First-generation college students are defined in the context of their siblings and parents' experience with a college education and degree. Therefore, they are the first generation in a family to undertake a college education and be persistent enough to attain a degree. First-generation college students are at more risk of dropping out than their peers whose parents. As such, first-generation college students have a hard time maintaining academic retention. The first year of college is critical in determining a student's persistence because it allows them to familiarize themselves with the environment and decide whether they are willing to go on.
Research Methods
The most effective methods to determine whether academic advising affects retention in first-generation college students are questionnaires and interviews. The sample space includes all first-generation students who have experienced academic advising and their academic advisors (Peeters, 2018). The students are in two categories: students who attained their degree and those who dropped out. The sampling method used is simple random sampling so that any individual in the sample space has equal chance of selection. One of the ethical concerns that arise in conducting the research is the invasion of the confidentiality between academic advisors and the advisees. To solve the problem, individuals maintain their anonymity as do any mentioned persons in the interviews or questionnaires. The research falls into the Full Review IRB category because some of the participants are minors.
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Discussion
First-generation college students are at a higher risk of dropping out. For this reason, academic advising has become critical for college students, first-generation or otherwise. Academic advising establishes a relationship between a student and an academic advisor to help the student with decision-making, setting goals, identifying and maximizing resources, and solving college and life-related problems. The process of academic advisement is systematic in that the academic advisor must establish trust with the students so that, in turn, the student will be honest with them. Academic advisors are not only so; they are friends with their assigned students. For academic advisement to work appropriately, academic advisors must have a personal but professional relationship with the student. The advisor can and will guide the student into better decision making since personal issues induce most professional problems.
Throughout the history of college education and academic advising, students and advisors report that academic advising has been necessary for facing the hard water of college life. Students have a clear connection to their academic advisors. Academic advisors are the middle ground between knowledgeable lecturers and social peers (Demetriou et al., 2017). They offer students strategies for retention based on their experience and knowledge. First and other generation students who make to the final year of college and attain a degree agree that the positive influence of academic advisement in their educational lives is one reason for their retention. First-generation students are likely to drop out because they lack academic support from their family members (Gibbons et al., 2019). Academic advisors take the place of the role model students need to reassure themselves that they can do it. They provide guidance to first-generation students, equivalent to that offered by family members of other generation students. Academic advisors must identify first-generation students. They fill the gap left out by ignorant family members concerning the students’ college education (Demetriou et al., 2017). This strategy development fueled by increased face-to-face conversations is important, majorly in the first year. If a student is considering dropping out of college, the idea likely took root in the first year of school as they familiarized themselves with its challenges.
Academic advisors, due to knowledge and experience, weed out the idea even before it takes root. They acknowledge that considering dropping out is not only normal, but it is also expected, especially for first generational students. Without being condescending or judgmental, academic advisors provide students with the required support to make it to the end. Most first-generation students who could not complete college education but regret their decision did not have academic advisors or were resistant to their help. First-generation students who had no academic advisors regret their decision to drop out admit that academic advising would have kept them in school. From their experience, such students agree academic advising is not only important, but necessary to all students (Larson et al., 2018). Due to similar circumstances, such students have equally similar barriers to success. The first and most pronounced barrier is little family support or too much expectation.
Academic advisors provide the support that the parents do not by following up on grades and social relationships. For other first-generation students, their family members have so much expectation of them that it pressures them into dropping out. Such students have parents who could not make it to college, and they try to live their dream through their children. Some of these students pursue degrees they are not interested in because their parents insisted on it. Academic advisors acknowledge to students with such problems that college life is indeed tiresome and confusing. They allow the students to share their struggles in class and relating with peers without judgment. Further, the advisors use their human appeal to give the advisees counsel on some of the challenges they have (Bridgen, 2017). Since academic advisors have prior experience with similar problems, it is easy for them to understand first-generation students' problems and help them fight the desire to give up on school. Academic advising is important for many reasons, including retention, especially for first-generation students in their first year.
Literature Review
First-Generation Students
Redford and Mulvaney (2017) noted that research literature might provide different but closely-knitted definitions of first-generation students, depending on the parents' and siblings' levels of experience in college education. However, they agree on one lack of family role-models in terms of a college education as a primary factor for such students. The standard definition is that first-generation college students are those whose parents or guardians have no college education and those who do did not complete the required period to attain a degree (Garriott & Nisle, 2018). Redford and Mulvaney (2017) also note that students whose parents have an inkling of college experience may have added advantage depending on the personality and willingness of the parents to participate in the children's' college life.
Further, the significant barriers to the success of most students revolve around parental involvement and poor academic preparation. Due to little prior exposure to information about college and the education provided, the greatest threat to first generation students is the naiveté (Redford & Mulvaney, 2017). Other barriers to completing college education for first-generation students are racial demographics, ethnic orientation, the minority in gender and sexuality, and socioeconomic status.
Academic Retention
Caruth (2018) defines retention as the continuous enrollment of students through each semester. Retention measures a student's resistance to college pressure by making it to the final year and graduating with good grades. Academic retention revolves around how students handle the thoughts of departure from college. According to Han, Farruggia, and Moss (2017), retention revolves around several factors within and around the college students in question. Such factors include the student's social relationships, academic preparation, admission criteria, passion for the course they are undertaking, the student's profile, and campus culture (Caruth, 2018). Radunzel (2018) posits that these factors tend to overlap, making it challenging to identify which are more threatening to retention.
However, it is not impossible to determine what factors uphold retention, especially by interrogating students who have made it to the final years. According to Schelbe, Becker, Spinelli, and McCray (2019), first generation students have more threats to retention than other students. Investigating retention in colleges and especially for first-generation students, provides solutions that are only effective when used in a relevant context (Han et al., 2017). Social and academic integration has contributed to students' general retention rate (Schelbe et al., 2019). The difference in experiences by first-generation students ought to be taken into consideration while applying these solutions.
Academic Advising
The literature describes academic advising as a social and professional relationship between a student and an academic advisor (DeLaRosby, 2017; Hatch & Garcia, 2017; Tinto 2016). According to Hatch and Garcia (2017) and Hicks (2016), the academic advisor guides the students toward better academic performance and a positive attitude towards other college factors. Academic advising's primary role is to make the college environment easier to adapt to and, consequently, empower students to reach the final year and graduate (Nutt, 2016). First-year students rely on the familiar environment, such as friends and family, to enlighten them about the unfamiliar college environment. For this reason, academic advisors should make the first move with their assigned students (Hatch & Garcia, 2017). By creating a rapport from the initial stages of adjustment, the advisor becomes part of the familiar environment that the students identify with.
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