College Transition Initiative

Welcome to the blog of the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding’s (CPYU) College Transition Initiative (CTI). This site contains commentary on transitional issues, exploring research, trends and college student culture. For more information visit: www.cpyu.org.

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Location: Elizabethtown, PA, United States

The transition from high school to college is a difficult one, and yet, it is a transition that is often overlooked. This site is to help college bound students, parents, and youth workers stay up to date on the latest research and trends in regards to college transition. Your comments are greatly appreciated. Join the conversation!

Monday, September 25, 2006

New Movie About Binge Drinking

Lifetime has partnered with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to raise awareness on underage and binge drinking.

Read the press release here.

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Cheating in Business... Oh My!

As reported in my last post, one of the things your college student won’t tell you is: “Sure, I’ve cheated. Who hasn’t?” Well, here is an interesting bit of information concerning graduate students and cheating. Guess which academic program students tend to cheat in the most? Business! Can you guess why? Because cheating is supposedly part of the business world. Here’s the report:

“Graduate business students in the United States and Canada are more likely to cheat on their work than their counterparts in other academic fields, the author of a research paper said on Wednesday. The study of 5,300 graduate students in the United States and Canada found that 56 percent of graduate business students admitted to cheating in the past year, with many saying they cheated because they believed it was an accepted practice in business.”

You can read the rest of the short article explaining the research here.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

10 Things Your College Student Won't Tell You

It is September and millions of students are heading to college. Maybe you have a son or daughter who recently made the transition. Maybe you work at a college or university and wonder about what really goes on in the lives of students. SmartMoney.com has a very insightful article worth considering entitled, “10 Things Your College Student Won’t Tell You.” Drum role please… and here they are:

1. “Sure, I’ve cheated. Who hasn’t?”
2. “Everyone knows that ‘studying abroad’ is one big party.”
3. “I’d stay here forever if I could get you to pay for it.”
4. “College life can be hazardous to my health.”
5. “My resume isn’t the only thing I have posted on the Internet.”
6. “Just because I was a straight arrow in high school, doesn’t mean I will be in college.”
7. “My grades are none of your business.”
8. “I’ll do just about anything for money.”
9. “I’m up to my ears in credit card debt…”
10. “… so I’ll be moving back home after graduation.”

Each statement is backed up with statistics and stories, making it a helpful resource to have at your disposal as well as a good conversation starter to have with students and parents.

You can read the entire article here.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

NEW Barna Research: Twentysomethings Put Christianity on the Shelf

The following comes from The Barna Group:

“Transitions in life are rarely simple. Some of the most significant and complex shifts that people undergo occur during the transition from adolescence to early adulthood. An important part of that maturation is the refinement of people’s spiritual commitment and behavior.

A new study by The Barna Group (Ventura, California) shows that despite strong levels of spiritual activity during the teen years, most twentysomethings disengage from active participation in the Christian faith during their young adult years – and often beyond that. In total, six out of ten twentysomethings were involved in a church during their teen years, but have failed to translate that into active spirituality during their early adulthood.”

You can read the entire article, complete with graphs and an explanation of their methodology, here.

The director of the research, David Kinnaman, offers insightful comments as well. Here’s a sample:

“There is considerable debate about whether the disengagement of twentysomethings is a lifestage issue – that is, a predictable element in the progression of people’s development as they go through various family, occupational and chronological stages – or whether it is unique to this generation. While there is some truth to both explanations, this debate misses the point, which is that the current state of ministry to twentysomethings is woefully inadequate to address the spiritual needs of millions of young adults. These individuals are making significant life choices and determining the patterns and preferences of their spiritual reality while churches wait, generally in vain, for them to return after college or when the kids come. When and if young adults do return to churches, it is difficult to convince them that a passionate pursuit of Christ is anything more than a nice add-on to their cluttered lifestyle.”

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Georgetown Kicks Off Campus Ministry Organizations

Here is an interesting story to keep an eye on. From Georgetown University’s newspaper, The Hoya: “Citing a desire to centralize the administration of Protestant campus ministry groups, Georgetown abruptly severed its ties with all of its affiliated ministry organizations last week, barring several long-established religious groups from campus. The move will not affect organizations composed solely of students, but it will prevent many ministry groups run or directed by outsider groups, like local churches, from conducting any activities on campus. Such groups include InterVarsity, the Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship and Crossroad Campus Christian Fellowship.” (Read more here.)

There is a good summary of the issue from Christianity Today here.

And, you can read more from the following news sources:

Georgetown U. ejects private ministry groups (The Washington Post)

Georgetown bars ministries from campus (The Washington Times)

Georgetown rejects evangelical groups (Inside Higher Ed)

The best, short, commentary I have read comes from First Things here. The author does a good job of focusing in on the "real" central issue:

“The problem, of course, finally boils down to this: The evangelical groups represent only a few hundred students, but they are strongly pro-life and opposed to homosexual marriage. The mainline Protestant employees of Campus Ministry find such things embarrassing, and so they kick the evangelicals off campus, employing the power of the officially Catholic chaplain’s office and the rhetoric of the school’s Catholic identity.

There’s an obvious irony here—employed too often to be surprising—in which people begin by protesting in the name of diversity against centralized authority, and later discover, once they’re in charge, how useful those old forms of authority can be in controlling diversity.”