A preliminary study of multiple college admission criteria in Taiwan: the relationship among motivation,standardized tests,high school achievements,and college success

ABSTRACT

A new college admission policy will be implemented in Taiwan in 2022. The purpose of this study was to understand the relationship between admission criteria and college success. Data was obtained from the Taiwan Higher Education Database; a sample size of 8443 students from 156 universities was used in this study. By using the structural equation model, this study tested a research model that included factors such as motivation, standardized test scores, high school achievements, and college success. The findings revealed that the General Scholastic Ability Test scores (in Chinese, English, Social Studies) and high school average academic grades are significantly associated with college success. A student’s motivation to complete a certain major can significantly predict the quality of student effort and influence college success. These findings highlight the importance of some admission criteria and provide practical implications for educational policy-makers, school administrators, students, and parents.     

Some Impacts of Science Telecasts

Abstract

The problem investigated in this study was to determine how accurately three related, yet distinct, groups could predict first semester college freshman GPA Data on seventy-six students, parents, and counselors were analyzed.

Correlation coefficients computed between predicted GPA by students, parents, and counselors and GPA actually achieved by the students were found to be 0.5443, 0.6010, and 0.5867 respectively. An analysis of variance of .4265 demonstrated no significant differences between the three groups' predicted GPA. The differences between the students' achieved GPA and the predicted GPA by each group were all significant at the .01 level.

Each group predicted about as well as the more objective measures of academic success; each group tended to predict about the same; and each group tended to over-predict.     

Trauma,Meaning Making,and Loneliness in College Students

ABSTRACT

The present study (N = 621) explored relationships between meaning making (i.e., meaning presence and meaning search) and loneliness in college students who have experienced trauma. In addition, the study examined group differences in meaning variables and loneliness, comparing college students who have and have not experienced trauma. The results suggest that loneliness and meaning search are more present in college students who have experienced trauma. Further, meaning presence and meaning search both predict experiences of loneliness within this sample.     

Satisfaction with Business Education: A Comparison of Business Students and Their Parents

ABSTRACT

The study examined relationships between ratings of college services and program quality among 57 pairs of parents and students. The study revealed that the relationships between parent and student ratings of the institution were relatively small. However, parents who believed that they had greater influence over student choice of institution were more satisfied with the institution. Satisfaction also was associated with amount of parental contribution to payment of tuition and fees. Marketing implications for universities are indicated.     

The Relationship between Height and Physiological Maturing

Abstract

As part of an ongoing screening program, the writing samples of 50 out of 109 third year college students were identified by readers as deficient. The entire sample of 109 had completed the Test of Everyday Writing Skills (TEWS). The students with identified unsatisfactory writing skills performed significantly lower than those students with satisfactory writing skills on all subtests of the TEWS. The TEWS was moderately easy for third year college students, but it discriminated well. The selection of the 70th percentile on the Composition Skills subtest as a cutoff criterion identified only 2 percent of deficient writers as potentially successful. The selection of appropriate cutoff scores on the TEWS allows for the use of a gross screening device and offers a number of advantages.     

Four-Year Degree and Employment Findings From a Randomized Controlled Trial of a One-Year Performance-Based Scholarship Program in Ohio

ABSTRACT

A college degree is often viewed as a key step toward better employment and higher earnings. Many community college students, however, never graduate and cannot reap the financial benefits associated with a college degree. Although existing research suggests that financial aid interventions can modestly improve students' short-term academic outcomes, there is little rigorous evidence on the critical question of whether such interventions improve graduation rates or employment outcomes. This study helps to fill that gap using a randomized controlled trial involving over 2,000 community college students in Ohio. It focuses on a student population composed predominantly of low-income mothers. The study includes four years of post-random assignment data to examine the long-term impact of a performance-based scholarship program—financial aid that is contingent on academic performance—on degree receipt, employment, and earnings. The findings provide evidence that the one-year program made a lasting impact on students' credit accumulation—still evident after four years—and decreased the time it took students to earn a degree, but the study does not provide evidence of impacts on employment outcomes.     

Professor Role Preferences of Entering College Students and Their Parents

Abstract

The entire entering freshman class of a medium-sized Midwestern liberal arts college students were asked to rate the importance of three college professor roles: the teaching role, the research role, and the character-building role. The students rated the teaching role as most important and the research role as least important. The parents assigned equally high ratings to the teaching and character-building roles and lower ratings to the research role. Ratings of character-building function by the parents were significantly higher than those of the student group. The students and parents did not differ significantly in their ratings of the teaching and research roles.     

A Two-Year Study of the Reading Achievement of Children Who Were Reading When They Entered First Grade

Abstract

Eighty-six residence hall upperclassmen and one hundred fraternity upperclassmen were compared in the areas of college ability, achievement, and attitudes; values utilizing college records, and the College Student Questionnaire. Findings revealed significant differences for the residence hall group in the areas of social conscience, satisfaction with major, and peer independence (p < .05) and for the fraternity sample in the area of extracurricular involvement (p < .01). No significant differences were found in either college ability or achievement. Analysis of other demographic data revealed significant differences in the areas of dating behavior and financial support. Findings indicate no lasting effect on overall college achievement by fraternities and cast some doubt on their selection procedures. Attraction of fraternity members who possess a strong need to belong and pressures for conformity in choice of majors by the fraternities was also in evidence.     

Stretching Every Dollar: The Impact of Personal Financial Stress on the Enrollment Behaviors of Working and Nonworking Community College Students

ABSTRACT

Using 1,400 survey responses collected from two large urban community college systems in Texas, this study examined how students’ financial habits, stress, and well-being influenced their enrollment behaviors. Working students, compared to their nonworking peers, reported significantly lower levels of overall financial well-being. After controlling for other relevant predictors of persistence, regression results showed that students with lower financial well-being and higher financial stress were more likely to doubt their ability to complete college. Results for the restricted sample of working students revealed a strong relationship between a student’s financial well-being and stress. These students also reported having to reduce their semester course load and/or stopping out for a semester in order to work more hours to pay for expenses. These findings suggest that initiatives aimed at helping students improve their financial literacy and money management skills may be an effective, yet underutilized, way to improve retention rates at community colleges.     

The Importance of Mathematics as a Prerequisite to Introductory Financial Accounting

ABSTRACT

Mathematics has long served as a prerequisite to introductory financial accounting in the 4-year college business curriculum. However, 2-year colleges have been slower to adopt math as a prerequisite. Its usefulness in relation to achieving successful completion of accounting has not been demonstrated at either a 2-year or 4-year college. Using data from students who enrolled in introductory financial accounting at a 2-year college over a 13-year period, the research reported here consists of the generation of a logistical regression model to ascertain the role of mathematics in relation to improving the odds of success in introductory financial accounting. The results indicate that successful completion of introductory financial accounting improves when high school GPA (grade point average), collegiate maturity, as well as combined prerequisites of math and English are taken into consideration.     

The Financial Aid Consortium: Rationales and Best Practices for their Establishment between Community Colleges and Public Universities

ABSTRACT

The financial challenges facing college students in the U.S. are daunting. The majority of these students are incurring substantial debt during their studies. For many this likely debt level is sufficient to cause them to forgo college, while for others it leads them to drop out before completing a degree. This financial strain places a premium on efforts that the student can take to economize. One of the most substantial ways that the students can economize is through the inclusion of a community college in their plans of study. Consequently, economizing requires the inclusion of multiple colleges and the courses needed to be taken at different institutions seldom fits neatly into full-time semesters. Recent regulatory changes have created an opportunity for institutions to eliminate this type of financial strain through the strategic cooperation of a financial aid consortium.     

Adjustment Difficulties and Caregiving Burdens Faced by College Students with a Parent with Bipolar or Depressive Disorders

College campuses often host students who come from families where one or more parent has been affected by a bipolar or depressive disorder. The present study sought to determine whether these students face unique challenges in college, including increased adjustment difficulties as well as greater caregiving burden associated with their parents’ illness. Participants (N?=?89) were undergraduate students at a large public university in the South (27 had a parent with bipolar disorder; 30 had a parent with major depressive disorder [MDD]; 32 had no parent history of a mood disorder). Semistructured interviews were used to assess student symptoms of mood disorders and mood disorder symptoms within their immediate family. Self-report measures were used to assess college adjustment and levels of caregiving burden faced by the students. We found that students with a family history of bipolar disorder and MDD had significantly greater difficulty adjusting to college. These difficulties persisted even after controlling for whether the student themselves had been affected by a mood disorder. The students of a parent with either bipolar disorder or MDD also reported significantly more burden associated with caring for their parents. College campus mental health professionals need to be aware that students with a parent with bipolar disorder or MDD face unique challenges adjusting to college that are only partially related to an increased risk for mood disorders.     

Doctoral Programs: What Factors Attract Students

ABSTRACT

The study surveyed (questionnaire) 222 doctoral business students from private and public universities in Northeastern United States. The objective was to identity important criteria used to select a university. In addition, this study compared the responses of students from these schools to determine whether selection criteria differ.

Using a Likert scale of important to unimportant, students from these universities rated ten of the 52 criteria important to their selection. They included: programs, academic reputation, degree marketability, faculty contact time, accreditations, assistantship/campus employment, financial aids, placement reputation, completion time, and library size. However, they rated academic reputation and completion time significantly different. The private school students rated academic reputation significantly (0.00) more important, whereas the public school students rated completion time significantly (0.03) more important.

To attract prospective private school students to public schools, public school administrators would benefit by emphasizing the quality and reputation of its faculty and programs. Private school administrators are likely to attract more students if they are able to improve the quality and increase the quantity of computer facilities. Moreover, they would profit from designing flexible programs and classes that would allow for a more rapid completion time.     

The Diverse Risk Profiles of Persistently Absent Primary Students: Implications for Attendance Policies in Australia

ABSTRACT

The risk factors associated with absenteeism are well known. However, children's exposure to combinations of risks and how these relate to absence patterns remains unclear. Understanding variations in risk profiles among persistently non-attending children will inform the development of absence interventions. Using a longitudinal sample of Australian children (6–11 years), a latent class analysis of 19 risks identified four classes of risk exposure. Most children (56%) were exposed to minimal risk, 20% were exposed to parenting, child development, and mental health risks only, 15% were exposed to a greater extent to financial risks only, and 9% had a higher probability of exposure to all risks. Persistently non-attending children were eight times more likely to be in the high-risk group than regular attenders. However, one-third of persistent non-attenders were classified as low-risk. The heterogeneity of risk profiles is discussed in relation to policies using financial penalties to motivate improved attendance.     

The duty to succeed: honor versus happiness in college and career choices of East Asian students in the United States

To better understand factors underlying educational and career choices, this study used both survey data from an online networking tool and data collected in college classrooms to gauge differences between Asians (primarily Korean) and white students in the United States. More Asians (41%) than whites (9%) prioritized prestige over happiness, while more white students (67%) than Asian‐American students (28%) deemed happiness as paramount in selecting a college. When assessing their parents, more Asian Americans thought their mothers (51%) and fathers (34%) emphasized prestige in choosing a college than white mothers (9%) and fathers (17%). In addition, Asian parents were assessed as much more prone to stress the importance of financial independence in career selection while white parents were perceived as prioritizing career enjoyment. Certain parenting techniques were much more common among Asians, such as reminding children of parental sacrifices made for the next generation, teaching them that academic performance is a matter of family honor and prodding academic success by comparing their accomplishments with those of children of family and friends. These findings may reflect a conscious strategy to overcome racial discrimination if education is seen as the primary path to upward social mobility. Awareness of the social and emotional cost of the staunch emphasis on the duty to succeed is important for those involved in educating and providing career counseling for college students with an Asian family background. Acknowledgement of pressure to honor parental expectations of narrowly defined acceptable academic and career achievement should be a part of counseling sessions that might otherwise focus exclusively on individual aspirations without due recognition of an interdependent, collectivistic orientation where upholding family expectations is integral to perceived success.     

Comparison of Community College Students’ Sexual Health Dimensions

ABSTRACT

Sexually active college students in the United States have alarming rates of unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. Varying degrees of sexual health knowledge and attitudes among college students are an outcome of sexuality education in the K-12 school systems with abstinence-only or comprehensive focus. Community college students (n = 737) aged 18–24 years, 57% from a college in an abstinence-only sex education state and 43% from a college in a comprehensive sex education state, both in the Mid-Atlantic region, took the Sexual Health Survey in October 2016, which measures sexual health knowledge and attitudes. Gender and ethnicity differences, as well as other sources of sexuality information were evaluated. Students from the comprehensive sex education state, New Jersey had higher sexual health knowledge and attitude scores than the students from the abstinence-only sex education state, Pennsylvania. Male students in New Jersey scored significantly higher in sexual health knowledge compared to male students in Pennsylvania, while female students in New Jersey had higher sexual health knowledge scores compared to the male students. Analysis of ethnicity revealed the New Jersey college sample had healthier sexual attitudes as compared to the Pennsylvania college sample, with notable distinction among Black students. The Internet, friends, and personal experiences were chosen by 75% of all students across both colleges as the top reported sources of sexuality information. In addition to advocating for comprehensive sex education, recommendations are made for sexual health initiatives in community colleges to provide sexual health instruction and support.     

Community College Engineering Students’ Perceptions of Classroom Climate and Fundamental Engineering Skills

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine community college engineering students’ perceptions of their classroom climate and how these perceptions are related to fundamental skills in engineering. The study was guided by the following research question: How are community college engineering students’ perceptions of their fundamental engineering skills related to their perceptions of classroom climate? Data from a 2009 National Science Foundation sponsored project, Prototype to Production: Processes and Conditions for Preparing the Engineer of 2020 (P2P), which contains information from students in 15 pre-engineering community college programs, were examined. Measures of classroom climate and fundamental skills related to engineering were first established through an exploratory factor analysis. In order to explore differences in student perceptions by individual characteristics and by institution, hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was used. Results indicated that for community college engineering students, a warmer perception of classroom climate was associated with a higher perception of fundamental engineering skills. At community colleges, class sizes are generally smaller, especially compared to introductory courses at universities, and may provide a warmer climate for students considering beginning their engineering degrees. Given the diversity within community colleges, these institutions may provide an important pathway for underrepresented groups in engineering.     

Por los ojos de madres: Latina mothers’ understandings of college readiness

In this study, data from six focus groups with 30 Latina mothers in South Texas were analyzed utilizing a “funds of knowledge” approach to uncover their understandings of college readiness and their role in ensuring their children are college ready. Findings indicate that Latina mothers perceived college readiness in a holistic fashion, similar to the concept of educación, in that being college ready encompasses academic preparation and other particular personal attributes that ensure success in college. Mothers also believed they had a shared responsibility in college readiness efforts by providing emotional, financial, and moral support while school personnel and students were responsible for other aspects. Such findings are crucial given that current college readiness research does not explicitly consider the role of parents in college readiness efforts or how parents perceive this notion.     

Differences in Household Registration and College Student Employment—An Empirical Study Based on an Employment Survey of College Graduates

Abstract

This article uses 2011 sampling survey data on the nationwide state of employment of college graduates to investigate differences in the following three areas: starting salary, industry entry, and entry to state-owned work units between college students with urban and rural household registrations. The study finds that college students with rural registrations have differing degrees of disadvantages in the three aforementioned aspects, and the disadvantage for industry entry is the most prominent. Among the factors studied, family background and differences in social relationships during the employment search are the most important factors leading to employment inequalities among urban and rural college students. Choice of major can explain some of the disadvantages of rural students in starting salary and entrance to high-income industries, and school performance of college students was not a major cause of employment differences for urban and rural college students.