Transfer Student Success: Educationally Purposeful Activities Predictive of Undergraduate GPA

Renee M. Fauria and Matthew B. Fuller   |    Volume Ten  |   

Researchers evaluated the effects of Educationally Purposeful Activities (EPAs) on transfer and nontransfer students’ cumulative GPAs. Hierarchical, linear, and multiple regression models yielded seven statistically significant educationally purposeful items that influenced undergraduate student GPAs. Statistically significant positive EPAs for transfer students were: (a) receiving prompt written or oral feedback from faculty on academic performance, (b) tutoring or teaching other students (paid or voluntary), (c) asking questions in class or contributing to class discussions, and (d) working harder than they thought they could to meet an instructor’s standards or expectations. A negative statistically significant activity of transfer students was having serious conversations with students of a race different from their own. Overall, the effects of EPAs on undergraduate GPAs are somewhat more robust for transfer students. A recommendation to incorporate specific EPAs in transfer students’ curriculum followed.

« Back to Archive