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This article describes an effort to assess the client satisfaction of 68 graduates of the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program at a major state university. The study focused on the following broad research question: how effective were selected McNair program components in preparing targeted students for graduate schools? Among the more successful components were financial support, research, mentoring, and internships. The small sample size did not permit the detection of fine distinctions in effectiveness among these components. However, in the academic core of the program, financial support, research, internships, and mentoring were found to be useful and effective. INTRODUCTION The African American struggle for education, a prevailing issue throughout the 20th century, has been well documented (Anderson, 1988; Berry & Blassingame, 1982; DuBois, 1903, 1935; Weinberg, 1977). DuBois (1903), for example, emphasized the importance of higher education for socially marginal and economically disadvantaged groups, attributing the severe underdevelopment that African Americans experienced to a legacy of racial segregation, political disenfranchisement, and widespread educational and economic discrimination. He reasoned that education would continue to be a vital instrument for individual and collective progress. However, Ogbu (1978) has suggested that a significant percentage of African Americans, particularly those from the low socioeconomic (SES) strata, may not always experience schooling in positive ways. He posits that where low SES and low caste status converge, students too often may reject formal education as an avenue to economic advancement. Recent data support the proposition that in the United States, higher education has been a reliable means of enhancing individual and group life chances and, over time, facilitating economic advancement (Bowen & Bok, 1998). Clearly, education is one of the more important influences on economic well-being among U.S. minority groups (U.S. Census Bureau, 1998). In 1996, for example, African American bachelor's degree holders earned an average of $31,955 annually compared to the $18,722 annual income earned by African American high school graduates (U.S. Census Bureau, 1998). Despite its income-- boosting potential, however, the cost of higher education for African Americans, Latinos, and American Indian/Alaskan Natives is not negligible. Systematic efforts to assist minority students in making an efficient transition to postsecondary education, and from undergraduate to postgraduate studies, should continue. The consequences of misguided academic program choices and incomplete preparation, common among low-income, first-generation-college /university undergraduate students, may be overwhelming or fatal to the pursuit of advanced education. Such students' perceptions of this transition process may be important indicators of how well existing academic and other support systems are working for them. Given that little has been published regarding these students' undergraduate-to-graduate school satisfaction levels, expectations, and performance, there is a need for high-quality follow-up studies. The Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program Named in honor of Dr. Ronald E. McNair, command specialist on the ill-fated Challenger space shuttle mission, the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program is one of the federal TRIO college support initiatives, which also include Upward Bound, Talent Search, Student Support Services, Educational Opportunity Centers, and Training and Dissemination Grants. The goal of the McNair program is to increase significantly the rates at which high-achieving juniors or seniors from low-income, firstgeneration, and underrepresented minority group backgrounds ("target-group" or "McNair-eligible" students) enter and complete doctoral programs. Located on 100 college and university sites nationally, the McNair program works with target-group students who have an interest and the potential to succeed in doctoral study. … |
