First-Year Seminars: A Recipe for Retention

One-third of students fail to graduate — in six years! In 2020, the six-year graduation rate for those who entered a four-year college in 2014 was 64%. This is a scandal.

Concerns about student retention and graduation are among the reasons that nearly three-quarters of four-year institutions have started first-year college programs designed to help students navigate and succeed in college. A report on “High-Impact Practices” for student success includes first-year seminars and experiences as having significant benefits. Another report supports the claim.

According to research from the American Educational Research Association, earning a college degree provided a rate of return of 9.88% for women and 9.0% for men. “In other words, a college education is expected to yield an average annual rate of 9 to 10 percent throughout an individual’s career” more than a high school diploma. In addition, other research had demonstrated that earning a college degree results in better health outcomes and citizen engagement.

So, we know the benefits of graduating from college. What more can we do to improve the rate?

Drawing on our combined 75 years as college faculty, administrators, and university presidents, the former president of a competing institution and now colleague, Dr. Drew Bogner, and I co-authored “Letters to Students: What it Means to be a College Graduate.” Framed as letters to potential and current students, the chapters discuss critical topics such as how to chart a life path, achieve one’s own definition of success, and live a life of meaning.

The letters discuss how to get the most out of college, how to make thoughtful decisions about important aspects of life, and how to find a job and a career and a mentor. Lastly, the letters discuss how to make a difference. At the end of each letter, there are questions for reflection which make for writing assignments and discussions.

We designed our approach by building on the ingredients to support student success, including:

Students have a goal and know how to achieve it. Students stay focused and on track. Students feel that someone wants them to succeed and will help them. Students stay engaged in meaningful activity. Students feel connected to others; and Students feel valued and treat others with high regard.

Through essays formed as letters, we comment on the purposes of college and these ingredients for success. We believe that when students understand why they are in college, they are more likely to succeed.

The purpose of a college education is to advance knowledge, both general and expert, skills such as writing, abilities such as analysis and leadership, and values such as respect for others, trust, and teamwork. The college experience is intended to give students the confidence to take initiative, solve problems, formulate ideas, and develop the skills of language, learning, and leadership. The goals of the liberal arts and general education are to emphasize reasoning in different modes, clear and graceful expression in written and oral communications, organizational ability, tolerance and flexibility, and creativity. Such an education requires active participation and learning in groups as well as beyond the classroom.

College is a time to develop valuable skills and abilities for the workplace and personal life. It is time to learn how to distinguish between evidence, emotion, and epiphany, and find truths amid the multitude of facts and opinions that are so readily available.

It is the time to consider new ideas and embrace new possibilities. It is the time to chart a path that includes occupation and career as well as values such as character and citizenship. It also is the time for building lifelong friends and relationships that are based on mutual interests and world views. It is a time of self-reflection and learning.

Colleges and universities are organized to assist students in this journey. The first-year seminar is a building block, a point of departure. The liberal arts and sciences of history, literature, languages, math, and science may be referred to as General Education. These embody the original purposes of advanced learning, when it was expected that an educated person knew about the full range of knowledge. Today, a liberal arts education is less about facts and details, which are easily accessible, and more about validating information and the underlying theories, concepts, and explanations that each subject brings to our understanding of and ability to navigate the world.

College is also about learning the skills necessary to be successful in life in general, as well as in a workplace setting, so students are encouraged to develop communication and computational skills, to learn how to find and apply reliable information to all manner of topics, and to organize and effectively communicate ideas to others. Colleges work to help students develop “people skills,” teamwork, leadership, appreciation of diversity, empathy, self-responsibility, time management, and another centeredness. These, too, are grounded in the first-year seminar.

My co-author and I share lessons learned from interactions with thousands of students and alumni. First, we say, embrace the journey and make the most out of it. Try new things and be an active, thoughtful participant. Second, be open to possibility. Let your curiosity guide your time and say “yes” when opportunities present themselves. Third, be self-reflective. Allow yourself to spend time thinking about the larger questions that are presenting themselves to you.

The central purpose of higher education is the development of each student, to help each acquire the knowledge, skills, and attributes necessary to be successful in life and career, to enable each to contribute to society and live a meaningful life. With this menu of ingredients, we can compose our recipe for retention.