ARE YOU EXPERIENCED?: How College Environments, Programs, and Interactions Shape Student Retention, Persistence, and Graduation

Abstract

This chapter uses an antideficit perspective of students, presenting research that has predominantly been published in the last 10-12 years on the relationship of students’ experiences with retention, persistence, and graduation. It focuses on identifying the environments, opportunities, and resources that institutions can offer to promote the engagement and success of students from diverse backgrounds. The chapter discusses comprehensive and student success programs that facilitate students’ transition to college, followed by students’ interactions and experiences with institutional agents, and programs and contexts that facilitate students’ interactions and experiences with peers. It highlights scholarship that centers the increasingly diverse identities of today’s college students to explore potential differences in students’ experiences and related outcomes. The chapter focuses on quantitative studies with more rigorous experimental designs or quasi-experimental designs.