Today’s College Students: Who Are They and What Do They Require From a College Education?

Year 2016, Volume: 3 Issue: 1, 34 - 46, 01.06.2016

Gail Dianna Caruth

Abstract

College students today are different. A review of the literature suggested that professors are encouraged to be technolgically knowledgeable; consider students preferences and skills; utilize technology innovatively; remember that students are already conducting research on their devices; teach students how to evaluate sources; augment research skills with academic skills; remember need for organization, constructive feedback, results orientation, to know what is expected of them, and to be evaluated; encourage career-connected decisions; provide opportunities for participation; consider games to engage them; respect their need for connection; ask questions for ownership; and link learning to the real world. The purpose of this archival quantitative, data mining study using data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) of the National Center for Education Statistics was to identify the demographics of today’s college students in the United States during the Fall of 2014. This study was significant because understanding who these students are and what they need from college is critical for providing an education to become tomorrow’s leaders. Findings revealed that the majority of students tended to be under the age of 25; female; full-time; enrolled in face-to-face courses; and White. They tended to enroll in public 2-year and 4-year colleges.

Keywords

College students, College students today, College student graduation rates, and Motivating college students.

References

• Brunner, J. L., Wallace, D. L., Reymann, L. S., Sellers, J., & McCabe, A. G. (2014). College counseling today: Contemporary students and how counseling centers meet their needs. Journal Of College Student Psychotherapy, 28(4), 257-324. doi:10.1080/87568225.2014.948770
• Chen, X., & Yur-Austin, J. (2016). College challenge to ensure “timely graduation”: Understanding college students’ mindsets during the financial crisis. Journal Of Education For Business, 91(1), 32-37. doi:10.1080/08832323.2015.1110106
• Crone, I., & MacKay, K. (2007). Motivating today's college students. Peer Review, 9(1), 18-21.
• Flanagan, C. (2015). That's not funny! Today's college students can't seem to take a joke. The Atlantic, (2). 54.
• Halawah, I. (2011). Factors influencing college students’ motivation to learn from students’ perspective. Education, 132(2), 379-390.
• Harden, N. (2013). Peter Pan goes to college. Society, 50(3), 257. doi:10.1007/s12115-013-9665-x
• Head, A. J., & Eisenberg, M. B. (2009). Finding context: What today's college students say about conducting research in the digital age. (Project Information Literacy Progress Report, The Information School, University of Washington). Project Information Literacy.
• Jennings, E. (2008). Using Wikipedia to teach information literacy. College & Undergraduate Libraries, 15(4), 432. doi:10.1080/10691310802554895
• Larkin, J. A. (2007). Job choice and career relevance for today's college students. Journal Of Employment Counseling, 44(2), 86-94.
• Lawrence, K. (2015). Today's college students: Skimmers, scanners and efficiency-seekers. Information Services & Use, 35(1/2), 89-93. doi:10.3233/ISU-150765
• Levine, A., & Cureton, J. S. (1998). What we know about today's college students. About Campus, 3(1), 4-9.
• Kline, A. D. (2015). Students are smarter, but have they changed? B>Quest, 1-8.
• McCormack, S. K. (2015). Teaching history online to today's community college students. Journal Of American History, 101(4), 1215-1221. doi:10.1093/jahist/jav100
• McCoy, C. (2010). Perceived self-efficacy and technology proficiency in undergraduate college students. Computers& Education, 551614-1617. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2010.07.003
• Ratliff, A. F. (2011). Are they listening? Social media on campuses of higher education. Journal Of The Australian & New Zealand Student Services Association, (38), 65.
• Robinson, S., & Stubberud, H. A. (2012a). Student choice of course materials. Allied Academies International Conference: Proceedings Of The Academy Of Educational Leadership (AEL), 17(1), 41.
• Robinson, S., & Stubberud, H. A. (2012b). Student preferences for educational materials: Old meets new. Academy Of Educational Leadership Journal, 1699-109.
• Robinson, S. (2013). Student response to risk in classroom learning games. Academy Of Educational Leadership Journal, 17(4), 1-12.
• Russo, T. J., Fallon, M. A., Zhang, J., & Acevedo, V. C. (2014). Today's university students and their need to connect. Brock Education: A Journal Of Educational Research And Practice, 23(2), 84-96.
• Speaker, K. (2004). Student perspectives: Expectations of multimedia technology in a college literature class. Reading Improvement, 41(4), 241.
• The Higher Education Act. 20 U.S. C. §1001. (1965)
• U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2015). The Condition of Education 2015 (NCES 2015-144), Institutional Retention and Graduation Rates for Undergraduate Students.
• Watkins, D. C., Hunt, J. B., & Eisenberg, D. (2012). Increased demand for mental health services on college campuses: Perspectives from administrators. Qualitative Social Work, 11(3), 319-337. doi:10.1177/1473325011401468