College Students’ Sense of Belonging
A Graduation Update
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9733417 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Shannon T Brady (0000-0003-3975-3301, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, corresponding author), Maithreyi Gopalan (0000-0002-1013-0672, The University of Oregon, Eugene, OR) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 55 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 142-145 |
| Publication date | 2026-03-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Educational Researcher (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0013-189X • E-ISSN: 1935-102X |
| Publisher | American Educational Research Association (AERA) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.3102/0013189x251393248 |
| OpenAlex | W4416238219 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 9 |
Despite considerable and growing interest in college students’ sense of belonging, its relationship with postsecondary credential attainment remains poorly understood. Here, in a nationally representative sample of U.S. undergraduates who matriculated in 2011–2012 ( N = 21,700), first-year belonging was longitudinally associated with attainment: a 1-point increase on the 5-point scale corresponded to a 3.4 percentage-point increase in 4-year attainment and a 2.7 percentage-point increase in 6-year attainment. These descriptive findings offer large-scale evidence linking college students’ belonging to their receipt of a degree and underscore the continued need to foster students’ belonging and measure it well
Attrition · Credential · Educational attainment · Graduation (instrument · Postsecondary education · Receipt · Sample (material · Scale (ratio · Career Development and Diversity · Education and Military Integration · Higher Education Research Studies
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |