This research brief examines how colleges and universities balance two key objectives of the first-year experience: supporting students’ transition and success in college while developing essential skills such as critical thinking, communication, and problem-solving. Using data from the 2017 and 2023 National Survey on the First-Year Experience, the report explores how institutional priorities have evolved and offers insights to help campuses strategically align their first-year initiatives with student learning and success goals.

The National Survey on The First-Year Experience examines the landscape of the FYE, focusing on institutional structures, both curricular and co-curricular, that are meant to support student success in the transition to college and the first year. This report takes a new, serialized form, with each issue focused on key topics in the first-year experience.

HBCUs are more than places of learning; they are sites of belonging, cultural affirmation, and intergenerational excellence. This volume brings together nearly thirty contributors who illuminate how contemporary HBCU educators are challenging conventional academic paradigms, designing culturally relevant curricula, and developing holistic student support frameworks to meet the diverse and evolving needs of today's learners.

We believe that good practice in higher education must rely on a foundation of high-quality research. Conversely, good research draws from and informs practice. As such, the work of the National Resource Center advances and supports both scholarly practice and applied research.

We strive to create a supportive and professional environment where a diversity of viewpoints are recognized and considered in the ongoing dialogue on student transitions.

We support a climate of intellectual curiosity. We desire to provide the tools and media to pursue professional development and an ongoing process of inquiry, exploration, creativity, and discovery.

The National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition is committed to making high-quality resource materials available to higher educators around the world. Under certain circumstances, we allow limited reprints of our published materials. Requests for reprints may not exceed 10% of the content of a book or guide or more than one article from an issue of a periodical. Send a request including the complete citation of the material to be reproduced (with inclusive page numbers), the purpose for which the material is being reproduced, and the method of dissemination to fye@mailbox.sc.edu. 

The First-Year Experience® is a service mark of the University of South Carolina. A license may be granted upon written request to use the term The First-Year Experience in association with educational programmatic approaches to enhance the first college year. This license is not transferable without written approval of the University of South Carolina. Send requests for permissions to Dr. Kate Lehman, Executive Director of the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition, at kl86@mailbox.sc.edu.