How Residency Affects The Grades of Undergraduate Students

Using data collected from SUNY Brockport National Survey of Student Engagement 2011 (NSSE) results, 946 first year and senior year student’s grades were compared to three variables: ages, transfer status, and residence. SPSS was used to run univariate and bivariate analyses to determine the relationship between grades and the three independent variables. The results showed that older students earned higher grades although the progression from lowest to highest grade earners did not follow the progression of ages. Our analysis of grades in relation to transfer status showed that transfer students scored lower than native students, which is likely due to transfer shock. The results of our analysis of grades in relation to residency showed that on-campus students were the highest grade earners with commuters coming in second. Introduction and Research Problem Statement and Justification of the Research Problem Many different factors affect student grades in college. Each individual has a unique experience that affects success and, ultimately, grades. Although there are multiple variables to be considered when evaluating what makes a student successful, three variables stand out as most relevant. Age, as a variable, is an important aspect to consider when it comes to grades and academic success. With age comes experience, and with experience comes ability. Abilities such as “commitment, control, challenge and overall hardiness” develop over time (Sheard, 2009). Including age in this study was essential because the development of such abilities may influence academic success. Transfer status is also an area of interest for similar reasons. Many community colleges offer only two year programs. If a student wishes to further their higher education they must HONORS THESIS PROJECT 4 transfer to a four year college that offers a continuation of baccalaureate, masters, and doctorate programs. This is directly linked to the student’s age but other aspects of being a transfer student, such as a phenomenon called “transfer shock”, may also affect a student’s performance (Stewart & Martinello, 2012). Lastly, this study took into account a student’s living situation as a variable. This study aimed to see if there was any observable correlation between a student’s living situation and their overall grades. It was theorized that these three factors greatly impact a student’s performance. This study examined these three parts of a holistic student to see if there can be any logic found in the data that has been collected. The original research question proposed was: How do the age, transfer status, and living situation of an undergraduate student affect the grades received by that student? The research question was then narrowed down to: Does the residency status of undergraduate college students affect the grades they earn? With the additional questions of: How does age affect the grades of undergraduate college students? How does transfer status affect the grades of undergraduate college students? Hypothesis For this study there is one dependent and three independent variables to define and consider. The data used in this study was pulled directly from the National Survey of Student Engagement 2011 (NSSE). The dependent variable used in this study is the student’s grades. In the NSSE, the twenty fifth question on the survey asks “What have most of your grades been up to now at this institution? ” (National Survey of Student Engagement, 2011) This question gives direct data in relation to overall grades. The responses are divided up according to letter grade: A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, and Cor lower. HONORS THESIS PROJECT 5 The first independent variable for this study is living situation. The NSSE measures student’s living situation on the twenty sixth question by asking “Which of the following best describes where you are living now while attending college? ” The five options to choose from are “Dormitory or other campus housing (not fraternity/sorority house)”, “Residence (house, apartment, etc.) within walking distance of the institution”, “Residence (house, apartment, etc.) within driving distance of the institution”, “Fraternity or sorority house”, and “None of the above” (National Survey of Student Engagement, 2011). The second independent variable is age. The fifteenth question on the NSSE simply asks the student to “Write in the year of your birth” (National Survey of Student Engagement, 2011). The last independent variable is transfer status. The twentieth question of the NSSE asks “Did you begin college at your current institution or elsewhere? ” (National Survey of Student Engagement, 2011). When taking transfer status into consideration, it was important to find the exact data set that was used on the NSSE. There were two questions that pertained to starting off at another institution and what types of institutions or schools were attended between high school and the time the survey was taken. Both questions could possibly be used in terms of determining transfer status; however, the simple question of whether or not college was started at the current institution suffices, even if the word “transfer” is not directly used. Students who did not transfer will be referred to as “native students”. With the dependent and independent variables taken into consideration, three different hypotheses were formed. First, we hypothesized that the older a student is, the higher their grades will be. Second, students transferring from another college or university will have higher grades than the native students. HONORS THESIS PROJECT 6 Lastly, students living off campus (in any living situation other than dormitory residence) will have higher grades than those living on campus. The hypotheses have been built from previous findings on the subjects.