Issue 26(2)
The
2003 Your First College Year (YFCY) Survey: Exploring the Academic
and Personal Experiences of First-Year Students.
(2004). Jennifer R. Keup & Ellen B. Stolzenberg. Columbia,
SC: The National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience.
94 pp. Price $30.00. ISBN
# 1-889271-48-9.
Review
by: Peggy Itschner
School
of Christian
Studies advisor
Howard
Payne
University
- Corpus
Christi campus
Corpus Christi ,
Texas
Dawn walked
into her academic advisor's office, unsure if she could continue
her college education after a rough freshman year. Dawn had experienced
personal and academic difficulties during her transition to college;
she was overwhelmed with her new responsibilities and the environment.
She was ready to give up on her education. Dawn wanted her advisor
to provide the "right" answers and help solve her problems. Could
her sophomore year be better? Could the problems she experienced
during her first year be resolved?
The
2003 Your First College
Year Survey
(YFCY) purported to help the reader understand students' first-year
experiences and assist students such as Dawn. The YFCY Survey
studied the first-year college student from a holistic perspective,
as it addressed students' academic and personal experiences. To
achieve maximum usefulness, the YFCY Survey, given at the end
of the first year of college, followed up the results of The
Cooperative Institutional Research Program Freshman Survey (CIRP),
administered at college entry. Although useful for institutions
who only participated in the YFCY Survey, a comparative longitudinal
analysis was possible for institutions that participated in both
surveys; it allowed these schools to see changes from college
entry to the end of the first year.
The YFCY Survey attempted to provide
a concise picture of the first-year experience. Descriptive analyses
were provided regarding student satisfaction with a variety of
institutional variables, academic experiences, personal issues,
and religious or spiritual matters. Possible explanations for
the results were found. Subgroup comparisons, such as gender and
residential versus commuter, demonstrated how readers might utilize
the data to assess needs at their specific campuses.
Obviously, the YFCY Survey is most
germane to the practice of freshmen advisors; however, advisors
of other student populations may utilize the information to create
a more holistic picture of their students. Freshman advisors would
do well to keep this resource nearby and refer to it as they seek
to understand first-year students and provide counsel. The variety
of experiences addressed within this survey makes it valuable.
In addition, the reader learns that campus subgroup membership
may have a large impact on how a student experiences college.
Data revealed that there are significant differences between men
and women on a large number of factors; likewise there are differences
between residential and commuter students. Freshman advisors should
study the subgroups listed so that they may better assist similar
student groups at their institutions.
Strengths
of this resource include the usefulness of the information, longitudinal
analyses, and the large sample (136 institutions of varying types
with 29,197 students surveyed nationwide). However if the reader
desires the entertainment and reader-friendliness of Richard Light's
Making the Most of College: Students Speak Their Minds ,
then he or she may find The 2003 Your First College Year Survey
lacking since it reads more like a research project with
detailed tables and descriptions of quantitative data results.
The final chapter gives an adequate summary of the research and
could be referred to if the reader does not have time to study
the project. I recommend this resource to all freshman advisors
and plan to refer to it time and again.
Reference
Light, R. J.
(2001). Making the Most of College. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press.
