The Impact of Culturally Engaging Campus Environments on Sense of Belonging

The Impact of Culturally Engaging Campus Environments on Sense of Belonging Samuel D. Museus (bio), Varaxy Yi (bio), and Natasha Saelua (bio) Low rates of student persistence and degree completion are a major concern of colleges and universities across the United States. Of all incoming students enrolled at four-year institutions in 2005, less than 60% completed their bachelor’s degree within six years (National Center for Education Statistics NCES, 2013). In addition, students of color exhibit lower rates of degree attainment than the overall population. While 62% of first-time, full-time White students who matriculate at a four-year college complete a bachelor’s degree in six years, that percentage is significantly lower for American Indian and Alaskan Native (39%), Black (40%), and Latino (50%) students (NCES, 2013). End Page 187 And, while Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders exhibit relatively high rates of degree completion in the aggregate, many Southeast Asian American and Pacific Islander ethnic groups within this racial category suffer from substantial disparities in degree attainment. For example, Vietnamese (26%), Hmong (14%), Cambodian (13%), and Laotian (12%) Americans, as well as Chamorro (21%), Native Hawaiians (17%), Guamanians (13%), Fijians (11%), Tongans (11%), Samoans (10%), and Micronesians (4%) all hold bachelor’s degrees at rates lower than the national average of 28% (Museus, 2013). These low levels of degree attainment pose negative consequences for both individual students and larger society. For example, individuals without higher education credentials will have lower lifetime earnings and are more likely to remain at or near poverty levels (Baum, Ma, Rendón, Jalomo, Tierney, 1992, 1999). For example, researchers have questioned the underlying cultural foundations of Tinto’s theory, which suggest that students must dissociate from their cultural communities and adopt the dominant values and norms of their respective campuses in order to succeed. These...