A comparison of peer counseling versus faculty counseling in the retention of college freshmen

The faculty counseling program and the peer counseling program were both implemented during the fall semester of 1979 at Carson-Newman College, Jefferson City, Tennessee. There were eight upperclassmen and eight faculty members who were selected and prepared as peer counselors and faculty counselors, respectively. Both sets of counselors were assigned approximately five freshmen general studies majors for the purpose of facilitating their social, personal and academic adjustment to the college environment. The counselors were encouraged to know each one of their group, encourage good study habits, have individual and group sessions for fun and for problem solving and encourage participation in school activities, thus promoting interaction with their peers.

The peer counseled group and the faculty counseled group were compared at the end of the semester to determine if there was a significant difference in their attitude toward college, grade point average, activity involvement as well as the attrition rate. An analysis of the data showed no significant difference in the attitude toward college between the two groups. In activity involvement, there was no significant difference, although further comparisons within the data for activity involvement showed that the freshmen students in the peer counseled group were involved in significantly more clubs than the faculty counseled group. In comparing the grade point average, there was a significant difference with the peer counseled group showing higher grades than the faculty counseled group. As for attrition, there was no significant difference between the two groups, but the attrition rate for both groups was extremely low with a loss of 3 percent for each group.

The results of this study indicate that peer counselors can make a significant difference in the grades of freshmen as well as club membership. In both groups, the' attitude toward college scores were high and the attrition rate was low so there was no significant difference. Both of these findings are important in themselves since the goal is to improve attitude toward the school and to reduce attrition.