Four Critical Years

Discover the true effects of attending college

While there is no doubt that going to college has an effect on one's life, the question of what those specific effects may be remains somewhat elusive. Four Critical Years takes an in-depth look at those potential effects beyond those that are immediately obvious. The book investigates how one's attitudes, beliefs and sense of self are affected by going to college, how behavior is affected, what patterns of behavior emerge from going to college, and the permanence of the effects of attending college. For those students, policymakers and those about to make the crucial decision on whether – or where – to go to college, the book is an original and enlightening look at the subject.

Preface ix

The Author xv

I Studying College Impact 1

II Attitudes, Beliefs, and Self-Concept 31

III Patterns of Behavior 72

IV Competency and Achievement 100

V Career Development 134

VI Satisfaction wuth the College Environment 164

VII Permanence of College Effects 188

VIII Summary of Effects 211

IX Implications for Policy and Practice 242

Appendix: A Note on Measurement Error 263

References 273

Index 285

Dr. Alexander W. Astin (born May 30, 1932, Washington, D.C.) is the Allan M. Cartter Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Higher Education and Organizational Change, at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is founding director of the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA. He has served as Director of Research for both the American Council on Education and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. He is also the founding director of the Cooperative Institutional Research Program, an ongoing national study of some fifteen million students, 300,000 faculty and staff, and 1,800 higher education institutions.