Students' perspective
Students enter higher education with a variety of backgrounds and educational
experiences. Factors contributing to academic difficulty are peer culture,
academic major, institutional environment, faculty contact, work,
career choice, personal motivation, organization, study habits, quality of effort,
self-efficacy and perceived control (Santa and Scranton, 2001). Each
factor must be examined in light of the characteristics of the individual student
in order to identify the appropriate type of support and assistance
required.
Students can have high self-efficacy to support his/her academic achievements
or can have low self-efficacy which can be detrimental to their success
(Olson, 1990). Students can fine-tune study skills or be challenged in
this critical area. They need to learn and understand the consequences of
their actions and decisions. Though the advisor can guide the student
through a list of majors and possible goals and help identify strategies and
resources, it is the student who must make the final decision (Kelley, 1996).