College Transition Project

General Information
Articles Related to College Transition Issues
Others Addressing College Transition Issues
News and Research on College Students

Youth workers devote a great deal of energy to creating and maintaining vibrant high school ministries in local congregations. But what happens to these students when they graduate and move away to college? Churches around the country are expressing an increasing interest in the attrition rate of high school students involved in church youth groups as they graduate and transition to college and emerging adulthood.

In response, CYFM is trying to better understand the characteristics of youth groups that are associated with a healthy transition to college life and help youth workers develop those qualities in their youth groups.  

Currently, CYFM is engaged in two 3-year longitudinal studies with over 350 students from around the U.S. with the goals of understanding the dynamics involved in the transition to college life and discovering what components of students' youth group experiences helped them make that transition. Eventually, this research will be translated into resources that youth ministries can use to help students and families better navigate the transition to college. For more information about our findings as we analyze the data, please sign up for our free bi-monthly E-Journal HERE.

Certain subsections of the pilot version of the College Transition Survey are available here for free download and use in your youth ministry as appropriate. Please send us feedback on the appropriateness and usefulness of these scales. Use in any explicit research capacity must be approved directly by the Center for Youth and Family Ministry prior to such use.

Narrative Faith Relevance Scale
Parental Faith Communication Scale
Religious Behavior Scale
Reasons for Going to Youth Group
Changing the Youth Group
Youth Group Activity Participation

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Articles Related to College Transition Issues

You Make the Call:
What College Freshmen Need to Hear from their Youth Pastors
You've been wondering whether to pick up the phone and check in with last year's grads now that they're a few months into college, but you aren't sure you can make the time. Recent research through CYFM's College Transition Project might help you realize how important that call really is.

What Type of Students Are We Developing? The State of Our Seniors
Do you wonder what kind of impact youth ministry actually has on students by the time they graduate from high school? So do we. More and more denominations and youth workers are wondering what types of students we’re developing, and what happens to them after they graduate. Our CYFM College Transition Project is trying to address these questions through a three-year study following a group of students from around the country who finished high school last spring and are off to college this fall. This article is our first report on the data we've been collecting in this important and revealing study.

The Boomerang Effect: Why some students leave the faith—and why some may come back—in emerging adult years
We all scratch our heads wondering how to respond to the loss of students from church after high school. Research on this pattern, as well as the patterns of those who return to their faith later, may inform our response as churches who have the opportunity to nurture them—both to prevent some from leaving and to welcome back others who have left.

When the Pomp and Circumstance Fades
This YouthWorker Journal article (in pdf format) highlights the findings from our pilot College Transition study, published in Fall 2005.

Where Do They Go Once They Graduate?
For a youth worker the month of June means one thing: high school graduations. Have you ever wondered what’s going to happen to that student you’ve come to cheer for? Will she continue in the faith in college or in her new job? Given the new temptations of life after high school, will they stay on the narrow path?

Strategic Assimilation: Rethinking the Goal of Youth Ministry
Traditionally, senior high youth ministry has been more concerned with getting kids to make an individual decision to follow Christ than where they go from there. As noble as this goal is, in many cases it has led to a generation of youth ministry orphans.

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Others Addressing College Transition Issues

LiveAbove.com An emerging network seeking to connect new college students with one another and with campus ministries.

Spirituality in Higher Education UCLA's national study of college students' search for meaning and purpose.

College Transition Initiative From the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding.

Emerging Adulthood Research From Jeffrey Jensen Arnett.

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Research on College Students

Early College Students Ready To Graduate (WKBN 27 Youngstown)It's the last day of school for 240 students in the Youngstown Early College program. A partnership that lets Youngstown City Schools students take high school and college classes at YSU.

Early College Students Ready To Graduate (WYTV Youngstown)The transition from high school to college can be difficult for many young adults. But thanks to a local collaboration-- Youngstown students are jumping right into university life and lessons. And taking advantage of an opportunity that some might have thought was impossible.

MSU ag college plans to build teaching, research facilities (The Prairie Star)BOZEMAN, Mont. - Montana State University's agriculture college is growing by square feet this year as plans are underway to construct new teaching facilities on its Bozeman, Mont., campus.

Students show off research (Martinsville Bulletin)It is an inescapable fact of high school: at some point, all students have to stand in front of their classmates and give oral presentations. Less common is the chance to share their research with a group of adults.

E.C. Glass grad, UVA Med students to research anemia during trip to Africa (WSLS Newschannel 10 Roanoke)If you go looking for Ben Milam this summer, better check the travel costs before you start. Milam, of Lynchburg, is a University of Virginia medical student selected as a 2008 Global Health Scholar. He’s headed to South Africa for research on anemia.

Student honored for health research poster (Mount Pleasant News)Kristopher Day of Mt. Pleasant, a student in the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, was one of 13 students honored at the ninth annual Student Interdisciplinary Health Research Poster Session, held April 15 on the UI health sciences campus.

A place where voices can be heard: Gordon College students advocate for same-sex acceptance on campus (Hamilton-Wenham Chronicle) Discussions are continuing at Gordon College as to where the best place would be for gay and lesbian students’ voices to be heard.

Los Angeles Chooses Pearson's Innovative Math Curriculum for K-5 Students (PR Newswire via Yahoo! Finance) Los Angeles Unified School District, the second largest school district in the nation, announced its choice of a single research-based, innovative math curriculum for the city's K-5 students on Wednesday.

NEWS: New piracy law may cost College (The Dartmouth)A nationwide campaign for state laws that would require colleges to track students' illegal file sharing could cost the College millions of dollars if the laws are passed, Ellen Young, manager of consulting services at Dartmouth Computer Services, said in an e-mail message to The Dartmouth. The College does not currently have an opinion on the possible anti-piracy legislation, and no such bill ...

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