1. Bronx Community College
Help me help you: understanding how college support signals success for community college students
Tanzina Ahmed
Human, M.Phil.
Social Sciences
Bronx Community College

2. Foundation: Community Colleges
Community colleges act as important gateways to higher education (21st-Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges, 2012).
Students need the support of college instructors, staff and other students (Deil-Amen, ).
Thus, how they narrate about the experiences, especially relationship experiences, in community college might relate to, predict, and even help explain their academic success over time.

3. Research Questions
How do students write about campus relationships and social support while attending community college?
How do students’ understanding of relationship support relate to or predict their academic success?
Year-End GPA
After Spring 2015
Support from
College Partners
In Fall 2014

4. Participants N = 104, (%) Gender Female 68 (65%) Male 36 (35%) Age
Mean = 24, SD = 5.91
Under 24
69 (66%)
Over 24
35 (34%)
Ethnicity
Latino/Hispanic Am
54 (51.9%)
African American
22 (21.2%) African American
Afro-Caribbean American
18 (17.3%)
Caucasian American
6 (5.8%)
Asian American
4 (3.8%)
Household Income
49,999 or less
75 (72.8%)
50,000 or more
29 (27.2%)

5. Research Design Time 1: Fall 2014 Time 2: After Spring 2015
Students wrote 3 narratives to express their understanding of college relationships.
Letters
Best Experiences
Worst Experiences
Collected students’ year-end GPA from institutional sources.
GPA
Mean = 2.65
Standard Deviation =
Mode = 4.00

6. Kayla’s letter narrative
“Dear Maddox (son), I promise to never touch your college account so that I know you’ll go to a better college than I did. Bronx Community College isn’t for everyone. Some professors you could not get a hold and when you do they brush off your concerns. Sincerely, Mom.”
Kayla – a new student who received a 0 GPA because she dropped out after her first semester without completing any classes. Throughout her narratives, she showed that she could not find support from other, didn’t know how to elicit it, could not integrate into the community college environment, and ended up withdrawing from it.

7. Resolution strategies
Students wrote different types of relationship-related resolution strategies to solve difficulties in Bronx Community College.
Connecting Strategies: reaching out for the support of college partners.

8. Raoul’S Worst EXPERIENCE NARRATIVE
“My worst experience so far was forgetting to get advised and almost getting kicked out. I ed my adviser and he helped me get back on track. I was able to appeal my case and my appeal was granted. So now I’m pushing myself to do better in school and keep in check with my adviser at all times.”
Raoul’s narrative demonstrates how he effectively solved his problem by reaching out to his college adviser for support.

9. Use of Resolution Strategies Year-End GPA
Correlations Between Resolution Strategies and Year-End GPA
Use of Resolution Strategies
Year-End GPA
Total Resolution Strategies
.199*
Total Connecting Strategies
.307**
Connecting in Letters
.322**
Connecting in Best Experience
.093
Connecting in Worst Experience
.068
Taking action strategies were not significantly related to year-end GPA.

10. Social support predicts gpa over time
A standard multiple regression found that students’ use of the connecting strategies in their letters predicted year-end GPA, even after controlling for background variables (age, gender, Fall 2014 GPA, etc.)
The model predicted GPA, F(33, 63) = 3.241, p < GPA in Fall 2014 predicted year-end GPA, B = .535 [.380, .689], p < Students’ use of the connecting resolution strategy in their letters marginally predicts higher year-end GPA, B = .118 [-.019, .256], p = R2 for the overall model is .629, meaning the model explains 62.9% of variation in year-end GPA.

11. Scholarly implications
Social skill is a competency that students must develop to succeed.
Community college institutions can teach students to effectively use social support.
Student narratives regarding social support can make early intervention possible.

12. thank you to my colleagues at bronx community college for their support!