well as feeling as though they are doing their race wrong by doing well in school (Kadison & DiGeronimo, 2004). With these micro-aggressions comes a lot of stress which can lead minority students to question their purpose in college (Kadison & DiGeronimo, 2004). Multicultural Centers have the ability to address these issues in ways minority students can relate to. Larger public institutions have the resources to have offices dedicated to multicultural students, and Multicultural Centers can utilize these resources for independent as well as collaborative programming. Programs should focus on the first four vectors of Chickerings model: achieving competence, managing emotions, moving toward interdependence, and developing mature relationships (Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005). Students leave college due to their inability to adjust to their new environment, so if a Multicultural Center focused programming on adjustment and competence, minority students would have an easier time transitioning into college life. Student organization fairs would be useful to minority students because they would be able to find an organization they identify with and create new relationships. Tolerance and education forums would be useful to minority students as well. These forums could include information about discrimination or information on how to deal with the pressures put on students by their own race. Focusing on minority students ability to thrive in college is an important aspect to these programs. International students also make up a lot of the minority population. Kadison and DiGeronimo point out that, along with regular stressors of maintaining good grades and making friends, international students often have to learn cultural norms. What Americans take for granted, such as which way to turn a water faucet to make it turn on, international students have to learn (Kadison & DiGeronimo, 2004). Multicultural Centers can partner up with International Student

Retention of minority students in higher education

Offices to create programs for those minority students. For these students, the first few vectors of Chickerings model are even more important. For example, achieving competence is much harder to do when the student must learn a new culture entirely. Many issues come from institutions assuming minority students will adjust which is not the right way to ensure students stay in college (Rendon, Jalomo & Nora, 2011). In order to make sure minority students stay in college, the institution must utilize resources like Multicultural Centers to create a diverse environment. The last functional area that is important to raise minority student retention rates is Student Activities. When students start college, the first thing they are told is to get involved. Many students get involved and end up making life-long friends within the organizations they are involved in. Other students assume that they can make friends and do well without the help of an organization. Speaking from personal experience, I did not really begin to thrive in college until I joined a student organization. Chickerings 7 Vectors of Student Development line up with my experiences as well. Moving from autonomy to interpersonal relationships, vector three, can only occur if students have relationships in the first place (Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005). This is where Student Activities can be an asset. Student Activities usually encompasses student organizations, so the most important thing Student Activities can do is to make sure student organizations are well advertised. Partnering with Multicultural Centers on campus can ensure that minority students are getting information about organizations they would be interested in. Student organization fairs are crucial in this aspect. Another important thing Student Activities needs to do is make sure students stay involved. By offering programs, whether they are educational programs or entertainment programs, students will continue to stay plugged in to the organizations in their school. Students may also get involved with organizations that are in

Retention of minority students in higher education

charge of running events. For example, if a large university puts on a free movie night and a student organization has made a video to be shown as a preview to the movie, students in the audience may be interested in joining that organization after seeing that video. It is the job of Student Activities to make sure students stay involved with their college community in order to ensure that students are not only enjoying themselves, but that students feel like they have a purpose in college. While this functional area includes the entire student population of a university, there are ways to increase minority involvement. First, Student Activities can ensure that there are student organizations for minority students. If there are not enough, Student Activities has the ability to encourage students to start an organization. If students form an organization, not only will they be involved on campus, but they will be in charge of something important. According to Chickering, this fulfills the sixth vector of development, developing purpose (Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005). Giving students a sense of purpose and a sense of identity is crucial in their development and with a sense of purpose comes more confidence to stay in college and complete a degree. Another way to increase minority involvement is to partner with the Multicultural Center on campus and create programs for minorities. Multicultural Centers may not have as large of a budget as Student Activities centers on campus do, so by collaborating, these two offices could create one big event for multicultural students. This event could be a fair for multicultural organizations or an event where different minority groups educate students on their culture. Minority students face many challenges that other students do not face. Some students may feel like they do not belong in college because of their race, while other students may feel like they cannot handle the pressure of college due to stress of adjusting to a completely new culture (Kadison & DiGeronimo, 2004). Regardless of the reason, many minority students leave

Retention of minority students in higher education

college and it is the job of the administration to make sure minority students stay to complete their degrees. By increasing retention now, retention in the future could potentially increase even further. Minority students would no longer be seen as more likely to drop out of school and this may encourage minority students to go to college in the first place. At a large scale university, it is easy for students to get lost in the mix, but using resources like housing, Multicultural Centers, and Student Activities can make sure minority students do not fade into the student population.

Retention of minority students in higher education

References American Council on Education, (2010). New data indicate education attainment continues to flat-line EurPublisher. (2010, April 6). Status report finds black males disappearing from college campuses.Electronic Urban Report, Retrieved from
http://www.eurweb.com/2010/04/status-report-finds-black-males-disappearing-from-collegecampuses/

Kadison, R.& DiGeronimo (2004). College of the overwhelmed: The campus mental health crisis and what to do about it. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Pascarella, E. T. & Terenzini, P. (2005). How college affects students. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Rendon, L. I., Jalomo, R. E., & Nora, A. (2011). Theoretical considerations in the study of minority student retention in higher education. In S. Harper & J. Jackson (Eds.), Introduction to American Higher Education (1 ed., Vol. 1, pp. 229-248). New York: Routledge. Wecker, M. (2011, October 13). Top 10 national universities for campus housing. Retrieved from http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/the-short-listcollege/articles/2011/10/13/top-10-national-universities-for-campus-housing