Table 1.
Description of Variables
| Variable | Description | Mean (SD) |
|---|---|---|
| Dependent variables: | ||
| First-Year GPA | Cumulative grade point average from first year | 2.662 (1.049) |
| Retention into Second Year | Remained enrolled throughout first year and re-enrolled in year 2 | 0.178 (0.383) |
| Associate Degree | Earned an associate degree within six years of initial enrollment | 0.236 (0.425) |
| Transfer to Four-Year | Transferred to a four-year college within six years of initial enrollment | 0.169 (0.375) |
| Independent variables: | ||
| Engagement Experiences | ||
| Faculty Social | Had informal/social contact with faculty outside of classrooms and the office | 0.294 (0.456) |
| Faculty Academic | Spoke with faculty members about academic matters outside of class | 0.680 (0.467) |
| Study Group | Attended study groups | 0.393 (0.489) |
| Clubs | Participated in school clubs | 0.134 (0.340) |
| Background | ||
| Logged Income | Household 2002 income in dollars, transformed into log(income) | 10.005 (2.071) |
| Pell Grant | 2003-04 Pell Grant award amount in $1000s | 0.710 (1.299) |
| Parents’ Education: | ||
| No College (reference) | Neither parent attended college | 0.426 (0.494) |
| Up to Two Years | At least one parent attended college for up to 2 years, including earning an Associate’s degree | 0.226 (0.418) |
| Up to Four Years | At least one parent attended college for more than 2 years, but did not earn a Bachelor’s degree | 0.061 (0.240) |
| Bachelor’s Degree | At least one parent earned Bachelor’s degree | 0.166 (0.372) |
| Advanced Degree | At least one parent earned an advanced degree (master’s, professional, or beyond) | 0.112 (0.315) |
| Parents Own Home | Indicates whether parents of respondent own their home in 2003-2004 | 0.761 (0.427) |
| Single Parent | Indicates whether parent is divorced, separated, or widowed | 0.521 (0.499) |
| Race: | ||
| White (reference) | Identifies as white | 0.650 (0.477) |
| Black | Identifies as black | 0.161 (0.367) |
| Asian | Identifies as Asian | 0.039 (0.194) |
| Other Race | Identifies as another race, including pacific islander and Native American | 0.019 (0.324) |
| Hispanic | Identifies as Hispanic | 0.148 (0.355) |
| Female | Identifies as female | 0.571 (0.495) |
| Age | Age at initial enrollment | 22.107 (7.342) |
| Parental Support | Indicator of receiving at least some financial support from parents (e.g. pay housing, living expense, other expense, and or tuition/fees) | 0.497 (0.500) |
| Married | Married at time of initial enrollment | 0.163 (0.370) |
| Children | Has children | 0.158 (0.365) |
| Dependent | Financially dependent on parents (claimed as dependent on tax returns) | 0.631 (0.483) |
| Educational Information | ||
| GED | Earned General Education Development certificate instead of high school diploma | 0.132 (0.338) |
| High School GPA | Continuous measure of cumulative Grade Point Average in high school, created by assigning the average value of the categorical measure (1=.5-.9, 2=1.0-1.4, 3=1.5-1.9, 4=2.0-2.4, 5=2.5-2.9, 6=3.0-3.4, 7=3.5-4.0) for a more interpretable metric | 2.846 (0.623) |
| AP Credit | Earned Advanced Placement credit in high school | 0.072 (0.259) |
| Years Math | Years of high school coursework the respondent completed in mathematics, according to self-report on standardized test questionnaire | 2.561 (1.415) |
| Public High School | Public high school | 0.914 (0.280) |
| College Context | ||
| Lives on campus | Lives on campus in fall semester of first year | 0.057 (0.232) |
| Full-Time | Initially enrolls as full-time student | 0.665 (0.472) |
| Distance Home | Miles from college to home (in high school) | 21.066 (36.553) |
| Enrollment Size | Enrollment size of institution | 8266.3 (7195.6) |
| Percent Minority | Percent minority enrollment at college (2003-04) | 31.860 (21.883) |
| Percent Federal Grant | Percent students at college receiving federal grants (2003-04) | 38.531 (18.841) |
| Experiences During College a | ||
| Major: | Major (2003-2004), 12 categories | |
| Undeclared (reference) | Student undeclared / no major selected | 0.331 (0.471) |
| Humanities | Humanities major | 0.066 (0.245) |
| Social/Behavioral | Social/behavioral science major | 0.027 (0.163) |
| Life Science | Life science major | 0.019 (0.138) |
| Physical Science | Physical science major | 0.003 (0.057) |
| Math | Mathematics major | 0.002 (0.046) |
| Computer/Information | Computer or information science major | 0.041 (0.197) |
| Engineering | Engineering major | 0.032 (0.176) |
| Education | Education major | 0.057 (0.233) |
| Business/Management | Business or management-related major | 0.117 (0.321) |
| Health | Health major | 0.167 (0.373) |
| Vocational/Technical | Vocational or technical major | 0.050 (0.200) |
| Other Professional | Other professional major | 0.095 (0.292) |
| Hours Worked | Hours the respondent worked for pay per week (2003-04), excluding work study | 20.869 (15.629) |
| Job Related to Major | Employed at job related to college program/major | 0.108 (0.311) |
| Remedial Coursework | Number of remedial courses taken | 1.808 (2.350) |
Notes: Notes: N= 7,010.
a
Propensity score matching models selection into college experiences using pre-treatment measures, making it inappropriate to include measures capturing other college experiences in the model predicting engagement during the first-year of college (Morgan & Winship, 2007). For this reason, the “experiences during college” variables are included in the final regression model, but not in the propensity score model. This captures the influence of the measures in estimating the effect of engagement on each outcome without potentially “controlling away” part of the treatment effect of first-year engagement.