Determining the Cause of Quadruple Opportunity Equity Gaps at CSUF

Project Lead: Michael Groves, Su Swarat, Jennifer Chandler, Haowei Wang, Deanna Leone, and Kavin Tsang

 

At CSUF, undergraduate students who are Pell grant recipients, 1st Generation students, and Under-Represented students have the lowest 6-year graduation rate (60.3% in 2018) compared to the university average (67.8% in the same year). These students have been referred to as “triple opportunity” students.

Males of this triple opportunity student group have a much lower 6-year graduation rate (57.2%) than Females in the same group (67.5%); moreover, females in this group actually graduate at a rate much closer to the university wide average graduation rate. This so-called “quadruple opportunity” group (Pell/1stGen/UR/male) highlights an overlooked gender difference important to note because this group makes up about 10% of the student population. As a result, small increases in the graduation rate for this group (i.e. decreasing the equity gap between this group of students and their counterparts) can have a large impact on campus’ GI2025 goals.

The goal of this project aims to better understand and report factors that might explain the equity gap observed for the “quadruple opportunity” students. To accomplish this goal, researchers affiliated with this project will interview male and female students from the “triple opportunity” group in 5 different colleges (NSM, MCBE, ECS, COMM, HHD). These colleges were selected as they represent both the colleges with the largest male/female graduation rate differences among the “triple opportunity” students (NSM, MCBE, ECS), as well as the colleges in which these differences are not as prevalent (COMM, HHD). These long-form interviews are designed to elicit respondents’ descriptions of their undergraduate learning experiences, including the challenges and opportunities they face. Once the interviews are transcribed, the data will undergo thematic qualitative analysis and will be summarized into meaningful categories.

Once the analysis is complete, researchers affiliated with this project will compose a report outlining the common challenges and opportunities these students face, the different student experiences faced by male and female students, and propose solutions to address the equity gap issues. These results will also be presented to the relevant campus stakeholders, as well as at regional and national conferences such as the WSCUC Academic Resource Conference.

The timing of this research is critical as we quickly approach the GI2025 “finish line”. To maximize the effect of CSUF’s GI2025 efforts, solutions should be focused on students who are most in need. According to the Office of Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness, one such group is “triple opportunity” students and in-particular the males. This project strives to help identify the challenges these students face, and provide information to help CSUF decide how to best facilitate their success.