Extracurricular Involvement Barriers to Bust

Joanne Martin, 52, has responsibilities as a wife, mother, grandmother and caretaker for her mother, who is battling cancer. She’s also a charitable clinic volunteer. After starting a nursing degree back in the early ’90s, Martin stopped out to start a family, building a career as a medical assistant for over 20 years, until carpal tunnel syndrome forced her to change direction.

Around the same time, she saved her husband’s life by performing CPR when he suffered a heart attack during a bout with COVID. Meanwhile, her oldest son was starting college as an adult. It felt like the right time for Martin to return for that nursing degree.

One would think the academics alone in her program at Guilford Technical Community College in North Carolina would keep Martin plenty busy. The 2024 Student Voice survey of 5,025 undergraduates, conducted in May by Inside Higher Ed and Generation Lab, found that 61 percent of those aged 25 and up have not participated in any activities on campus, compared to 28 percent of those ages 18 to 24. Similarly, 60 percent of community college students versus 25 percent of four-year students surveyed have not gotten involved.

But falling in line with these trends among older and two-year college students is hardly how Martin has approached being back in school.

Last spring, she had a full schedule of classes but found herself going in early and staying late for extracurriculars. This semester, with one class and a lab, she is on campus twice a week—and still participating in activities about five to six hours per week.

Why the extra time on campus? Martin believes being involved will best position her for scholarships to continue her nursing studies after community college. She’s currently the Phi Theta Kappa honor society president, part of the student government association and in a grant-funded job registering students to vote.

While the schedule is rigorous, Martin says navigating it might be easier for her than younger peers. “Because of my age, I know about managing time, what’s important,” she explains. “You have to make sacrifices. I just buckled down … I don’t do a whole lot of outside things, just focusing on school and doing my community service.” With her husband feeling better, he can assist more with her parents’ care.

“I don’t think there’s anything else I’d rather be doing than what I’m doing,” adds Martin, who also frequently attends events at the two campuses nearest to her home. “In fact, I don’t think I’m doing enough.”

Who’s Involved, Who’s Not

Community colleges may be struggling more than four-year colleges to get students to attend events on campus. Forty-nine percent of Student Voice survey respondents at two-year colleges say they have not attended any events, compared to 17 percent of four-year students.

For GTCC, adding a weekly Titan Tuesday event on the main campus in Jamestown—plus Titan Wednesdays and Thursdays on two branch campuses—has significantly increased student involvement. In his broad role as the college’s associate vice president for student retention and completion, David Pittman oversees student life and has worked to launch and enhance the events, which include both fun and informational components. “Once students have seen and heard about it, it’s the place to go,” he says.

When he arrived at the institution two-plus years ago, Pittman “didn’t see anybody, anywhere” and “felt there was no community on campus, particularly on branch campuses.” Having previously worked at four-year public flagships and a private, selective nonprofit institution, he saw this as “a very weird experience.”

Now, he’s seen a “full transformation,” with students walking around and hanging out in the student unions.

Seth Matthew Fishman at Villanova University, who has held student life and academic roles in higher ed, describes campus involvement like this: “A subset [of students] will show up from day one, a whole bunch in the middle are more episodic, maybe attending events more than being joiners. And others will have marginal or minimal contact. Some may never want to be involved.”

However, Student Voice respondents who say they’ve never been to a campus event may not even realize they have, points out Fishman, who is assistant dean for curriculum and assessment in Villanova’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, as well as an associate teaching professor of education and counseling and the higher education leadership graduate program director. One example of a potentially forgotten event: an orientation picnic.

Among the full sample of Student Voice respondents, two-thirds indicating at least some involvement in campus activities can be cause for celebration. But as with many areas of student success, administrators tend to focus on raising the bar to reach others.

“Admittedly, this one hit me in the feels, to borrow from student vernacular,” says Jon Kapell, interim dean of students at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina. “To have 35 percent say they have not participated speaks volumes and necessitates our need to dig into this and better determine how to meet the needs of various populations … I have more questions than answers. How do we better tailor programs to student needs and availability? Do [students] see the value in these engagements?”

Involvement Impediments

The survey questioned students about factors that would likely increase their involvement in activities and attendance at events. The top responses relate to convenience of timing and location (four in 10) and awareness of happenings (about three in 10).

About one in four students blames not seeing connections between activities and career goals, issues with time management, not feeling a sense of belonging, or proximity to campus. That is, students may not see how participating in campus life benefits them in the long run, and they may not immediately feel able or welcome to participate.

Employment also emerged as an issue. While just 6 percent of those with on-campus jobs see work conflicting with activity involvement, 19 percent of those with off-campus jobs do. And for those working 30 or more hours a week off campus, this figure jumps to 32 percent.

Seventeen percent of respondents over all say more opportunities for paid campus work would prompt more participation in activities.

“I tell my family members, if your student is looking to work, have them start that journey on campus if they can,” says Duane A. Williams, associate vice provost of student success and retention at Texas A&M University San Antonio.

“I worked on campus when I was in college, and just by doing that, I was connected to staff members, to faculty, to administrators. And I learned the inner workings of higher ed. I also learned about how networking can help move the needle or move obstacles out of the way,” explains Williams, who came to the U.S. 25 years ago as an immigrant from Jamaica and a first-generation college student.

Another issue working against campus involvement could be how students feel about themselves and their ability to get ahead in life, notes Gary L. Brown of Hollins University in Virginia.

When a student is lacking confidence, “that will show up in their coursework, how they engage with the institution and ultimately how they see themselves as an alumnus of the institution,” says Brown, who serves as vice president for student success, well-being and belonging.

Engagement Encouragement

Campus involvement levels, among those who are involved at all, range from very to somewhat involved in one, a few or many activities, as shown above. The response “speaks to a standing idea of ‘depth versus breadth,’” says Kapell of Winston-Salem State. “Should we encourage students to do a lot of little things or dig into a few things in which they can excel?”

Just as student definitions of success vary by the individual, the right amount of participation for one could be not enough or too much for another. Kapell suggests considering how administrators and staff (as well as parents) are modeling involvement behaviors. “Are we doing things very well, or are we spreading ourselves too thin to meet the needs of many? Students see us as examples.”

To ensure students see the full gamut of opportunities available to them across campus and have the greatest chance of becoming involved, higher ed professionals can take several actions. Following are five ways to break down campus engagement barriers.

Barrier Buster 1: Schedule strategically. What is convenient in terms of day, time and venue for student activities and events? That’s another question with myriad individual answers.

At an institution with several campuses, like GTCC, part of the answer is ensuring each location has action beyond the academics. Pittman hired campus managers for two campuses and subdivided the others to help. “When we do programs and activities on those campuses, we have somebody who’s going to help, be an ambassador for those programs,” he explains.

Pittman has also taken advantage of a time anyone is most likely to catch students—the initial days of class. “We set up tents, having faculty and staff volunteers be where students would be. It alleviates insecurity about where to find classrooms, [and volunteers can] answer questions about where to get a student ID or what is a hybrid class,” he says, adding that it feels more like welcome-back festivities at four-year institutions now.

As Martin returned to GTCC to finish her degree—about five years after an initial restart that didn’t work out—she noticed and appreciated the welcome, and students showing her to class. “This was somebody to help me, and this was big,” she says.

Fishman from Villanova suggests determining when students who aren’t participating in activities are most likely on campus, perhaps a particular day or two per week. Also consider that events can be repeated. “In my student life days, we did the same event back-to-back days at different times,” he recalls.

Assisting students with time management is another tactic to try, since times and locations could feel easier to squeeze into a schedule about which a student already feels in control.

Time management help may be naturally built in for students with on-campus jobs, as well. Williams reminds students who work in his Texas A&M office that the team will be flexible about schedule adjustments when unexpected things come up.

Barrier Buster 2: Tout the skill-building benefits. Martin’s ultimate goal, after becoming a nurse in a cancer center, is to teach nursing. “Getting involved in student activities and knowing the ins and outs of college will help me be better as a professor,” she says.

The connections between extracurriculars and success is less clear to many Student Voice respondents:

• One-third say this kind of participation is not at all important (7 percent), somewhat unimportant (8 percent) or neither important nor unimportant (17 percent) to well-being and success as a college student.
• Slightly more students say, in terms of success after college, that it’s not at all important (7 percent), somewhat unimportant (9 percent) or neither (22 percent).
• Continuing-generation students are generally more likely to connect campus involvement to success in college and beyond than first-generation students. And students with higher household incomes ($131,000 and up) are more likely than students with lower incomes (less than $50,000) to make those connections.

Kapell sees the students who are neutral about the benefits of getting involved as especially concerning. When collecting data for what became an article in the Journal of Veterans Studies, he learned veteran students have a strong sense of “what’s in it for me?”

“They wanted to see a direct connection that would help them use [extracurricular] experience to secure a better career or life outcome,” he adds.

Relevance is also key. In Pittman’s experience, most students understand why participating could be important but don’t make it a priority. However, he says, “being in a club more directly aligned with their major … there would be more of an understanding there.” Engaging with faculty or a peer cohort may feel more natural. An activity like attending a conference together, he believes, “is just as important as formal activities on campus.”

Barrier Buster 3: Promote early and widely. Ensuring students know about specific offerings can begin well before dates are even set. “It needs to be said before they show up on campus: Getting involved helps you succeed,” says Fishman. “In pre-orientation programs, that messaging should be right then and there.”

As for orientation at Villanova, Fishman loves the energy as students see options for “campus jobs, clubs by the hundreds, wellness activities and rec facilities.”

The question then becomes, “How do we keep that energy level going for all students?”

A subset of students “are just waiting for someone to tap them” about getting involved, he adds. Whether it’s a roommate, a resident assistant, another staff member or a professor, the first week or two is when students can often be swayed to participate on campus.

At Hollins University, improving student onboarding has been a priority, with administrators examining who is communicating, how they’re communicating, the ease of access and the handoff from admissions. “How they feel as they come in influences how they feel about it going forward,” says Brown.

Of course, institutions can employ a variety of strategies to ensure students know about opportunities.

Barrier Buster 4: Add activities and virtual participation options. Villanova’s Fishman recalls a question at an admitted students event: “I didn’t see a chess club on your list of activities. Do you have a chess club?” His reply: “Yes! And you’re the new president. When you walk onto campus, your club will be ready to go. You just have to collect some signatures.”

Acting on expressed student interest is one way to ensure enthusiasm. Another is for multiple offices across campus to partner.

At a Villanova admitted students event, Matthew Fishman got this question: ‘I didn’t see a chess club on your list of activities. Do you have a chess club?’ His reply: ‘Yes! And you’re the new president. When you walk onto campus your club will be ready to go. You just have to collect some signatures.’”

Planning for GTCC’s weekly Titan event days—now held at the same time and same location on each campus—involved much outreach. “If we have key programs in key locations on consistent days, and we are partnering together, our turnout has been better,” Pittman says. Initially, isolated efforts were the norm. Today’s regular events include components such as guest speakers, the counseling center giving away prizes to conversation wheel participants, trivia competitions, a flea market and the basic needs team raising awareness about supports.

Martin, who is a Student Government Association senator for GTCC’s Greensboro campus, says the opportunity to build its weekly events and have everything that the main campus in Jamestown has was her main reason for taking on the role. Last year in Greensboro, she says, “I was walking around trying to get students to participate, and when I came back, the parking lot was full.”

While the post-pandemic general consensus in higher ed is likely joy about in-person events, some students still seek virtual college experiences. One in five (22 percent) online-only learners in the Student Voice survey, as well as one in 10 in-person learners and 14 percent of hybrid learners, selected activities and events being accessible virtually as a factor that would raise their level of involvement.

Who is probably going to “show up from day one” for new activities and events, as Fishman calls the most involved students? Student Voice respondents more likely than the full sample (8 percent) to report being “very involved in many activities” are:

• By institution type, those at private institutions, 17 percent (versus 7 percent at public institutions)
• By course load, those taking a more than typical number of credits, 14 percent
• By income level, those in the highest bracket, $131,000 or more, 11 percent
• By race, those who are Asian American/Pacific Islander, 11 percent
• By employment, those who work but fewer than 30 hours per week, 11 percent (versus 7 percent of those who are not employed).

Barrier Buster 5: Consider post-traditional students’ needs and interests. Some students who are attending college for the first time well after high school or heading back to college at some point in their lives—like Martin—are going to be ready for campus activities action. She recalls feeling motivated and embraced by younger students attending an SGA leadership retreat with her. “They just adopted me as ‘school mom,’” she says, adding that even after the retreat, “I would see them out and about and they’d say, hello, school mom!”

Martin would like to see colleges focusing more on motivating older students to participate. “I’m so glad I got to go on that weekend retreat with the students so I could tell my story. You need to tell the stories of older students.”