Student displacement can be a major roadblock to student completion. Displaced students are those who are unable to stay enrolled at the institution at which they matriculated due to circumstances beyond their control.
"Students who are displaced are suddenly thrust into considering contingencies which were, until then, not within their realm of thinking," writes Jacquelyn Elliott, Chief Enrollment Specialist at Marion Military Institiute and co-author of AACRAO's newly-published guide to handling student displacement. "Displaced students may face persistent challenges integrating into their new learning and living environments, and administrators are often ill-equipped to handle the unique needs of these students."
Some causes of displacement
Causes of displacement are varied and nuanced. They may include:
"Across the research regarding the various types of displacement, students indicated they just 'looked at the world differently' than before the event," Elliott writes. "[T]hey are thankful for life and have a better understanding of just how fragile it is."
Common issues among displaced students
The authors’ findings can help administrators have better insight into how and why displaced students respond to certain situations. For example:
-
Students who have lived through a major act of violence, such as a school shooting or terrorism, view life more like a nontraditional adult student. Their view about the reason for being in college becomes much more focused on the practical application of finishing the degree.
-
Many students who live through such an ordeal experience survivor’s guilt, and do not know how to handle this emotion.
-
Victims of sexual assault who feel unsafe are more likely to feel alienated from peers and administrators. As a result, they are less likely to succeed academically and persist until graduation.
-
In addition to experiencing certain levels of shock in the transfer process, financially-displaced students express a deeper sense of regret at having to transfer than do their traditional non-displaced transfer peers.
-
In order to succeed academically in the classroom, student veterans are more likely to need special accommodations through disability services. To avoid student displacement, early detection and conversations with the student about such needs are critical.
What administrators can do
In addition to sharing key findings, the authors suggest concrete, actionable steps for practice, policy and research going forward, such as:
-
Better training on factors that lead to displacement.
-
Putting in place special support mechanisms for displaced students.
-
Including the risk of displacement in attrition formulas.
-
Educating cabinet-level staff on the difference between traditional attrition and displacement.
“Students forced to leave a college of choice will experience periods of anger, sadness, confusion, and grief,” Elliott writes. “Working to place students in a new institution requires empathy, patience, and a heightened culture of service.”