Abstract
We review research on the “experiential core of college life” for contemporary students at four-year colleges in the United States. We argue that student academic and social experiences need to be understood in the context of broader historical and institutional factors that have structured these organizational settings. As sociologists, we focus attention on variation in college experiences for students from different socioeconomic and racial/ethnic groups, as well as consider issues related to gender, which today include prominent attention to sexuality and sexual violence. We conclude our review by calling for additional research on topics including explicating the relationship between academic and social collegiate experiences, intersectionality, family influences, sexual violence, student political discourse, as well as increased attention to students at two-year colleges and other broad-access institutions.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Abbey, A. (2002). Alcohol-related sexual assault: A common problem among college students. Journal of studies on alcohol. Supplement(14), 118.
Abbey, A., Zawacki, T., Buck, P. O., Clinton, A. M., & McAuslan, P. (2001). Alcohol and sexual assault. Alcohol Research and Health, 25(1), 43–51.
Antonio, A. L. (2004). When does race matter in college friendships? Exploring men’s diverse and homogeneous friendship groups. The Review of Higher Education, 27(4), 553–575.
Aries, E., & Seider, M. (2005). The interactive relationship between class identity and the college experience: The case of lower income students. Qualitative Sociology, 28(4), 419–443.
Armstrong, E., & Hamilton, L. (2013). Paying for the party: How college maintains inequality. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Armstrong, E. A., Hamilton, L., & Sweeney, B. (2006). Sexual assault on campus: A multilevel, integrative approach to party rape. Social Problems, 53(4), 483–499.
Armstrong, E. A., Hamilton, L., & England, P. (2010). Is hooking up bad for young women? Contexts, 9(3), 22–27.
Arum, R., & Roksa, J. (2011). Academically adrift: Limited learning on college campuses. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Arum, R., & Roksa, J. (2014). Aspiring adults adrift: Tentative transitions of college graduates. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Arum, R., Roksa, J., & Budig, M. J. (2008). The romance of college attendance: Higher education stratification and mate selection. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 26(2), 107–121.
Astin, A. W. (1993). What matters in college? Four critical years revisited (Vol. 1). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Autor, David H. (2014, May 23). Skills, education, and the rise of earnings inequality among the “other 99 percent”. Science, 344(6186), 843–851.
Babcock, P. S., & Marks, M. (2011). The falling time cost of college: Evidence from half a century of time use data. Review of economics and statistics, 93(2), 468–478.
Bahr, P. R. (2008). Cooling out in the community college: What is the effect of academic advising on students’ chances of success? Research in Higher Education, 49(8), 704–732.
Bailey, M. J., & Dynarski, S. M. (2011). Whither opportunity? Rising inequality, schools, and children’s life chances (pp. 339–358). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Bannon, R. S., Brosi, M. W., & Foubert, J. D. (2013). Sorority women’s and fraternity men’s rape myth acceptance and bystander intervention attitudes. Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 50(1), 72–87.
Bettinger, E. P., & Baker, R. B. (2013). The effects of student coaching: An evaluation of a randomized experiment in student advising. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 36(1), 3–19. https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373713500523.
Binder, A. J., & Wood, K. (2013). Becoming right: How campuses shape young conservatives. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Blaich, C. (2011). How do students change over four years of college? Crawford: Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts at Wabash College. Retrieved from http://www.liberalarts.wabash.edu/storage/4-year-change-summary-website.pdf
Bleecker, E., & Murnen, S. (2005). Fraternity membership, the display of degrading sexual images of women, and rape myth acceptance. Sex Roles, 53, 487–493.
Boeringer, S. B. (1999). Associations of rape-supportive attitudes with fraternal and athletic participation. Violence Against Women, 5(1), 81–90.
Bonilla-Silva, E., & Forman, T. A. (2000). “I am not a racist but...”: Mapping White college students’ racial ideology in the USA. Discourse & society, 11(1), 50–85.
Bourdieu, P. (1990). The logic of practice. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Bourdieu, P., & Passeron, J. C. (1990). Reproduction in education, society and culture (Vol. 4). Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.
Bowman, N. A. (2010). College diversity experiences and cognitive development: A meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 80(1), 4–33.
Bowman, N. A. (2011). Promoting participation in a diverse democracy: A meta-analysis of college diversity experiences and civic engagement. Review of Educational Research, 81(1), 29–68.
Bowman, N. A. (2013). How much diversity is enough? The curvilinear relationship between college diversity interactions and first-year student outcomes. Research in Higher Education, 54(8), 874–894.
Bozick, R. (2007). Making it through the first year of college: The role of students’ economic resources, employment, and living arrangements. Sociology of Education, 80(3), 261–285.
Bridges, B. K., Holmes, M. S., Williams, J. M., Morelon-Quainoo, C. L., & Nelson Laird, T. F. (2007). African American and Hispanic student engagement at minority serving and predominantly White institutions. Journal of College Student Development, 48(1), 39–56.
Brint, S., & Cantwell, A. M. (2010). Undergraduate time use and academic outcomes: Results from the University of California Undergraduate Experience Survey 2006. Teachers College Record, 112(9), 2441–2470.
Campbell, C., & Horowitz, J. (2016). Does college influence sociopolitical attitudes? Sociology of Education, 89(1), 40–58.
Cantor, D., & Fisher, W. B. (2015). Report on the AAU campus climate survey on sexual assault and sexual misconduct assault and sexual misconduct. Washington, DC: The Association of American Universities.
Chang, M. J., Astin, A. W., & Kim, D. (2004). Cross-racial interaction among undergraduates: Some consequences, causes, and patterns. Research in Higher Education, 45(5), 529–553.
Charles, C. Z., Fischer, M. J., Mooney, M. A., & Massey, D. S. (2009). Taming the river: Negotiating the academic, financial, and social currents in selective colleges and universities. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Chavous, T. M., Harris, A., Rivas, D., Helaire, L., & Green, L. (2004). Racial stereotypes and gender in context: African Americans at predominantly Black and predominantly White colleges. Sex Roles, 51(1–2), 1–16.
Clinedinst, M. (2015). State of college admission 2014. Washington, DC: National Association for College Admission Counseling.
Collier, P. J., & Morgan, D. L. (2008). “Is that paper really due today?”: Differences in first-generation and traditional college students’ understandings of faculty expectations. Higher Education, 55(4), 425–446.
Collins, P. H. (2000). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. New York: Routledge.
Desrochers, D. M., & Hurlburt, S. (2014). Trends in college spending: 2001–2011. Washington, DC: American Institutes for Research.
DiMaggio, P., & Powell, W. W. (1983). The iron cage revisited: Collective rationality and institutional isomorphism in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 48(2), 147–160.
DiPrete, T. A., & Buchmann, C. (2013). The rise of women. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Duncan, G. J., & Murnane, R. J. (Eds.). (2011). Whither opportunity? Rising inequality, schools, and children’s life chances. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Fischer, B. S., Cullen, F. T., & Turner, M. G. (2000). The sexual victimization of college women. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice.
Foubert, J. D., & Durant, D. (2007). Sexual assault survivors’ perceptions of campus judicial systems. Illinois Counseling Association Journal, 155, 3–18.
Gitlin, T. (2015, November 21). Why are student protesters so fearful? The New York Times.
Grigsby, M. (2009). College life through the eyes of students. Albany: Suny Press.
Gross, A. M., Winslett, A., Roberts, M., & Gohm, C. L. (2006). An examination of sexual violence against college women. Violence Against Women, 12(3), 288–300.
Hamilton, L. (2016). Parenting to a degree: How family matters for college and beyond. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Hamilton, L., & Armstrong, E. A. (2009). Gendered sexuality in young adulthood: Double binds and flawed options. Gender & Society, 23(5), 589–616.
Harford, T. C., Wechsler, H., & Seibring, M. (2002). Attendance and alcohol use at parties and bars in college: A national survey of current drinkers. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 63(6), 726–733.
Harper, S. R., & Hurtado, S. (2007). Nine themes in campus racial climates and implications for institutional transformation. New Directions for Student Services, 2007(120), 7–24.
Horowitz, H. L. (1987). Campus life: Undergraduate cultures from the end of the eighteenth century to the present. New York: Alfred a Knopf Incorporated.
Hout, M. (2012). Social and economic returns to college education in the United States. Annual Review of Sociology, 38, 379–400.
Hu, S., & Kuh, G. D. (2003). Diversity experiences and college student learning and personal development. Journal of College Student Development, 44(3), 320–334.
Hurtado, S., & Carter, D. F. (1997). Effects of college transition and perceptions of the campus racial climate on Latino college students’ sense of belonging. Sociology of Education, 70(4), 324–345.
Hurtado, S., Clayton-Pedersen, A., Allen, W., & Milem, J. (1998). Enhancing campus climates for racial/ethnic diversity: Educational policy and practice. The Review of Higher Education, 21(3), 279–302.
Jack, A. A. (2016). (No) harm in asking: Class, acquired cultural capital, and academic engagement at an elite university. Sociology of Education, 89(1), 1–19.
Jacob, B., McCall, B., & Stange, K. M. (2013). College as country club: Do colleges cater to students’ preferences for consumption? (No. w18745). Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.
Jacobs, J. A. (1996). Gender inequality and higher education. Annual Review of Sociology, 22, 153–185.
Jencks, C., & Riesman, D. (1968). The academic revolution. New York: Transaction Publishers.
Kahlenberg, R. D. (2010). Rewarding strivers: Helping low-income students succeed in college. New York: Century Foundation Press.
Karabel, J. (2006). The chosen: The hidden history of admission and exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Keeling, R. P., Day, P., Dungy, G. J., Evans, N., Fried, J., Komives, S., McDonald, W., & Salvador, S. (2004). Learning reconsidered: A campus-wide focus on the student experience. Washington, DC: National Association of Student Personnel Administrators/ American College Personnel Association.
Krebs, C. P., Lindquist, C. H., & Barrick, K. (2010). The Historically Black College and University Campus sexual assault (HBCU-CSA) study. Research Triangle Park: RTI International.
Kugelmass, H., & Ready, D. D. (2011). Racial/ethnic disparities in collegiate cognitive gains: A multilevel analysis of institutional influences on learning and its equitable distribution. Research in Higher Education, 52(4), 323–348.
Kuh, G. D., & Pascarella, E. T. (2004). What does institutional selectivity tell us about educational quality? Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 36(5), 52–59.
Kuh, G. D., Kinzie, J., Schuh, J. H., & Whitt, E. J. (2011). Student success in college: Creating conditions thatmatter. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons
Labaree, D. F. (1997). Public goods, private goods: The American struggle over educational goals. American Educational Research Journal, 34(1), 39–81.
Laird, T. F. N. (2005). College students’ experiences with diversity and their effects on academic self-confidence, social agency, and disposition toward critical thinking. Research in Higher Education, 46(4), 365–387.
Lee, E. M., & Kramer, R. (2013). Out with the old, in with the new? Habitus and social mobility at selective colleges. Sociology of Education, 86(1), 18–35.
Lehmann, W. (2014). Habitus transformation and hidden injuries: Successful working-class university students. Sociology of Education, 87(1), 1–15.
Lisak, D. (2011). Understanding the predatory nature of sexual violence. Criminal Justice Research Review, 12(6), 105–108.
Loh, C., Gidycz, C. A., Lobo, T. R., & Luthra, R. (2005). A prospective analysis of sexual assault perpetration risk factors related to perpetrator characteristics. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 20(10), 1325–1348.
Loss, C. P. (2012). Between citizens and the state: The politics of American higher education in the 20th century. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Massey, D. S., & Fischer, M. J. (2005). Stereotype threat and academic performance: New findings from a racially diverse sample of college freshmen. Du Bois Review, 2(1), 45–67.
Mills, C. W. (1959). The sociological imagination. New York: Oxford University Press.
Mohler-Kuo, M., Dowdall, G. W., Koss, M. P., & Wechsler, H. (2004). Correlates of rape while intoxicated in a national sample of college women. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 65(1), 37–45.
Nathan, R. (2006). My freshman year: What a professor learned by becoming a student. New York: Penguin.
National Survey of Student Engagement. (2007). Experiences that matter: Enhancing student learning and success. Bloomington: Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research.
National Survey of Student Engagement. (2009). Assessment for improvement: Tracking student engagement over time: Annual results from 2009. Bloomington: Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research.
Nora, A., & Cabrera, A. F. (1996). The role of perceptions of prejudice and discrimination on the adjustment of minority students to college. The Journal of Higher Education, 67(2), 119–148.
Oseguera, L., & Astin, A. W. (2004). The declining “equity” of American higher education. The Review of Higher Education, 27(3), 321–341.
Pascarella, E. T., & Terenzini, P. T. (2005). In K. A. Feldman (Ed.), How college affects students (Vol. 2). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Pascarella, E. T., Palmer, B., Moye, M., & Pierson, C. T. (2001). Do diversity experiences influence the development of critical thinking? Journal of College Student Development, 42(3), 257–271.
Pascarella, E. T., Pierson, C. T., Wolniak, G. C., & Terenzini, P. T. (2004). First-generation college students: Additional evidence on college experiences and outcomes. Journal of Higher Education, 75(3), 249–284.
Pascarella, E. T., Cruce, T., Umbach, P. D., Wolniak, G. C., Kuh, G. D., Carini, R. M., & Zhao, C. M. (2006). Institutional selectivity and good practices in undergraduate education: How strong is the link? Journal of Higher Education, 77(2), 251–285.
Pascarella, E. T., Blaich, C., Martin, G. L., & Hanson, J. M. (2011). How robust are the findings of “Academically Adrift”? Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 43(3), 20–24.
Piketty, T., & Saez, E. (2014). Inequality in the long run. Science, 344(6186), 838–843.
Rankin, S. R., & Reason, R. D. (2005). Differing perceptions: How students of color and White students perceive campus climate for underrepresented groups. Journal of College Student Development, 46(1), 43–61.
Reay, D., Crozier, G., & Clayton, J. (2009). “Strangers in paradise”? Working-class students in elite universities. Sociology, 43(6), 1103–1121.
Rhoades, G., McCormick, R., Kiyama, J. M., & Quiroz, M. (2007). Local cosmopolitans and cosmopolitan locals: New models of professionals in the academy. The Review of Higher Education, 31(2), 209–235.
Riesman, D. (1950). The lonely crowd. In D. Reisman (Ed.), A study of the changing American character. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Roksa, J. (2011). Differentiation and work: Inequality in degree attainment in US higher education. Higher Education, 61(3), 293–308.
Roksa, J. (2016a). Preparing students for college: Common core and the promises and challenges of convergence. In C. Loss & P. McGuinn (Eds.), The convergence of K–12 and higher education: Policies and programs in a changing era. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
Roksa, J. (2016b). Structuring opportunity after entry: Inequalities in instructional quality during college. Teachers College Record, 118.
Roksa, J., & Arum, R. (2015). Inequality in skill development on college campuses. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 39, 18–31.
Roksa, J., Grodsky, E., Arum, R., & Gamoran, A. (2007). United States: Changes in higher education and social stratification. Stratification in Higher Education-A Comparative Study, 2, 165–191.
Roksa, J., Trolian, T. L., Pascarella, E. T., Kilgo, C. A., Blaich, C., & Wise, K. S. (2016a). Racial inequality in critical thinking skills: The role of academic and diversity experiences. Research in Higher Education, 58(2), 119. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-016-9423-1.
Roksa, J., Kilgo, C. A., Trolian, T. L., Pascarella, E. T., Blaich, C., & Wise, K. S. (2016b). Engaging with diversity: How positive and negative diversity interactions shape students’ cognitive outcomes. Journal of Higher Education, 88(3), 297–322.
Salisbury, M. H., Umbach, P. D., Paulsen, M. B., & Pascarella, E. T. (2009). Going global: Understanding the choice process of the intent to study abroad. Research in Higher Education, 50(2), 119–143.
Scarce, M. (1997). Same-sex rape of male college students. Journal of American College Health., 45(4), 171–173.
Seifert, T. A., Drummond, J., & Pascarella, E. T. (2006). African-American students’ experiences of good practices: A comparison of institutional type. Journal of College Student Development, 47(2), 185–205.
Sennett, R. (1972). The hidden injuries of class. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Archive.
Slaughter, S., & Rhoades, G. (2004). Academic capitalism and the new economy: Markets, state, and higher education. Baltimore: JHU Press.
Solorzano, D., Ceja, M., & Yosso, T. (2000). Critical race theory, racial microaggressions, and campus racial climate: The experiences of African American college students. Journal of Negro Education, 69, 60–73.
Sperber, M. (2000). Beer and circus: How big-time college sports has crippled undergraduate education. New York, Macmillan.
Steele, C. M., & Aronson, J. (1995). Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(5), 797.
Stearns, E., Buchmann, C., & Bonneau, K. (2009). Interracial friendships in the transition to college: Do birds of a feather flock together once they leave the nest? Sociology of Education, 82(2), 173–195.
Stevens, M. L. (2009). Creating a class: College admissions and the education of elites. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Stevens, M. L. (2015). Introduction: The changing ecology of U.S. higher education. In M. W. Kirst & M. L. Stevens (Eds.), In Remaking college: The changing ecology of higher education (pp. 1–15). Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Stevens, M. L., Armstrong, E. A., & Arum, R. (2008). Sieve, incubator, temple, hub: Empirical and theoretical advances in the sociology of higher education. Annual Review of Sociology, 34, 127–151.
Stone, C., Trisi, D., Sherman, A., & Chen, W. (2012). A guide to statistics on historical trends in income inequality. Washington, DC: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Stuber, J. M. (2009, December). Class, culture, and participation in the collegiate extra-curriculum. Sociological Forum, 24(4), 877–900. Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Stuber, J. M. (2011). Inside the college gates: How class and culture matter in higher education. Lanham: Lexington Books.
Syrett, N. (2011). Colleges condone fraternities’ sexist behavior. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/05/05/frat-guys-gone-wild-whats-the solution/colleges-condone-fraternities-sexist-behavior
Tierney, W. G. (1992). An anthropological analysis of student participation in college. The Journal of Higher Education, 63(6), 603–618.
Tinto, V. (1987). Leaving college: Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Torres, K. C., & Charles, C. Z. (2004). Metastereotypes and the Black–White divide: A qualitative view of race on an elite college campus. Du Bois Review, 1(01), 115–149.
Trolian, T., Kilgo, C., Pascarella, E., Roksa, J., Blaich, C., & Wise, K. (2014, November). Race and exposure to good teaching during college. Washington, DC: Association for the Study of Higher Education.
Whitt, E. J., Edison, M. I., Pascarella, E. T., Terenzini, P. T., & Nora, A. (2001). Influences on students’ openness to diversity and challenge in the second and third years of college. The Journal of Higher Education, 72(2), 172–204.
Wilkins, A. (2012). “Not out to start a revolution”: Race, gender, and emotional restraint among Black university men. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 41(1), 34–65.
Wilkins, A. C. (2014). Race, age, and identity transformations in the transition from high school to college for Black and first-generation White men. Sociology of Education, 87(3), 171–187.
Wong, A. & Green, A. (2016). Campus politics: A cheat sheet. The Atlantic. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/04/campus-protest-roundup/417570/
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Arum, R., Roksa, J., Cruz, J., Silver, B. (2018). Student Experiences in College. In: Schneider, B. (eds) Handbook of the Sociology of Education in the 21st Century. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76694-2_17
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76694-2_17
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-76692-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-76694-2
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)