transition to college

The transition from secondary school to higher education is a critical period that shapes students' academic engagement, social integration, and persistence. Despite increased access to higher education in South Africa, many first-year students enter university with expectations that differ substantially from their subsequent experiences, creating adjustment challenges. Guided by Tinto's Theory of Student Integration and Educational Transition Theory, this study explored first-year students' expectations. It examined how students perceived and experienced mismatches between these expectations and the realities of university life. The study adopted an interpretivist qualitative research paradigm and an exploratory descriptive design. Data were collected through three focus group discussions with 21 purposively selected first-year students at a comprehensive university in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. They were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. The findings revealed an expectation–reality mismatch in three areas: social integration and peer relationships, course selection and academic guidance, and academic workload alongside self-directed learning demands. Participants who identified as first-generation students described experiencing additional transition difficulties, which they associated with limited social and cultural capital, inadequate career guidance, and low digital literacy. Participants also associated persistent socioeconomic inequality with these difficulties. The study concludes that expectation–reality mismatch is a psychologically meaningful mechanism through which structural inequality translates into experiences of uncertainty, diminished belonging, and academic disengagement during the first year. Strengthened orientation, mentoring, academic advising, and digital literacy support are recommended to improve student adjustment, engagement, and retention.

Moral education of the individual is a complex and multifaceted process that includes pedagogical and social phenomena. However, the process of moral education is to some extent autonomous. Moral education is effectively carried out only as a holistic pedagogical process that meets the norms of universal morality, the organization of all life and student life, including modern youth. As well as activities, relationships, communication, taking into account their age and individual characteristics. The result of a holistic process is the formation of a morally whole personality, in the unity of its consciousness, moral feelings, conscience, moral will, skills, habits, socially valuable behavior. Moral education includes: the formation of students’ awareness of their connection with society, dependence on it, the need to coordinate their behavior with the interests of society; familiarization with moral ideals, requirements of society, proof of their legitimacy and reasonableness; transformation of moral knowledge into moral beliefs, creation of a system of these beliefs; formation of stable moral feelings, high culture of behavior as one of the main manifestations of respect for people; formation of moral skills. The content of education is understood as a system of knowledge, beliefs, skills, qualities and personality traits, stable behavioral habits that students should possess in accordance with the set goals and objectives. In today’s rapidly changing world, the ability to be independent and self-sufficient is increasingly recognized as a vital skill for success in various areas of life, including education. This is especially true for first-year university students, as they transition from the structured environment of high school to the more autonomous and demanding world of higher education. Developing independence skills in these students is crucial for their adaptation to the university environment and overall personal and academic growth. The concept of independence encompasses various aspects, including the development of autonomy and the development of skills that enable students to navigate the complexities of university life. Autonomy refers to the ability to make decisions, take initiative, and act independently, while the development of independence skills involves acquiring the necessary competencies to function effectively in the educational environment. The state of knowledge regarding the development of independence skills in first-year students is an area of ongoing research. Understanding the factors that contribute to the development of independence in students is essential for supporting them during this transition and enriching their overall educational experience.

Abstract Summer melt describes the phenomenon of graduates who appear ready for college opting not to enroll after high school, often because of challenges arising during the summer. Using the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, this study situates summer melt within the broader college-choice process by comparing summer melters with students who follow through on their intentions, those who never intend to enroll, and those who enroll without prior intent. Socioeconomic differences in summer melt are closely tied to earlier disparities in progressing toward college intent. Summer melters also share some academic and behavioral characteristics with students who do not intend to enroll and are less likely than college-intending enrollees to maintain consistently high educational expectations during high school. They also exhibit differences in their model-predicted probabilities of enrollment between the 10th and 12th grades, with larger differences more common among lower-SES students. These results highlight the value of viewing summer melt as one point among several at which students reconsider their postsecondary plans, as well as the need for conceptual models that incorporate ongoing, rather than discrete, decision-making in the transition to college.