“When I first arrived at school as a first-generation college student, I didn’t know anyone on campus except my brother. I didn’t know how to pick the right classes or find the right buildings. I didn’t even bring the right size sheets for my dorm room bed.”  —Michelle Obama, from the College Opportunity Summit, January 2014

To help new UO students avoid initially negative experiences of college similar to First Lady Obama’s, the Division of Undergraduate Studies and other campus partners are working with a group of researchers to increase students’ sense of belonging and by extension their persistence to graduation.  

Grant Schoonover, director of PathwayOregon, is the point person for the College Transition Collaborative (CTC) project, which aims to promote the persistence and academic achievement of all students by focusing on building a sense of belonging. In particular, the project addresses first-generation, lower-income, and under-represented students. The project spans three years, and its goal is to send students two key messages:  

1. If you feel like you don’t belong in a new school, you are not alone
2. If you feel this way, your experience will improve over time

This intervention is designed to help students understand that adversities they experience early in college—such as difficulty making friends, feeling intimidated by large classes, or missing home—are normal and temporary, not proof that they don’t belong. It also emphasizes opportunities for growth and improvement, advocating a growth mindset.

“This first year, [staff from Orientation and Undergraduate Studies and others] have worked closely with the CTC group to develop a customized social belonging intervention using focus groups, survey data, and historical data analysis. This intervention will be tested against a control and a standard intervention already shown to be effective,” said Schoonover.

Stanford researchers with the CTC, including psychology professor and principal investigator Greg Walton, conducted several focus groups with UO students to better understand factors related to students’ transition to college and their sense of belonging. Results from the focus groups were then used to develop a UO-customized social belonging intervention, which consists of upper-class student stories of transition and belonging. The UO Class of 2020 will be administered the intervention prior to arriving on campus for IntroDUCKtion this summer.

The CTC just published a study pointing to promising outcomes for such interventions. The benefits were greatest for students of color and first-generation students. In a sample of more than 9,500 students, the intervention closed institutional achievement gaps in full-time enrollment and grades between students from disadvantaged backgrounds and other students at the participating schools by 31–40%.

Learn more about the CTC project here and more about the recent findings here.