Chapter 3
STUDENT PROFILE
While students apply and are admitted from many other countries and
states, Shippensburg University serves primarily residents of Pennsylvania.
Ninety-four percent of its 6741 students are from within the Commonwealth,
nearly half of them from the neighboring counties of Cumberland, Franklin,
Dauphin, York, Adams and Lancaster.
Still one of the most populous states in the nation with a relatively
strong economy at present, Pennsylvania is expected to show some of
the country's slowest population growth in the coming decade. Much of
that growth will be among its elderly who are projected to increase
by at least five percent within the next twenty-five years. The number
of graduating high school students has recently begun to climb after
a decade of decline; most of the increase, however, has fallen outside
the university's traditional service area. Despite fluctuations in the
available pool of traditional student applicants, the university has
maintained a relatively stable student population for over ten years,
largely by intensifying and expanding its range of recruitment efforts
and by meticulously managing enrollments. Plans are to sustain the current
level and programmatic configuration of student enrollments well into
the coming decade.
The Undergraduate Student
The demographic character of the undergraduate student body, consisting
of about 5700 students, has not changed markedly in the last decade,
a reflection for the most part of the region served. Students remain
predominately Caucasian (93 percent), 18-21 years of age (64 percent),
residential (35 percent living on campus, 27 percent in town), full-time
(95 percent) and from southcentral Pennsylvania (48 percent). The average
SAT score of freshmen entering in 1997 was 1037 and seventy percent
of those entering had graduated in the upper two-fifths of their high
school class. Of the regularly admitted freshmen, as a result of placement
testing, more than one-half are required to take at least one developmental
course at the university. Sixty-five percent enter the university with
a declared major but within three years forty-five percent of them shift
to another major. Almost 77 percent receive some form of financial aid.
More than six out of ten entering freshmen eventually graduate (Chapter
10). Fifty-two percent leave with a degree in one of the arts and sciences;
the remainder possess a professional degree (30 percent in education,
18 percent in business). Seventy percent find jobs related to their
major within twelve months of graduation.
While the broad demographic profile depicts a relatively homogeneous
student body, focusing on specific subgroups of students reveals an
increase in diversity in recent years. During the 1997-98 academic year,
a total of 345 students identified themselves as minority: African American
207, Hispanic 70, Asian 58 and American Indian 10. This number represents
an increase of thirty percent compared to the number enrolled five years
ago. More than four hundred students older than twenty-five enrolled
as undergraduates, a number that has been slowly but steadily increasing
over the past decade. A total of 264 students were enrolled in ACT 101,
a program designed to help socioeconomically disadvantaged students
succeed in college, representing a ten percent increase over the past
four years. Also growing in number are students with disabilities. They
have increased in number by one hundred and twenty-three percent since
1994 and now comprise almost three percent of the total student enrollment.
Freshmen
Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP). Every other
year during orientation, since 1975, incoming first-year students participate
in the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP), a national
survey designed to obtain information on entering freshmen backgrounds,
attitudes, activities, self perceptions, values, expectations and goals.
When Shippensburg students' responses are compared to those of students
at other public, comprehensive universities across the nation, useful
insights are gained regarding the characteristics that distinguish incoming
freshmen at Shippensburg.
Although they are mostly in-state residents, on average new students
at Shippensburg come from farther away to attend college than their
norm group counterparts, and Shippensburg students are more often first
generation college students. Family incomes are somewhat similar between
the two groups, but more parents of the norm group earn over $75,000
annually. More Shippensburg students come from two-parent households
than the national average.
With regard to behavior in their senior year of high school, more entering
Shippensburg students attended religious services, drank beer and felt
bored in class. Fewer Shippensburg students performed volunteer work
or felt depressed. Less than 27 percent of the Shippensburg students
spent six or more hours during a typical week studying. High school
grades indicated that Shippensburg students more often earned a B average,
while students in the norm group more commonly earned As and Cs. While
fewer new students at Shippensburg believed they would earn at least
a B average in college, graduate with honors or be satisfied with college,
more stated that they would remain at their chosen college and graduate
on time.
New students at Shippensburg felt better about their physical and emotional
health than did the comparison group, but felt less certain about their
academic ability, leadership skills, writing ability and overall intellectual
self confidence. Incoming Shippensburg students lagged behind their
norm group counterparts most significantly in perceived writing ability.
Overall, new students at Shippensburg were found to be more politically
conservative than the norm. While views were similar with respect to
health care costs and the legalization of marijuana, fewer Shippensburg
students felt that abortion should be legal and more felt that there
should be laws prohibiting homosexual relations. Regarding values, more
Shippensburg students believed it was very important to become financially
well off, raise a family and influence social values. On the other hand,
fewer incoming Shippensburg students felt that it was important to become
an authority in their field, influence the political structure or develop
a meaningful philosophy of life. A higher percentage of students at
the national level intended to earn a doctoral degree than at Shippensburg.
More new students at Shippensburg chose to go to college because they
wanted to obtain a better job or make more money, or because their parents
wanted them to go, compared to the norm group. Fewer Shippensburg students
were interested in learning more, receiving a general education, improving
their reading and studying skills or becoming a more cultured person.
Fewer Shippensburg students chose their university because its graduates
go on to top graduate schools, the college is close to home, or financial
assistance is available, while more chose Shippensburg because of its
low tuition, its graduates' competitiveness in getting good jobs and
its good academic reputation.
Nelson General Education Assessment Project. The General Education
Assessment Project, begun in 1993 by Dr. Lori Nelson, Shippensburg professor
of psychology, and several of her students, provides additional insight
into the attitudes and values of Shippensburg students. The purpose
of the project has been to develop a fuller understanding of entering
freshmen and to assess the effectiveness of the general education program
in effecting desired changes in them. Dr. Nelson and her colleagues
concluded from in-depth interviews of faculty and academic administrators
that the present general education program was designed so that students
would become well-rounded individuals with a broad background of knowledge;
the program was also intended to foster curiosity, aspiration, critical
thinking, creative problem solving, openness to change and willingness
to examine new ideas. The following variables, based on previous psychological
research, were selected for use in the project: Need for Cognition,
Tolerance for Ambiguity, Values (such as Universalism, Benevolence,
Achievement and Self-Direction), Self-Esteem and Emotional Empathy.
Data collection began in 1993.
Need for Cognition refers to the extent to which an
individual engages in and enjoys effortful thought. Individuals who
are high in Need for Cognition are intrinsically motivated to think
in depth about issues and events and seek situations that require cognitive
effort, whereas individuals who are low in Need for Cognition are "cognitive
misers" who do not enjoy thinking and will go out of their way to avoid
cognitive effort. Research has shown that a high Need for Cognition
contributes to academic success. Comparison of the mean Need for Cognition
score for entering freshmen to mean scores found in other samples reveals
that Shippensburg students are fairly low in Need for Cognition although
their scores may be typical of freshmen at public comprehensive universities.
In the 1993 cohort of entering freshmen, females scored higher than
males in Need for Cognition. Entering freshmen that were higher in Need
for Cognition achieved higher GPAs in both the fall and the spring semesters
and better grades in World History, a course taken by all freshmen that
requires a large amount of reading and extensive writing.
Tolerance of Ambiguity. Intolerance for ambiguity is
defined as the tendency to feel threatened or uncomfortable with ambiguity.
Individuals who do tolerate ambiguity tend to be flexible, creative,
open to new ideas, and able to examine ideas from different perspectives.
Intolerance for ambiguity is associated with authoritarianism and an
orientation toward single "right answers." Because interaction among
people of varying backgrounds is becoming more commonplace in our society,
the openness and flexibility associated with tolerance for ambiguity
are increasingly necessary for individual and organizational success.
Shippensburg freshmen scored low in Tolerance for Ambiguity although
their scores are again equivalent to those found in recent samples of
public comprehensive university students. Consistent with previous research,
females also had significantly higher scores on the Tolerance for Ambiguity
scale. Entering freshmen that were higher in Tolerance for Ambiguity
tended to achieve higher GPAs during their first semester and performed
better in General Psychology.
Values are guiding principles in an individual's life
that transcend specific situations and determine the selection and evaluation
of behaviors and events. The four value domains considered most relevant
to the goals of general education were as follows: Universalism: appreciation,
understanding, and acceptance of oneself, of others, and of the surrounding
world; Benevolence: protection and enhancement
of the welfare of others with whom one comes into contact on a day-to-day
basis; Self-Direction: independent thought and
action; and Achievement: success, achievement,
and competence.
Freshmen placed the most importance on Benevolence values, which emphasize
concern for the well being of others through true friendship, loyalty,
honesty, and helpfulness. In this respect, freshmen are similar to non-student
adults in the area. Everyone needs the support of close relationships,
and incoming freshmen indicated that this is what they value most. Freshmen
placed much less importance on Universalism, another value domain related
to concern for others. With lower Universalism scores, freshmen showed
less concern for humanity as a whole and were not especially appreciative
of different cultures and viewpoints. Compared to students at a more
selective Ivy League university, Shippensburg students placed an equivalent
amount of importance on Benevolence, but they placed much less importance
on Universalism.
A close second to Benevolence in importance to freshmen is Hedonism,
pleasure and enjoyment of life. A reason for this strong emphasis on
Hedonism was probably their young age, but having a good time is also
a route to making and cementing relationships with friends. Shippensburg
students placed somewhat more emphasis on Hedonism than their counterparts
at an Ivy League university. Achievement and Self-Direction were the
third and fourth most important values to freshmen. Although they placed
less importance on Self-Direction and slightly less importance on Achievement
than did students at an Ivy League university, they placed more importance
on values in these two domains than did adults in surrounding communities
of southcentral Pennsylvania. Evidently, many freshmen are ambitious
and looking forward to becoming successful. However, the greater importance
placed on Benevolence and Hedonism suggests that there may be values
conflict (i.e., socializing and entertainment or family obligations
versus studying) that resulted in many freshmen achieving less than
what they had expected when they began the semester. One of the two
least important values to freshmen was Tradition, consisting of respect
for and acceptance of traditional religion and culture. Power values
were the least important of all to freshmen although they placed more
importance on Power than did adults in the regional area. This indicates
that social status and control and dominance over others are not major
concerns of freshmen, or, at least, other things are much more important
to them.
Females placed more emphasis than did males on Benevolence, Universalism,
and Self-Direction. Males placed more emphasis than did females on Power
values. (These gender differences in Benevolence, Universalism and Power
values are consistent with other research.)
As the importance placed by freshmen on Hedonism and Stimulation values
increased, their grades tended to decrease. High Hedonism values may
partly explain why 19 percent of freshmen in the study were placed on
academic probation (GPA less than 2.0) at the end of their first semester.
They may not have gotten as much pleasure and enjoyment out of their
classes as they got from other activities and consequently did not put
forth the effort necessary to achieve passing grades. Placing emphasis
on Power values was also negatively correlated with fall semester GPAs.
Although most freshmen did not place much emphasis on Power values such
as social power and wealth, those who did performed more poorly than
their peers, especially in General Psychology. Placing emphasis on Security
values was also negatively correlated with fall semester GPAs. But those
freshmen who placed more importance on Security also tended to improve
their GPAs, doing better in the spring semester than they had in the
fall.
Self-Esteem refers to an individual's attitude
toward the self. Individuals who are high in self-esteem have a positive
attitude toward themselves; they think that they are worthwhile human
beings and feel a sense of competence and confidence. Individuals who
are low in self-esteem have either a negative or neutral attitude toward
themselves; they are insecure about their abilities, feel that they
don't measure up to others, and are especially worried that other people
may have a negative view of them. The research assessed Performance
Self-Esteem, which reflects self-confidence about academic abilities,
and Social Self-Esteem. Shippensburg freshmen were higher in Performance
Self-Esteem than they were in Social Self-Esteem, which is typical of
college students. But Shippensburg students seemed to have somewhat
lower levels of self-esteem than did students at more selective universities.
In fact, the average Social Self-Esteem score was slightly below average,
indicating that entering freshmen lacked social confidence and were
afraid of what others think of them. There were no gender differences
in Performance Self-Esteem or Social Self-Esteem. Interestingly, performance
self-esteem of entering freshmen did not predict academic performance;
however, high social self-esteem predicted poorer academic performance.
Changes in self-esteem and academic performance did relate to one another:
Freshmen who achieved higher grade point averages during their first
semester understandably showed greater increases in Performance Self-Esteem.
Doing well in World History I was also associated with increased Performance
Self-Esteem, whereas doing well in General Psychology was not; this
differential effect probably reflects most students' perception that
World History I is more challenging than General Psychology.
Emotional Empathy involves a skill in understanding
the feelings, thoughts and motives of other people, and often also involves
sharing others' emotional experiences vicariously. Empathic understanding,
the ability and willingness to take the perspective of another, provides
an antidote for inhumanity by promoting caring, altruism, and positive
interpersonal interactions. Entering freshmen are neither high nor low
in Emotional Empathy compared to other groups. Females had significantly
higher scores on the Emotional Empathy scale. For the 1993 cohort, after
the first semester of the freshman year there was a small increase in
Emotional Empathy and this small increase was maintained after three
semesters.
Summary
Shippensburg undergraduates come to the university having demonstrated
in national testing and high school performance that they have the ability
and preparation necessary to undertake successfully a college education.
Most arrive at Shippensburg, however, with a "non-academic" cognitive
style. They tend not to seek out opportunities for effortful thought
and are not very tolerant of new and differing ideas. They do place
fairly strong emphasis on achievement values such as success and competence.
Achievement is defined to a large extent in terms of job-seeking and
financial success.
In the Nelson General Education Assessment Project surveys, freshmen
place the most importance on Benevolence, confirming perceptions by
faculty and others that Shippensburg students are exceptionally helpful
and loyal to their family and friends. They place much less emphasis
on Universalism values, suggesting that this concern for others does
not extend to people with different backgrounds or to the larger world.
Benevolence values are only slightly more important to these students
than Hedonism values, indicating that fun and enjoyment supersede almost
all other values for our freshmen. This has obvious implications for
the low priority students are likely to place on learning. Female freshmen
are more likely than males to reflect the cognitive and motivational
orientation that the general education program was designed to instill
or enhance and, in turn, show greater academic success.
Finally, Shippensburg students enter the university feeling less secure
about their intellectual and social abilities than students elsewhere.
Although differences in self-esteem did not predict differences in academic
success in the 1993 cohort, other research has shown that high self
esteem is linked both to academic success at all age levels as well
as to success in other areas of life. Thus, our students' greater uncertainty
about themselves is as much a factor to be considered when attempting
to enhance the campus's learning environment as are cognition and motivation.
Results of the CIRP and the Nelson General Education Assessment Project
help interpret the conversation among students and the Dean of Students
reported in the preface to this self-study and support the need to stimulate
student interest in learning. That goal constitutes a significant institutional
challenge.
The Graduate Student
Like the undergraduate population, most of Shippensburg's graduate
students (92 percent) are residents of Pennsylvania. In a total of 1016
students during the 1997/98 academic year, 937 were from in-state with
over half from southcentral Pennsylvania. For the past five years the
number of graduate students in attendance has been almost constant.
In contrast to the undergraduates, seventy-seven percent of Shippensburg
graduate students are part-time, taking an average of 3.4 years to graduate.
Over fifty percent study in an area of the human services (teacher education,
criminal justice, educational administration and counseling). Twenty-seven
percent of the graduate student body received their bachelor's degree
from Shippensburg, twenty-one percent from a sister campus in the State
System of Higher Education and slightly more than eight percent from
Pennsylvania State University. Most of the students are Caucasian (91.5
percent), between 30 and 35 years of age and employed. One hundred sixty-five
of the full-time graduate students are employed by the university as
graduate assistants who work in academic departments, as residence assistants
and for many other student service and administrative areas on campus.
Graduate students views about their education at Shippensburg are described
in Chapter Ten.
