Re-Imagining the First Year of College (RFY)

Re-Imagining the First Year of College (RFY)

Re-Imagining the First Year (RFY) is a project aimed at ensuring success for all students, particularly those who have historically been underserved by higher education:

• low income
• first generation
• students of color

The goal of RFY is to dramatically improve the quality of learning and student experience in the first year, increase retention rates, and improve student success. The RFY project is a groundbreaking collaboration to substantively and sustainably alter the first-year experience for students at participating AASCU institutions. 

The first year of college has emerged as the critical barrier to college success, the point at which colleges experience the greatest loss of students. The RFY project recognizes that no single intervention will solve student performance, and that solutions that fail to reflect the differing needs of a changing student body will not be successful. RFY seeks to inspire redesigned approaches that work effectively for all members of an increasingly diverse, multicultural, undergraduate student body, eliminating the achievement disparities that have plagued American higher education for generations. Ultimately, re-designing this critical first year will allow for broader reform of the undergraduate experience in the future.

Campus Goals

SFA seeks to create a campus culture that supports first year students by offering a student-centered approach to student success that provides the appropriate assistance for each student as they navigate the first year of college while engaging them in transformative academic and co-curricular activities. We seek to support all students in the pursuit of their academic goals and impact academic success, retention and graduation rates.