Literature Review #5

1) Alexander Astin

2) Astin, Alexander A. “Student Involvement: A Developmental Theory for Higher Education.” Journal of College Student Development (1984). Web.

3) This article addresses the topic of student involvement and specifically discusses the areas in which commuter students are lacking student involvement in higher education. Astin also uses the term 'retention' in context with this topic. One specific area that he addresses is the lack of interaction between students and faculty/staff and how that can play a detrimental factor in the student's academic performance.

4) Alexander Astin is a distinguished professor of Higher Education and Organizational Change at the University of California in Los Angeles. Astin is also the founding father of the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA. With his extensive repertoire of research, publications and honorary awards, Alexander Astin is highly qualified and adequately knowledgeable to be able to able to publish this research and article.

5) One key phrase used in this article is retention. Astin talks about retention rates and what factors affect students' decision and ability to stay enrolled in school. Some of these factors are working off campus and the presence (or lack) of student-faculty interactions.

6) "Retention suffers, however, if the student works off campus at a full-time job. Because the student is spending considerable time and energy on nonacademic activities that are usually unrelated to student life, full-time work off campus decreases the time and energy that the student can devote to studies and other campus activities."

"Students who interact frequently with faculty members are more likely than other students to express satisfaction with all aspects of their institutional experience, including student friendships, variety of courses, intellectual environment, and even the administration of the institution."

7) This article aids me in my research paper by showing me which factors affect retention rates, and gave me the opportunity to link this with the other research I've looked at. I used this source to talk about student-faculty relations, or lack-thereof, and how this translates to commuter students not being as academically engaged on campus and the repercussions of this.