The Honors College and First-Generation College Students: Assessing Factors That Enhance Self-Efficacy

• In Event: Roundtable Session 28
  In Roundtable Session: What’s in It for Me? Self-Efficacy and Student Engagement

Abstract

This study examined an Honors College’s (HC) impact on facilitating first-generation students’ college transition by evaluating first-time, full-time students’ responses on a university-wide follow-up survey (N=953) administered during Spring, 2012. Exploratory Factor Analysis was conducted to establish three factors of analytical interest: classroom participation, diversity coursework, and academic self-efficacy. After running multiple t-tests analyses, we found significant differences based upon both HC membership and generational status on classroom participation and academic self-efficacy. This is an important result because individuals with lower academic self-efficacy are less likely to succeed for a variety of reasons; particularly, they incorporate fewer self-regulated learning strategies during college (e.g., goal setting, metacognition, reflection, critical thinking). Therefore, our findings are promising for first-generation students’ academic success.

Authors

• Matt Holliday, The University of Arizona

• Nolan L. Cabrera, The University of Arizona