Achieving Engagement and Success for Commuter Students in Engineering

Wayne State University, Detroit MI

Investigators

Abstract

With funding from the National Science Foundation's Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (S-STEM) program, the ACCESS: Achieving Commuter Engagement and Success program is providing support to low-income students with demonstrated financial need and academic promise to succeed in STEM disciplines at Wayne State University. The project is funding 84 scholarships over 5 years for students who are pursuing bachelor's degrees in Engineering. The ACCESS program will focus on addressing the unique needs of students who commute, and seeks to generate knowledge on the factors that affect the engagement of commuters with the campus community. Program elements such as a summer engineering boot camp, peer and faculty mentoring, experiential learning through internships and co-ops will be implemented to support student success. The goals of the ACCESS program are to increase the retention and six year graduation rates of commuter students with low-income socioeconomic status. Wayne State University (WSU) is located in downtown Detroit, Michigan, and serves a population of low-income students who commute to campus. These commuters are at great risk for withdrawal and poor academic progress due to their need to balance academics with many off-campus commitments, most notably work. Through combined research and educational activities, this work will address the following questions: 1) what are the barriers to commuter student participation in engagement and academic support activities, 2) how well do virtual activities promote the engagement and student success compared to in-person activities, 3) are there barriers to participation in virtual activities for students of low socioeconomic status, and 4) are these barriers to participation different among different ethnic groups? The project will be evaluated through surveys, academic performance in success marker courses, retention rates, and four- and six-year graduation rates. The results of this work will be disseminated to the campus community and to the wider global audience through peer reviewed publications and oral presentations at national meetings. The results of this work will be used to inform the development of new programs with increased effectiveness in promoting the engagement and academic success of students who commute.