By Dwight Hamilton, J.D., Chief Access and Opportunity Officer, Eastern Michigan University
Many higher education professionals work to ensure that students feel a sense of belonging at our institutions. Research informs us that students’ sense of belonging is a positive contributing factor to their success in higher education, particularly for students from underrepresented groups, first-generation students, and students who come from families with lower incomes.
Terrell Strayhorn defines belonging in his book “College Students’ Sense of Belonging” as:
“students' perceived social support on campus, a feeling or sensation of connectedness, the experience of mattering or feeling cared about, accepted, respected, valued by, and important to the group (e.g., campus community) or others on campus (e.g., faculty, peers).”
Strayhorn further quotes Rosenburg and McCullough, who stated that a
“sense of belonging … reflects the extent to which students feel connected, a part of, or stuck to a campus … for example, some scholars measure a sense of belonging as how much others would miss you if you went away.”
I’ve found Strayhorn’s use of the word “stuck” to be evocative. There are numerous obstacles that students face during their educational journeys. Financial issues, separation from friends and family, and academic challenges may cause a student to question whether they should remain at their institution or in higher education altogether.
What is it that keeps a student stuck, or rather, “attached” to school? I propose that attachment occurs through a series of bonds. The more and deeper these bonds, the more likely that the student feels attached to their institution and, ideally, more likely to thrive, stay, graduate, and be an active alum.
To be sure, students’ perceptions, feelings, and reported experiences are important in determining how they connect. However, though surveys on sense of belonging attempt to measure students’ experiences and perceptions over time, this subjective reporting of their experiences may be affected by what they are currently feeling. A student’s sense of belonging may be strong on Monday, but may feel very different on Friday, because of witnessing a troubling campus incident on Tuesday, earning a great grade on Wednesday, and suffering a romantic breakup on Thursday.
Accordingly, I suggest that we can also learn a lot about students’ connections to their institutions by looking at their behavior. Are they forming bonds with the institution that can be revealed by their actions? These bonds come in many different forms, but each is a factor that may keep a student on track in their education, despite the challenges that they may face.
Here are some of the bonds that attach students to their institutions:
Involvement: The student actively participates in their campus community, particularly where they bear a responsibility to others. This involvement may be shown through participating in student organizations, holding a campus job, or writing for the campus newspaper.
Academic: The student has formed connections with faculty beyond simply attending class and achieving a grade (e.g., the student has attended office hours, partnered on a research project, formed a familiarity sufficient for the faculty member to write an informed letter of recommendation).
Support: The student is aware of institutional supportive resources, such as counseling services, tutoring, or the Title IX office, and freely utilizes them without fear, shame, or intimidation.
Identity: The student makes their status as a member of their campus community part of their overall identity (e.g., they exclusively wear swag of their own school, attend sporting events, and include their student status in their social media presence).
Community: The student has a connection to the physical location of the campus and its surrounding community (e.g., they belong to a local place of worship, patronize restaurants/bars/stores, attend community events).
By examining whether students are forming these bonds, we can better understand what we can do as higher education professionals to help them attach.
Here are some actions that we can take to create and strengthen bonds, or attachment, between our students and our institutions:
Be strategic about creating spaces where students congregate: My team has had success with converting a multi-purpose room in our suite into a “third space” where students can congregate, study, or relax. Some students wear noise-canceling headphones so that they can study but still be in the company of other students. We have also created a “sensory room” in our suite, which has been very popular for students who get overstimulated or just seek a quiet space to decompress.
Help students navigate social spaces: First-year students often arrive on campus without knowing others and are starting over socially. While some students can easily form new friendships, others may have social anxiety, are introverted, neurodiverse, or just shy, which may make making friends more difficult. We have been mindful of these students and have made fostering interactions part of our programming when holding events.
Consider making “warm handoffs” when connecting students to supportive resources: Colleges and universities can be confusing and intimidating. First-generation students, for example, are less likely to utilize needed resources. Consider helping students form connections with these campus partners by walking with them to resource offices or contacting the offices in advance to prepare them for students’ visits.
I hope that these ideas prompt other strategies that make sense for your institution and that help students persevere and thrive through attachment.
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