Work

College Students’ Sense of Belonging: A Graduation Update

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Despite considerable and growing interest in college students’ sense of belonging, its relationship with postsecondary credential attainment remains poorly understood. Here, in a nationally representative sample of U.S. undergraduates who matriculated in 2011–2012 ( N = 21,700), first-year belonging was longitudinally associated with attainment: a 1-point increase on the 5-point scale corresponded to a 3.4 percentage-point increase in 4-year attainment and a 2.7 percentage-point increase in 6-year attainment. These descriptive findings offer large-scale evidence linking college students’ belonging to their receipt of a degree and underscore the continued need to foster students’ belonging and measure it well.

Source: Educational Researcher

DOI: 10.3102/0013189x251393248

Authors: Shannon T. Brady, Maithreyi Gopalan

Institutions: Wake Forest University, University of Oregon

Language: English

Topic: Higher Education Research Studies

Subfield: Education

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Quality education

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $2,500