The Impact of an Open-Admissions Summer Bridge Program on First-Year Student Success

• In Event: 79.030 - Success in the First Year of College

Abstract

This study examines the impact of an open-admissions summer bridge program geared toward first-year students at a large public land-grant university. The purpose of the study was to determine the impact of the program on first-year student success, defined by first-year fall semester GPRA, end-of-first-year GPA, first-year fall semester credit hours earned, first-year spring semester credit hours earned, end-of-first-year credit hours earned, and retention to the second year at the university. This study employed propensity score methods to compare participants in the Summer Bridge Program at the selected university to similar non-participant matches. The results of the study did not suggest a definitive positive impact of the Summer Bridge Program on the academic success of the first-year students who participated.

Authors

• Mary C. Medina, East Carolina University

• Ashley Brooke Clayton, Louisiana State University