Evaluating First Year Experience (FYE) Programs
Entering college is one of the most exciting experiences for young adults, but it is equally one of the most challenging as well. To help ease the transition, many institutions offer First-Year Experience (FYE) programs designed to acclimate and support students academically, socially, and emotionally. These programs vary widely in their structure, focus, and desired outcomes. For many students who may not be or feel entirely ready for college, FYE programs can make the difference between succeeding or not.
So, knowing what kind of FYE experience a school offers and it’s strengths and weaknesses should be a key factor in students’ (and parents’) evaluation of individual colleges. Understanding the different types of FYE programs and what makes them effective can help you make better informed decisions as you search for colleges.
In general, FYE programs can last from 2 weeks to a full year and involve the following to varying degrees:
team-building activities to establish positive social relationships between students
content related to career exploration, academic transition, and social integration, with wellness, DEI, and financial literacy becoming more and more common
traditional classroom lectures, seminar-based classes, and outdoor adventuring
But the quality of these programs differs widely, and not every program is what every student needs at that particular time. So, it’s important students and their families know how to evaluate the quality of FYE programs across colleges to better inform their decision making.
Aspects to Consider:
Length
Programs can last from about 2 weeks to an entire year. Shorter ones are more orientating in nature, while longer ones are more developmental in nature.
Key Insight – Longer ones are almost always more impactful for students.
Format
The program can be in the form of an Orientation, such as the first 2 weeks of school or a week before classes start. It can also be in the form of a traditional lecture course in a formal classroom; these usually last longer, up to an entire year. They can also take the form of a Seminar, which involves at least as much peer-to-peer dialogue and learning as it does lecture, and it can involve outdoor adventure elements, too, such as ropes courses, rafting, escape rooms, etc.
Key Insight – Generally speaking, the longer the experience and the more active and engaging, the more impactful the experience is.
Content Focus
Orientation type programs typically focus on immediate “Need to Know” info and some light team building exercises and no ongoing integration with extra-curricular activities. Class-based activities tend to cover 2-3 topics, including career exploration, transitioning to college, social integration, financial literacy, wellness, etc., and often some extracurricular integration. Other programs are more comprehensive and cover several topics and ongoing extracurricular integration. Usually, the more comprehensive it is the better.
Key Insight - For students that may struggle in a particular aspect, say deciding on a career or improving their academic skills, a highly focused program may be a better choice in that context.
Content Structure
Content structure varies across programs. Some are not organized at all and are just topics thrown together by the faculty. Others are organized linearly, where you finish one entirely and then move on to the next. Others are interleaved, which means the content is spaced out; you may cover learning strategies for 2 weeks, then cover wellness followed by financial literacy, and then cover more about learning strategies.
Key Insight – Interleaving is usually a better structure in terms of student learning, and it’s also more effective as a study strategy than studying topics linearly.
Grouping
Some programs randomly group students together, while others group around various factors, like intended major, interest, etc. that are not connected to the content. Other programs group students around strategic factors that are connected to the content, such as majors, interests, affinity groups, etc. These are often called FIGs (Freshman Interest Groups) or Learning Communities (LC’s) and include meaningful academic and social content around the interest.
Key Insight – The more interconnected the academic content, social content, and the interest are the better, provided the student is sincerely and emotionally invested in that interest.
Career Exploration
When it comes to academic content, intentionality and depth matter. Most programs involve career exploration but differ in the degree of intentionality and depth. Many offer individual General Education courses that fulfil Gen Ed requirements but may or may not really engage specific career development content. It is assumed the student gleans that understanding naturally. Other programs offer stand-alone, discipline-specific courses that fulfil Gen Ed requirements and that explicitly include career-development content pertaining to a single discipline, but students may not realize how it relates to other disciplines. Others go even deeper and integrate their Gen Ed courses, such that current issues or contexts are studied simultaneously across several separate Gen Ed courses and explicitly engage discipline specific methods of inquiry and approaches to examine those issues and integrate that with career development content.
Key Insight – The more integrated Gen Ed courses are, and the more intentional the integrated career development content is, the more effective they are.
Academic Transition
Nearly all programs at least touch on academic transition in the form of noting the differences between college and high school, particularly in terms of time-management. Some mention it and move on, while others go into more detail and cover more useful and relevant information, such as adapting learning strategies to different tasks, self-testing, metacognition, etc. Some also involve intentional student-faculty interactions outside the classroom.
Key Insight – The more a program covers metacognitive (or self-regulated) learning strategies and involves meaningful and extended student-faculty interactions outside the classroom the more impactful those programs are in terms of helping students succeed academically.
Social Integration
Many programs feature a lot of standard team-building activities early on but discontinue after a few weeks. Other programs do a better job of sustaining them throughout the term. The best programs feature sustained activities that are intentionally designed to foster meaningful relationships and intrapersonal insights and are more directly related to the course interest and content.
Key Insight – Relationships take time to develop and mature, so the more a program sustains relationship building, the better.
Faculty Development
It is rare for students and parents to consider Faculty Development when evaluating college programs, but it is one of the most critical aspects. In some FYE programs, there is no faculty development other than an orientation session to go over the content, timeline, etc. Other programs provide some modest degree of training on the content topics and activities, while others are more intentional. They provide deeper training on the theory and research related to FYE programs, as well as the most effective teaching methods and learning strategies.
Key Insight – One of the most influential factors upon student success is how effective a professor is at teaching, and sadly, few faculty are ever taught how to teach well, and many are rewarded for their research, not their teaching. So, programs that emphasize this kind of substantive faculty development are especially valuable and effective.
Continuous Improvement
Another aspect that students and families rarely consider is how committed administrators and faculty are to continuous improvement. Many FYE programs engage in minimal and superficial review of curricular effectiveness. Instead, improvements are made based simply on personal perceptions and anecdotes. Good programs at least engage in a thoughtful review at the end of the year, and look at student surveys, GPA, and Retention, even though they may overlook evaluating the curriculum itself. The best programs, though, use ongoing student and faculty feedback, annual curricular review, and make adjustments based on research and data on GPA, Retention, Wellness, Learning Strategies, Persistence, Graduation, and possibly even Employment outcomes.
Key Insight – The best programs approach investigating their effectiveness with the same curiosity, rigor, and commitment as they do their academic research.
Organizational Integration
How programs are situated and integrated within the institution is also a defining aspect that can have outsized importance to some students. Some programs are hardly integrated and treated as entirely independent courses. Most programs have a modest degree of integration where faculty are informed about support resources and services. A few programs - that also appear to be more effective - have deliberately integrated FYE across offices, systems, technology, etc. In these programs, FYE is almost more of a philosophy than a program, where students behaviors/experiences almost automatically trigger responses in other departments. If a student is at risk of failing a gateway math course, advising is alerted so their academic advisor can connect with them and provide support, but so is the student’s residence hall director, who asks a student leader to check in on them, and if it may be due to an emotionally upsetting issue, even a counselor or wellness advisor may be alerted and reach out. If a student is having a significant roommate issue, their English teacher can see that and can choose to touch base with them if they have that relationship.
Key Insight – In some cases these can appear to be “extra” or overdoing it, but this degree of integration can be vital to the success of students who are struggling and do not have the coping skills or agency to succeed on their own. And on some campuses, a majority of students fall into that category. It’s important to note, though, that these highly integrated programs involve expensive technology, which does increase the cost of attendance.
Institutional Outcomes
The last aspect to consider is “What is the program intended to achieve?” Some FYE programs, whether stated explicitly or not, are simply intended to improve student satisfaction. These programs tend to be rather basic in terms of the factors noted above. Others are more thoughtful and designed to improve Student Belonging/Connectedness, Retention, and Academic Performance. Others are more comprehensive and designed to improve Belonging/Connectedness, Retention, Persistence, Wellness, Academic Performance, and graduation rates. On some campuses, FYE programs serve as strategic solutions to a particular issue and may more narrowly focus on one or two of these areas.
Key Insight – While a comprehensive approach is often better in the long run, it can dilute the impact in a single area so that all areas are improved a little. As noted earlier, if a particular student really needs help in a particular area, a program that focuses more on that than others may be a better strategic option.
Most of the research on FYE has involved traditional brick-and-mortar campuses and traditional-aged students, and there is solid research showing that well designed programs with well trained faculty are very effective. For online colleges and non-traditional students, the evidence is less clear. For one, non-traditional students tend to have different needs and are motivated differently than younger students. Online environments tend to require students to already have well developed self-management and coping skills and have a copious reserve of self-motivation; there’s not enough time for FYE programs to help students develop these, because they are needed immediately. That said, many online schools now boast about their FYE experiences, but to date, there is no clear evidence of their effectiveness.
Conclusion
FYE programs often play a remarkable role in helping students navigate the transition to and succeed in college. By understanding the different types and focuses of these programs, and by evaluating their effectiveness, you can choose an FYE program that best supports your academic and personal growth. Remember, you’re playing the long game here. A well-designed FYE program can make a significant difference in your college experience, and set you up for success in the long-term.
Below is a helpful grid outlining the evaluative factors and their relative details.
