In fact, a new study by our colleagues at the Education Trust found alarming inequities in the availability of college advising based on race and ethnicity. The qualitative research, which took place at one large comprehensive U.S. university between 2017-2021, revealed that white students are less likely to seek out college advisers than their non-white and international counterparts. What’s most interesting is that when white students ask for help, they are more successful with higher GPAs and graduation rates.
The study’s lead author, Hua-Yu Sebastian Cherng, serves as an associate professor of international education at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. The co-authors are Junhow Wei, assistant dean for studies at Princeton University and Martha Moreno, postdoc at NYU. Their research provides vital information on how academic advising advocates for and contributes to student success. Their emphasis on these three demographic factors, race, income, and first-gen status is intentional.
Disparities in Advising Appointments
Our analysis shows a positive and promising trend. Compared to their non-international white U.S. peers, non-white student groups and international students are significantly more likely to book appointments with college advisers. This encouraging trend indicates that members of marginalized groups are more likely to proactively seek out advising resources. At the same time, white students often lose important academic advantages as well.
This is in stark contrast to the trend seen in students who reported their race as “other.” They didn’t have as many meetings with advisers. The research found that first-generation college students were 7% less likely to meet with advisers than those whose parents had attended college. What’s even more worrying is that students are not taking advantage of academic advising. First-generation students, especially, are experiencing a troubling gap in graduation rates relative to their counterparts.
Implications for Academic Success
The results of this study speak to the positive impact of academic advising on student success performance. White students who attended at least one advising session completed GPAs 0.05 points higher on average. Students who failed to connect with advisers reported a drop in GPAs. This staggering statistic underscores how advising can be a critical tool to foster academic success.
Hua-Yu Sebastian Cherng emphasized the significance of these findings, stating, “Our study highlights the importance of advising: it does have an impact, but the question now should be for whom.” Finally, we need to explore how various student demographics interact with advising resources. So, it’s important to figure out what’s keeping these students from reaching out for help.
Rethinking Advising Strategies
This research found that advising was detrimental to marginalized students. Cherng also pointed out that academics, practitioners, and policymakers are in consensus that academic advising can help fill these gaps. Unfortunately, marginalized students are meeting with advisors at lower rates than their non-marginalized peers. In fact, in many ways, we’re facing the opposite of these arguments.
These findings warrant a reconsideration of how we deploy advising strategies campus wide. Institutions should consider outreach to white students and first-generation college students. For a lot of these students, it’s not second nature to them to seek out advice. By making sense of these dynamics, colleges can help ensure that they’re providing high-quality advising services to the wide range of students they serve.