Why Belonging Matters for College Students

Sense of belonging is the hot topic in higher education right now. To some extent this focus on belonging can be viewed as a  response to recent legislation against Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts in higher education. Inherent within the concept of belonging is the question, who feels like they belong to a particular institution or group? 

Strayhorn (2012) pioneered some of the early research connecting people’s desire to belong with student success in higher education: “Students who do not feel like they belong rarely stay in college.” To belong, is a universal human need. For students to be happy and fulfilled within higher education, they need to make friends, feel connected to a college community and to experience benefits within and outside of the classroom.

 From an institutional perspective, belonging is a critical indicator for persistence and future engagement. To feel a sense of belonging to an institution carries beyond crossing the graduation stage, as Alumni Officers are all too well aware. If colleges and universities want students to become engaged alumni, they need to ensure that students feel a deep connection and belonging to the institution from day one.

Incorporate Belonging Into Your Student Success Strategy

Students’ sense of belonging is recognized as a leading indicator of their likelihood to persist; students who feel included and supported by the college community are more likely to complete their program. Senior leaders should avoid the trap of making assumptions about which students feel part of the institution based on demographic data, instead they should actively pursue student feedback as a key data source to assess campus climate.

Student voice data, alongside institutional persistence data, should be triangulated through an identity-conscious lens. Leaders should seek to identify specific cohorts of students with low sense of belonging, as well as critical points within the student lifecycle when additional support is needed, to ensure students feel part of the community and close equity gaps at their institution.

Assess College Students’ Sense of Belonging

Colleges need to be actively and frequently assessing students’ sense of belonging and perception of the institution if they want to ensure students are enrolled, retained and go onto become engaged alumni. But how can you assess something as intangible and ever-changing as someone’s feeling of belonging? 

A one-off survey isn’t going to give you an accurate picture of students’ sense of belonging because it isn’t a fixed constant. Students’ sense of belonging changes over time, perhaps as frequently as weekly in those early days of college. Using a combination of formative and summative assessment tools to capture the changes in students’ sense of belonging throughout the course of the semester is essential.

Ready to launch an informed student success strategy, let us know!