College Student Engagement and Belonging Across the COVID-19 Pandemic

• In Event: Student Perceptions and Feelings of Belonging Across COVID and Beyond

Abstract

Objectives
Students’ sense of belonging in an academic environment can influence their academic persistence and success (Hausmann et al., 2007). Sense of belonging is influenced in turn by students’ sense of social and academic fit within their environment (Freeman et al., 2007). The abrupt and stressful transition to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic reduced opportunities for students to connect and engage with others on campus (Kinzie, 2023). These effects may also have differed for new first-year students compared to seniors due to differences in their residential and on-campus experiences across their academic careers. The objective of this study was to examine changes in students’ sense of belonging and engagement across pre-, mid-, and current pandemic time points.

Perspectives of Theoretical Framework
Institutions of higher education administer the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), which is based on the theoretical framework established by Astin’s (1996) theory of student involvement (Kuh, 2009). The framework assesses student opportunities for academic and social engagement within the college setting using various engagement practices, e.g., collaborative learning. NSSE introduced institutional belonging questions in 2020, creating the opportunity to examine how these student engagement practices influence institutional belonging.

Methods/Materials
Data came from the NSSE administered at a minority-serving institution in Texas across three collection years (2020 = 4,078; 2021 = 3,199; and 2023 = 1,215); see Table 1 for items. NSSE was distributed to student emails in February/March each year. Participants were 58% women, 42% men; 34% Hispanic, 27% Asian American, 20% White, 9% Black, and 10% Other; 41% first-generation; and 3,471 first-year students, 5,021 seniors). NSSE scales included Institutional Belonging (alpha = .83), Collaborative Learning (alpha = .79), Student-faculty Interactions (alpha = .85), High-impact Practices (alpha = .70), and Quality of Interactions (alpha = .87).

Results
We used Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to examine changes based on year, classification (first-year or senior), and the interaction between them. There were significant main effects of year for all outcomes, ps < .004 (see Table 2). Seniors responded more positively than first-year students for all engagement practices, ps < .003, but not belonging, p = .73. However, there were significant interactions between year and classification for all outcomes, ps < .01 (see Table 2). First-year students were particularly affected in 2021 but showed consistent signs of recent improvement across most outcomes. Seniors reported lowest belonging in 2023, but other engagement practices showed signs of improvement. Sense of belonging was significantly related to all of the engagement indicators, ps < .001 (see Table 3).

Scholarly Significance
Students’ engagement practices show promising recent signs of improving to pre-pandemic levels. However, all students showed significant disruptions to their educational belonging and engagement. Recent signs of improvement are important because administrations can leverage more positive student perceptions of the learning environment to broaden opportunities for belonging and engagement on campuses.

Authors

• Paul Anthony Turcotte, University of Houston

• Allison Master, University of Houston