ABSTRACT

In this landmark work, Kenneth Feldman and Theodore Newcomb review and synthesize the findings of more than 1,500 studies conducted over four decades on the subject. Writing in 1991, Ernest Pascarella and Patrick Terenzini maintained that The Impact of College on Students not only provided the first comprehensive conceptual map of generally uncharted terrain, but also generated a number of major hypotheses about how college influences students. They also noted that Feldman and Newcombe helped to stimulate a torrent of studies on the characteristics of collegiate institutions and how students change and benefit during and after their college years from college attendance. The Impact of College on Students is now a standard text in graduate courses as well as a standard and frequently cited reference for scholars, students, and administrators of higher education. Much of what we understand about the developmental influence of college is based on this work.

chapter I|4 pages

The Impact of College: Prologue

chapter II|47 pages

Change and Stability During College

chapter III|18 pages

Problems of Interpretation

chapter IV|36 pages

The Sequence of Experiences

chapter V|45 pages

The Diverse American College

chapter VI|45 pages

The Diversity of Major Fields

chapter VII|31 pages

Impacts of Residence Groupings

chapter VIII|48 pages

Student Culture and Faculty

chapter IX|33 pages

Background, Personality, and College Impacts

chapter X|17 pages

Persistence and Change After College

chapter XI|14 pages

The Impet of College: Epilogue