Interim Report
National Study of Student Support Services :
Third Year Longitudinal Study Results (1997)

Executive Summary

The Student Support Services (SSS) program is designed to provide supplemental services to disadvantaged college students in order to help them to stay in and to graduate from college. The services that are offered vary from institution to institution, but most commonly include academic counseling and peer tutoring. The services may be academic, such as special courses or special sections within a course, or nonacademic, such as cultural enrichment activities. Initially funded in 1971, SSS is the second largest in terms of funding of the federal TRIO programs, all of which share the objective of helping disadvantaged students achieve success at the postsecondary level.

The study reports on the status of a group of about 2,900 SSS participants and 2,900 comparable nonparticipants 3 years after entering college. The primary focus of the study was to estimate the impact of the SSS program on participants in terms of the grades they received, the number of credits they earned, and their retention in college. Another focus was to collect descriptive information about how the SSS programs operate and about the characteristics of the students who participate. A followup study is underway to determine the status of the students 6 years after entering college, with the goal of estimating the impact of SSS on college degree attainment. Two earlier reports discussed the characteristics of the SSS participants and their experiences in their first year college, and how the SSS program is implemented.

Key Findings on Impact Of Support Services

Three types of student outcomes over students' first 3 years in college were examined (grades in college, total number of credits earned, and retention in higher education), and the outcomes of the SSS participants were compared with the outcomes of comparable students who did not participate in SSS. Multivariate analyses were performed to statistically adjust for other factors that were related to student outcomes, including student demographic characteristics, the receipt of support services outside of SSS, student attitudes, and differing levels of participation in SSS.

• SSS showed a small but positive and statistically significant effect for all three measures of student outcomes. The greatest impact generally occurred during the first year, when the most SSS services were received, but some SSS services received in the first year showed persisting impacts in later years, and some services received in later years (not necessarily through SSS) also showed positive and statistically significant impacts.

  • Students' college GPAs were increased by a mean of 0.15 in the first year, resulting in a mean GPA of 2.29 on a four-point scale (e.g., "A"=4.0 and "C+"=2.3). In the second year, the mean increase was 0.11 (to 2.44), and in the first 3 years combined the increase was also 0.11 (to 2.59).

  • The number of semester credits earned was increased by a mean of 1.25 (to a total of 20.91 credits) in the first year, 0.79 (to 20.62) in the second year, 0.71 (to 20.58) in the third year, and 2.25 (to 73.38) in the first 3 years combined.

  • Retention was increased at the same institution by 7 percentage points (i.e., from 60 percent to 67 percent) for retention to the second year, and by 9 percentage points (i.e., from 40 percent to 49 percent) for retention to the third year. Retention to the third year at any higher education institution was increased by 3 percentage points (i.e., from 74 percent to 77 percent).

• The average impact was small because most students received only a modest amount of services. Nine percent of students had only one service contact in their freshman year. The mean number of hours of services received in the first year was 32, and the median was 14. The mean for nonfreshmen was 15 hours, and the median was 6.

• The size of the impact depended on the degree to which students participated in SSS, with greater levels of participation resulting in a greater impact.

• The estimated impact of SSS also varied based on which particular services each student received, and the structure of the SSS projects.

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  • Peer tutoring received in the first year showed the most consistent impact, with positive and statistically significant effects for each of the three student outcomes and for each of the first 3 years (except for the third-year GPA).

  • Participation through SSS in cultural events in the first year was associated with increased GPAs in the first year, and an increased number of credits earned in all 3 years.

  • SSS workshops in the first year had a positive impact on the number of credits earned in the first year and on retention to the second and third years at the same institution.

  • Instructional courses that were exclusively for SSS students were associated with increased retention to the second and third years at the same institution.

  • Programs that provided a home base on campus that served the "whole student" were associated with increased GPAs in the first and second years, and in the 3-year cumulative GPAs.

  • Programs that blended SSS and non-SSS services had increased rates of retention at both the same institution and at any institution.

  • Findings including services received outside of SSS reinforced the value of supplemental services. Tutoring and cultural events both showed positive and statistically effects when received in the first year outside of SSS. Further, tutoring received in the second year and cultural events in the second and third years were associated with improved student outcomes (it is not known whether the services were received through SSS or other sources). Two other supplemental servicescounseling and services for the handicappedshowed positive and statistically significant effects in some situations.

• The effects of SSS generally appeared consistent across different subgroups of students. To the extent that some subgroups showed different effects than other subgroups, those differences appear attributable to differences in participation levels rather than to differing effects of individual services. In general, students who were more disadvantaged tended to participate more and thus experienced greater effects through SSS participation.

Other Findings on the SSS Program

• SSS projects appeared successful in targeting those students who were most disadvantaged from among the overall student population. In comparison with the national averages for college freshmen, SSS participants tended to be older, to be members of a minority group, to have had lower prior academic achievement, and to have dependent children. Minority SSS participants composed 54 percent of the SSS student population, whereas minority populations represented only 25 percent of the total undergraduate population.

• SSS students received higher levels of supplemental services than did comparison students, including services offered outside of SSS. This suggests that SSS increased the amount of services obtained by students beyond what they would have received otherwise. This difference in service use declined substantially after the freshman year. For example, 63 percent of these students received tutoring at some point during their first 3 years compared with 36 percent of comparison group members. In the first term, 46 percent of SSS participants reported use of tutoring compared with 20 percent of comparisons. By the spring 1994 term, 11 percent of SSS and 8 percent of comparisons reported use of tutoring. There was less difference between the SSS participants and the comparison group in levels of counseling use.

• Although SSS has increased greatly in size, when adjusted for inflation, the funding per program and per participant is less than in 1970.. SSS program funding went from its initial funding level of $10 million in 1970 to $143.5 million in 1995. Over the same time period, the number of projects funded grew from 121 to 706, and the total number of students served by the SSS program from 30,000 to 165,561. The number of students served peaked at 181,368 in 1981. In constant 1990 dollars the average grant size declined from $278,393 in 1970 to $174,365 in 1995. The level of per-participant funding (in constant 1990 dollars) was highest in 1970 at $1,123, declined to $507 in 1981, and reached $744 in 1995. In 1995 current dollars, funding per participant was $867.

• SSS programs are concentrated at particular types of institutions. In 1994, approximately 24 percent of all higher education institutions serving freshmen had SSS projects. Because SSS projects tended to be located in larger schools, about 34 percent of all freshmen attended institutions having SSS projects. SSS projects tended to be concentrated in 4-year institutions, public institutions, institutions enrolling more than 20,000 students, and institutions with 50 percent or more minority enrollment. Over 40 percent of doctoral institutions compared with 15 percent of baccalaureate institutions and 22 percent of 2-year institutions had SSS programs. Relatively few highly selective institutions (19 percent) had SSS projects.

Methodology

• From a total of 47 higher education institutions, some with SSS and some without, 2,900 college freshmen who were SSS participants and a statistically matched comparison group of 2,900 freshmen who were not participants were selected and tracked over three years. During that time, the students were surveyed in the first and third years to determine their attitudes, their characteristics, and their progress in college. Service records were maintained to monitor students' participation in SSS during the freshman year, and college transcripts were collected to monitor their academic progress over 3 years. Additional information about SSS programs and other supplemental services was collected through a survey of 200 SSS projects and site visits to 50 higher education institutions (30 with SSS projects, and 20 without). The response rates were: 93 percent for the survey of 200 SSS projects, 86 percent for each of the two surveys of students, 86 percent for the collection of service records of SSS participants, 97 percent for student transcripts at the initial 47 institutions, and 92 percent at the 814 additional institutions that the students attended during the 3 years.

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