Date of Award

Fall 12-2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Program/Concentration

Community College Leadership

Committee Director

Mitchell R. Williams

Committee Member

Cherng-Jyh Yen

Committee Member

James Bartlett

Abstract

A recent survey by the Education Advisory Board (EAB) found that of the 1000 community college students surveyed, 56% nearly quit before classes started due to challenges during college onboarding. Similarly, admissions data from the Virginia Community Colleges System (VCCS) indicated that more than half of the students who apply do not enroll in classes, highlighting a need to closely examine the onboarding process and support services provided to understand what is effective and what is not. The purpose of this study is to understand the predictive utility of certain student onboarding services, such as an appointment with an admissions coordinator, orientation attendance, financial preparedness, academic planning, academic advising appointment, and use of wrap-around services, on student enrollment at a Virginia community college. The study explored whether onboarding services contribute to student success related to enrollment and retention at a VCCS community college.

The findings indicated that admissions appointments, orientation attendance, and financial preparedness were significant predictors for first-term enrollment for both first-time in college and first-time in college first-generation students. Academic planning during the first term also showed a strong predictive utility for next-term enrollment, whereas attending academic advising appointments and using wrap-around services showed no significant impact. Community college leaders can use these findings to identify the college’s onboarding services that improve student enrollment outcomes. Leaders can apply the findings to guide decisions on which onboarding services the college administration should consider mandatory rather than optional. Future research could expand this work to other community colleges at the VCCS, examine how the onboarding services support the entire student journey, and augment the current study by adding a qualitative perspective to understand the impact of students’ experiences with onboarding services.

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In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

DOI

10.25777/tk0d-1q66

ISBN

9798276040684

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