A study of University of Tennessee, Knoxville Evening School students who have experienced educational counceling face-to-face of by telephone

Changing economic and societal trends have increased the participation rates of adults in colleges and universities. However, there is a scarcity of empirical research investigating the influence of educational advising on adult students in higher education.

The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of educational counseling for non-traditional students with respect to congruence or "fit" with the University environment, retention, and satisfaction.

Fall Quarter 1986 all of the 291 new University Evening School undergraduate students were randomly assigned to a treatment group for educational counseling or a control group. The treatment group received a special three quarter sequence of educational counseling face-to-face or by telephone. At the end of three quarters, Robert Pace's College and University Environmental Scale (CUES) (1967) was used to measure the adult learners' perception of the psychological environment of the University, "fit" or congruence. In addition, the effects of the demographic variables of gender, marital status, age, and degree status on the measures of congruence were assessed. The nontraditional learners' retention was measured by a Chi-square test, and satisfaction with the services of the University Evening School was measured by an ANOVA procedure.

Based on Pace's scoring rationale the scores of the control group differed significantly from the treatment group. The control group had consistently higher scores on the environmental scales implying they perceived the campus environment as more supportive, friendly, and scholarly than did the adult learners' in the face-to-face or telephone counseling groups.

A 2 X 3 Chi-square analysis determined that no significant difference in retention as measured by frequency of enrollment existed among the face-to-face counseling, telephone counseling or control groups.

A Likert attitude scale was used to measure the adult learners' satisfaction with the services of the University Evening School. Satisfaction scores for all three groups were high. However, the ANOVA procedure indicated there was no significant difference in satisfaction level among the face-to-face, telephone or control groups.