Released Time for Faculty Advising: The Impact upon Freshmen

During the academic years 1964-65 and 1965-66, six Macalester College faculty members were given released time to devote to academic advising. One hundred-twenty “experimental group” freshmen were randomly selected from the classes entering Macalester in the fall of 1964 and 1965 and were assigned (10 men and 10 women) to each adviser. The remaining freshmen in each class comprised the “control group” and were assigned to advisers with full teaching loads. Data collected in the spring of 1966 indicated that the students in the experimental group were more satisfied with their faculty advisers, but there were no significant differences between the two groups on: (a) rate of retention; (b) grade point average; (c) level of aspiration; (d) satisfaction with college; (e) perception of the campus.