The Freshman Year Experience at Macon State College

The FYE Concept

The Freshman Year Experience concept began approximately 30 years ago at the University of South Carolina. The concept has now grown into an international movement and is in place at over 84% of post-secondary institutions. The goal of the Freshman Year initiative is to help students make the transition to higher education and give them, at the very beginning of their college career, the tools necessary to persist and succeed in college and beyond.

The FYE seminar has been studied extensively over the past 30 years and there is more than enough empirical data to indicate that the program is a proven method of ensuring student success and persistence in college.

FYE at Macon State College

In an effort to increase student success and persistence at Macon State College, we will begin offering Freshman Year Seminar classes fall semester 2010. The course, MSCC 1001 - Macon Connections for College and Beyond, will be mandatory for all full-time, first-time, fully-admitted freshmen.

The three, overarching objectives or intended outcomes of the Freshman Year program are:

1) To connect students with other students—i.e., to facilitate student formation of peer-support networks and peer-learning communities;

2) To connect students with Macon State College—i.e., to foster student appreciation of the meaning and relevance of the college curriculum (liberal arts & sciences), to promote student involvement in the co-curriculum (out-of-class experiential learning), and to increase student utilization of campus support services (academic-support and student-development services); and

3) To connect students’ present college experience with their future goals/plans—i.e., to enable students to integrate their current curricular and co-curricular experiences with their decisions about their college major and their future career path.

While the first-semester seminar course is the centerpiece of any FYE initiative, the entire FYE program is a comprehensive effort involving the entire campus community. The FYE program coordinates the efforts of numerous campus entities to ensure beginning students make a successful transition to higher education and are acculturated to the Macon State College community.

Mission of the Macon State College FYE Program

The Freshman Year Experience at Macon State College is a comprehensive program of academic and personal development activities and services. The goal of Macon State College’s Freshman Year Experience program is to prepare students to succeed in a technology-rich, information-driven global economy while developing important life and citizenship skills through a solid foundation in the liberal arts. The program will facilitate the students’ transition to College life by seeking to develop skills to meet the challenges of higher education, self-awareness and understanding of others, the enjoyment of a wide variety of services, and encouraging students to enter into the community of life-long learners.

Questions?

If you have questions about the Freshman Year Experience program at Macon State College, please send an email to: fyeinfo@maconstate.edu.