The SUNY Journal of the Scholarship of Engagement: JoSE
Abstract
With the cost of college on the rise, and students increasingly viewing college as a pathway to a successful career, colleges and universities are under increasing pressure to demonstrate evidence of their effectiveness. High-impact learning experiences, such as internships, study abroad, service-learning, capstones and undergraduate research, have emerged as a promising practice to enhance student development during college; however, few studies have examined the impact of such practices on post-graduate indicators of success. This paper adds to our understanding of the benefits of high-impact learning by examining their influence on student post-graduate employment, continuing education and starting salary. The data in this study includes all 8,746 undergraduates who graduated in May of 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 from a mid-sized public research university in the Northeast. Multilevel multivariate linear, logistic and multinomial regressions, clustered by college or school of study, are used to examine post-graduate placement rates, destinations and starting salaries. The findings indicate that high-impact learning experiences have a significant, positive effect on early post-graduate outcomes, even when accounting for factors such as GPA, field of study, race and Pell-grant eligibility. While GPA and field of study also had a strong influence of these outcomes, high-impact practices had a significant and meaningful effect on overall placement rates, employment, continuing education and starting salaries. These findings add to the evidence that high-impact learning experiences are an important contributor to student success and should be meaningfully integrated into the college experience.
Included in
Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons, Higher Education Commons, Service Learning Commons