The Successful Transition to University: Socioeconomic and Personal Determinants ‎Affecting First-Year Undergraduates

Abstract

The impact of socioeconomic status on the successful transition to academic life for ‎college students has been extensively analyzed. This study focuses on exploring personal ‎and socioeconomic variables that contribute to the successful transition of Arab students ‎to college study. The study delves into the examination of family income, students’ ‎expatriation, parental academic support, family residence, pre-entry skills, and study ‎challenges, elucidating their interrelationships and their collective impact on the success ‎of students in their first year of college study. By considering mediation and moderation ‎effects, the study constructs and investigates a structural model comprising 6 hypotheses ‎that elucidate the influencing indicators on college students' academic achievements. ‎The study is grounded in a sample of 1267 first-year students at an Egyptian university. ‎Through measurement and structural analyses, the model revealed support for five ‎hypotheses, while one hypothesis was rejected. Regarding the impact of parents' ‎academic assistance on students' success in the first year of college, the findings reveal ‎no mediating effect of study challenges in this relationship. Nevertheless, the study ‎uncovered a complementary partial mediating role of students' skills in the context of ‎college admission. When examining the impact of family income on students' success, ‎the results indicated a full mediation effect of study challenges and a complementary ‎partial mediating role of students' pre-entry skills. Furthermore, the study identified two ‎suggested moderation effects related to students' expatriation and family residence, ‎highlighting their role in the mutual influences among family income, study challenges, ‎and students' success. The research findings led to the discussion of several implications, ‎and recommendations were put forward, emphasizing the importance of academic ‎advising programs for economically and culturally disadvantaged students.