Belonging Fulfillment: Are Universities Fulfilling College Students' Expectations About Belonging?

• In Event: Diverse Perspectives on Mentoring, Belonging, and Achieving: Insights From Alumni, Advisors, and Students

Abstract

A sense of belonging is an important factor for college student success. However, it is unclear whether students’ expectations of belonging are being met as they progress through their time in college. In this paper, we examine (a) whether students’ expectations about college belonging are fulfilled during college and (b) how demographic background predicts the degree to which students’ expectations about college belonging are fulfilled during college. We found that universities are failing to fulfill students’ expectations of college belonging and that low-income students are more likely than their peers to have their college belonging expectations fulfilled and surpassed.  These results have important implications for higher education and demonstrate the need to study belonging fulfillment as a unique phenomenon.

Authors

• Taiylor Rayford, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  Presenting Author

• Amos Jeng, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
  Presenting Author

• Nidia Ruedas-Gracia, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  Non-Presenting Author

• David Shuang Song, University of Oklahoma
  Non-Presenting Author