By Hana Lahr and Serena C. Klempin
Choosing a program of study is a big decision for college students. It reflects their educational goals and career aspirations. But how do incoming community college students make this choice? Who are the people they listen to, what experiences are most helpful, and how does their thinking about programs change over time? As part of whole-college guided pathways reforms, community colleges have placed an emphasis on redesigning program onboarding to focus on helping students choose a program of study. But until we know more about the student decision-making process, it is hard for colleges to design and implement onboarding and advising interventions that provide students with the type of support that will be most helpful as they make this decision.
Our research team at CCRC is exploring new students’ decision-making process around programs and careers through a study conducted in partnership with four community colleges in California, Maryland, Ohio, and Texas. In this study, we use a three-wave student survey administered over three terms; student transcript data; and student, faculty, and staff interviews to explore students’ decision-making about programs of study over time. We examine what perceptions students have about programs when they arrive at college, how these were shaped before their arrival, how certain they are about their program decisions, and how their thinking about programs changes throughout their first three terms of college.
New Publications on Choosing Programs
Two new publications explore early findings from this study. In the first piece, a report, we use data from the first wave of the survey–completed during students’ first two months of college–to examine their educational and career goals and programs of interest. The survey asked students to list up to three programs and careers they were considering when they started college and how certain they were about these choices. These data also allow us to examine the alignment of new students’ academic and career goals.
Many students in our sample reported arriving at college with specific career goals, with two thirds of students listing potential careers in more than one occupational field. Their career choices often aligned well with their program goals, though most new students were considering programs of study in multiple and sometimes very different fields. Sixty-one percent of students across the four colleges were considering three programs of study, 15% of students were considering two programs, and 21% selected just one program. Half the students reported being very certain about their selection of their first-choice program.
We were surprised at the high percentage of students expecting to complete their first-choice program given both other research showing that many students change their majors, often multiple times, as well as our findings from this study showing that the majority of students are considering multiple programs and careers in different fields. Our future reports will dig into these questions using survey data from students’ subsequent terms as well as interviews with students who completed all three waves of the survey.
In the second piece, a research brief, we explore how faculty and staff participate in a wide range of programs and services to help students clarify their program and career decisions. Some are designed primarily to give students information about program and career options (e.g., major and career fairs), while others like career interest assessments and one-on-one meetings with advisors and career services staff allow for more interactive exploration and self-reflection. In addition, work-based learning (e.g., internships, practicums) enables students to learn about careers by directly experiencing the types of skills and responsibilities involved. Yet many of these programs and resources, particularly the most intensive forms of support such as work-based learning opportunities, impact a relatively small number of students. The brief reviews a number of challenges that make it difficult for colleges to expand the reach of services intended to support the decision-making process and for students to make an informed program choice, including misperceptions about job roles and career opportunities and financial constraints that cause students to prioritize immediate needs over longer-term educational and career goals. Some of the challenges facing institutions include limited time for students to engage in the developmental process of program and career exploration in a meaningful way and a limited number of staff members involved in supporting program choice.
What’s Next?
Findings from both pieces suggest a need for more proactive and sustained guidance beginning when students enter college and continuing as students’ goals evolve. Future reporting based on all three waves of the survey and student interviews will provide a more in-depth look at student decision-making over time and the types of supports students feel are most useful at different stages of their educational journey.
Funding for this work was provided by Ascendium Education Group.
