Academic Risks Associated with Emerging Adults Seeking the College Experience

Sadly, data collected from universities across the nation continue to suggest that fully half of the "emerging adults" (Arnett, 2015) who make their way to college will not graduate. This vexing statistic is particularly troublesome because it reflects a tremendous cost--in dollars, in time, and in self-esteem. In this study, we report on analyses comparing students who cite wanting "the college experience" as a reason for attending university to students citing other reasons, and we identify an unfortunate combination of study habits and attitudes that may place the students citing wanting "the college experience" at academic risk.