The First Year and Beyond: Rethinking the Challenge of Collegiate Transition: New Directions for Higher Education, Number 144

The transitions that happen before, after, and during the undergraduate college experience are the subject of this volume--transitions that are experienced by students (and sometimes their parents) and guided by educators. The topic of collegiate transitions has been a primary focus of higher education literature and research over the past twenty-five years. But almost all of this attention has centered on the first year, the transition period when students are most likely to drop out of college. In spite of its importance to students and institutions, the first year is not only the significant transition period that affects student success. This volume expands the lens to include a view of transitions that precede and follow the traditional first year, as well as the critical junctures throughout the undergraduate years that promote or impede student progress to a degree. Chapters discuss: Rethinking College ReadinessBlending High School and College: Rethinking the TransitionNew Challenges in Working with Traditional-Aged College StudentsFrom Helicopter Parent to Valued Partner: Shaping the Parental Relationship for Student SuccessAdult Students in Higher Education: A Portrait of TransitionsSophomores in Transition: The Forgotten Year "Feeling like a Freshman Again": The Transfer Student TransitionInstitutional Efforts to Move Seniors Through and Beyond CollegeCollege Transitions: The Other Side of the Story Taken as a whole, this volume describes a continuum of the college or university experience through the framework of student transition. Depending on the characteristics of the students, their entry points, and their subsequent decisions, the nature of the college experience will be different. But student success from entry to degree attainment also depends in great measure on the willingness of institutions to be supportive of and accountable for student progress in, through, and ultimately out of college.