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A study of the status of support service programs for Black and Hispanic students in the nation's twenty-eight Jesuit colleges and universities
Abstract
The primary purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which support service programs are available for Black and Hispanic students attending the nation's twenty-eight Jesuit colleges and universities. Where programs existed the objective was to describe their makeup. A subsidiary goal of the study was to introduce the Donald Brown Retention Model which is a series of elements that are essential to recruiting and retaining Black and Hispanic students on predominantly White campuses. The researcher hypothesized that as a result of cutbacks in federal and state funding during the latter part of the 1960's and continuing into the 1970's, Jesuit institutions, like other institutions of higher education, cut back, if not completely eliminated support service programs. Since the subjects of the study were scattered throughout the country, the data gathering technique deemed most appropriate was a questionnaire. Rather than select a statistical random sampling from the population, it was determined that all twenty-eight Jesuit colleges and universities would be included in the study. Among the major findings of the study was the eighteen (69.2 percent) of the twenty-six (92.8 percent) respondents indicated that a support service program had been established for Black and Hispanic students on their campus. The major services provided by these programs are academic advisement, tutorial assistance, personal, group and career counseling. Contrary to the hypothesis alluded to earlier, which suggested that support service programs fell to their demise during the late 1960's and early 1970's due to diminished funding, it was determined that virtually half of such programs did not begin until the 1970's. A further revelation was that funding for these programs, for the most part, came from the institution's themselves. It appears that Black and Hispanic students are succeeding at Jesuit colleges and universities. Yet, there are areas that can be improved. It is hoped that the Donald Brown Retention Model will prove useful in recruiting and retaining Black and Hispanic students at Jesuit, and indeed, all institutions of higher education.
Subject Area
Higher education|School counseling|Multicultural Education
Recommended Citation
Brown, Donald, "A study of the status of support service programs for Black and Hispanic students in the nation's twenty-eight Jesuit colleges and universities" (1990). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9110109.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9110109