Predicting College Selectivity From Student Characteristics: How Does "Belonging" Fit In?

• In Event: College Access, Financial Aid, and Student Success

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine how student background characteristics, beliefs about their belonging, and achievement in high school predict the outcomes of the college choice process; specifically whether the students tended to overmatch/undermatch in the selectivity of the colleges they attended. Using the High School Longitudinal Survey, multiple regression showed that students’ sense of belonging and high school achievement predicted their college selectivity over and above student characteristics alone. Chi-square analysis found that students with a weaker sense of belonging in high school tend to undermatch while students with stronger sense of belonging tended to overmatch in college selection (X^2=415.81,p<.001). These findings indicate important long-term implications for individual students as well as for institutional graduation rates.

Authors

• Amanda L. Nolen, University of Arkansas at Little Rock

• Jim Vander Putten, Mercer University