In a small focus group led by BEAR Life earlier this year, students expressed a want for greater community, more sleep and stronger campus connections — research that director Nadia Eslinger said is “essential to all students at UCA, not just the 100 freshmen who are part of the BEAR Life program” during a presentation of the group’s findings.
BEAR Life, which stands for bridging economic and academic resources, is a young program at UCA funded by a U.S. Department of Education grant, awarded in 2022.
Eslinger and other BEAR Life staff began work on the program in early 2023 — using the focus group as a jumping-off point for the program.
“When we all started in January and February of 2023, we were just presented this document of the grant,” she said.
“It pretty much said: Here’s what you need to do. Here’s what these doctors and all these important people at UCA have decided that the students need at UCA.
“And we were like ‘Well, that’s great, but we need to talk to some students. We need to figure out what the students need. What are the students experiencing?’” Eslinger said.
“About 45% of UCA students are low-income,” Eslinger said. “They live in a household with less than $100,000 a year income and that is how we are calculating low-income Pell-eligible.
“That is the population of students that our program services and the group of students that we asked to participate in our focus group in the spring.”
The focus group consisted of eight low-income students who took part in two separate focus groups.
Brentnie Conner, coach and counselor for BEAR Life, presented common themes “pulled from the transcriptions from those focus groups,” Conner said.
Conner visualized the data from the focus group with a pie chart, where each slice is a percentage of the conversation they had. Students mentioned resources and programs the most at 16%; then academics at 15%; campus culture and economic concerns tied at 14% each; wellness and development were mentioned 11%; connectedness was mentioned 10%.
The categories under 10% were — community at 7%; goals at 6%, success at 5%; and equity and inclusion at 2%.
Conner said, “A majority of our students noted resources and programs were what really helped them here at UCA.”
“They also noted a need for resources and programs and how important those are … they mentioned campus culture, academics, economic issues as well — and of course, that’s because of the questions that we ask, that you see academics and economics come up so much.”
Conner said students brought up “equity and inclusion and diversity on campus” without being asked.
“That didn’t come from our questions. That came directly from the students,” Conner said.
Conner highlighted development and wellness, economics concerns, resources, equity and inclusion, and connectedness.
In discussing development and wellness, according to the presentation, a student said that while going to classes and getting work done, they felt like they weren’t getting enough sleep.
Another said they didn’t feel like they had been “well-rested for a long time,” according to Conner.
The student said they struggled with this feeling in high school but, “college made it worse because of all the things you have to do.”
Conner said, “We noted that our students are struggling to meet their basic needs, whether that be academics, personal — they have jobs outside. They noted that they wanted more flexibility with their professors because they’re struggling.”
“Sleep is a big thing. They can’t be successful here if they’re not getting enough sleep,” she said.
In the economic section, students said they weren’t sure how to apply for scholarships and it was difficult to cover book and course fee costs.
Conner said a lack of knowledge of financial resources on campus was “something that we’ve been noticing a lot with our incoming freshmen, especially with our program.”
Students said resources helped them feel more connected and supported, but Conner said, “It was also noted that we need to advertise more about activities.”
One student said they wanted UCA to “think outside the box and find a solution to get more people involved.”
In equity and inclusion, Conner said “getting to know different people from different backgrounds, it helped [the student] expand their worldview and therefore made them feel more connected to those around them.”
For connectedness, Conner said, “A lot of students pointed out that us holding these focus groups, in and of itself, gave them the sense that ‘OK, UCA wants to hear us and they care about us. They want to know what’s going on in our lives.’”
Conner said that one student said “UCA needs a better sense of community and a sense of ‘we’re in this together.’”
Eslinger wrapped up the meeting by mentioning resources available at UCA, such as the Bear Essentials Food Pantry, textbook grants, the commuter lounge and the counseling center.
For a list of student resources, visit https://uca.edu/studentsuccess/campusresources/.
For more information about BEAR Life, visit https://uca.edu/bearlife/.