Working in the Gray
Recognizing opportunities for the use of
Student Development Theory in the
financial aid office.
Chris Wise
Waubonsee Community College
How often does this happen?
• Student
• Financial Aid Advisor
These are the rules
These are the regulations
No, I have never looked at my portal.
NEXT!
We LOVE Rules and Regulations
They provide us with a safe zone.
They are easy to put into text, send
in e-mails or give out in a
handbook.
It’s all there in Black and White
Are we missing an opportunity?
• Student
• Financial Aid Advisor
These are the rules
These are the regulations
No, I have never looked at my portal.
NEXT!
Serving the whole student?
• Student development, Student Services, Enrollment
Management.
• We help students, but are we doing our part in furthering
their overall development?
• What role can we play?
Objectives
• Gain a basic understanding of what student development
theory is (and what it is not).
• Introduce the concepts of three foundational theories of
student development.
• Relate principles of these theories to our work in financial
aid.
Student Development
• Has become a catchphrase, often without a true definition.
• Sanford (1967) “The organization of increasing complexity”
• Miller & Prince (1976) “the application of human development
concepts in postsecondary settings so that everyone involved can
master increasingly complex developmental tasks, achieve selfdirection, and become interdependent”
• Rodgers (1990) “The way that a student grows, progresses or
increases his or her capabilities as a result of enrollment in an
institution of higher education”
• Different from change (altered condition) or growth
(expansion, could be favorable or unfavorable).
Student Development Theory
• Lots and Lots of research, many different theories
Identity Development
Ecological Approach to Development
Gender Identity Development
Development of Self-Authorship
Moral Development
Multiracial Identity Development
Spiritual Development
Social Identity Development
Psychosocial Development
Sexual Identity Development
Cognitive Development
Ethnic Identity Development
Transition Theory
Racial Identity Development
What is it?
• It is a result of the need we have to make sense out of life.
• It enables us to identify and address student needs when
developing programs and policies.
• Helps to create a campus environment that encourages
positive student development.
Paradigm
Student development theory gives
us perspective, or Lenses through
which we can view students to
better understand where they are
coming from.
What is it Not?
• Student development theories are not rules or guidelines to
be followed.
• Student development theories are not categories into which
every student fits.
• Student development theories and their various stages and
positions are not labels***
Always Remember
Theory DRIVES practice, it does not
DEFINE practice
Three Foundational Theories
• Nevitt Sanford’s theory of Challenge & Support
• Arthur Chickering’s theory of Identity Development
• William Perry’s theory of Intellectual and Ethical
Development
Challenge & Support
• Nevitt Sanford was one of the first to recognize student
development as a function of the person-environment
interaction.
• Proposed three developmental conditions that must be
determined:
– Readiness
– Challenge
– Support
Challenge & Support
• Readiness: Internal maturation or beneficial environmental
factors.
• Determine “Optimal Dissonance” – maximum level of conflict
before retreat.
• Challenge – presented by environment
– Too High: Student can regress to less adaptive modes of behavior,
escape or ignore the challenge
– Too Low: May feel safe & satisfied, but do not develop
Challenge & Support
• It is our job to determine the level of challenge that the
student can handle, present them with that challenge and
then provide the support needed for the student to
experience actual development.
• Can’t you do this for me??
Chickering’s Theory of Identity
Development
• Arthur Chickering
– Perhaps the most well-known of student development theorists.
– Wrote the seminal book “Education and Identity” (1969) based on
research conducted between 1959-1965.
– Early research was focused on faculty, evaluating how curricular
practices affected student development.
– Chickering’s book and research became important for student affairs
professionals later.
– Proposed seven “vectors” of development that
contributed to formation of identity.
Chickering’s Seven Vectors
Developing
Competence
Developing
Purpose
Managing
Emotions
Establishing Identity
Autonomy to
Interdependence
Developing
Integrity
Developing
Mature
Interpersonal
Relationships
Chickering’s Seven Vectors
• Developing Competence: Intellectual, physical, interpersonal.
• Managing Emotions: Learn to act on feelings responsibly.
• Moving through Autonomy toward Interdependence:
Develop emotional independence (self direction) leading to
awareness of interconnectedness with others.
• Developing Mature Interpersonal Relationships: Appreciation
of differences – intercultural and interpersonal
tolerances.
Chickering’s Seven Vectors
• Establishing Identity: Comfort with body, appearance, gender,
sexual orientation, social & cultural heritage – Self
Acceptance.
• Developing Purpose: Clear vocational goals, commitment to
interests and relationships.
• Developing Integrity: Three overlapping stages – humanizing
values, personalizing values & developing congruence.
Chickering’s Seven Vectors
• Progression is not necessarily linear.
• Move through the vectors at different rates.
• Students may deal with issues from more than one vector at
the same time.
• Could be moving backward in one vector while moving
forward in others.
• Vectors can interact with each other.
Chickering’s Seven Vectors
Developing Competence
Managing Emotions
Moving Through Autonomy Toward Interdependence
Developing Mature Interpersonal Relationships
Establishing Identity
Developing Purpose
Developing Integrity
Chickering’s Seven Vectors
How can we help?
• Understand and recognize students who are struggling with
or working through these vectors.
• Target certain vectors and add skills that will help students
move through other vectors.
Always Remember
Theory DRIVES practice, it does not
DEFINE practice
Perry’s Theory of Intellectual
(Cognitive) and Ethical Development
• William Perry (1968) believed that intellectual and ethical
development are the structures that shape how people view
their experiences.
• Cognitive – How people make meaning of their world and
experiences.
• Perry’s theory looks at students’ differences in meaningmaking as it relates to growth in cognitive complexity.
Perry’s Theory
• Based on the belief that development occurs during
transition between stages – understand students in motion.
• Students’ meaning-making evolves as they move from
Duality to Multiplicity to Relativism.
Perry’s Theory
• Duality: World is viewed dichotomously. Good/Bad,
Right/Wrong. There is a right answer and a wrong answer.
– Dualistic thinkers make meaning by seeking out what they believe to
be the Authority (big A) on the subject and accepting that answer as
truth.
– Transition: Begins when they find out that those authorities do not
have all of the answers. Experts disagree, teacher can’t answer a
question. Disequilibrium.
Perry’s Theory
• Multiplicity: Honoring diverse views when right answers are
not yet known. All opinions are equally valid.
– Authority has gone from “Big A” to “Little a” authority.
– Peers become more legitimate source of knowledge. “I was talking to
my friend and she said that I should have gotten my refund already…”
– Transition: Begins with the recognition that opinions need to be
supported by facts/evidence in order to be accepted as truth.
Perry’s Theory
• Relativism: All opinions are not equally valid.
– Understanding that knowledge is based on evidence and supporting
arguments.
– Acceptance of the idea that reasonable people can disagree on
issues.
– A commitment to relativism signifies the ability to make decisions and
choices within a contextual world.
Perry’s Theory
• Deflections from Cognitive Growth: Important to recognize
when students show signs of:
– Temporizing: “Time out” period, development postponed. Student
may have been pushed too hard or not hard enough.
– Retreat: Student may go back to comfort zone (perhaps Duality).
Overwhelmed. “Don’t make me think”.
– Escape: Abandon or avoid responsibility. Refusal to commit to
Relativism.
Challenges to utilizing Student
Development Theory
• Time: Too many other things to do. Don’t have time to mess
around with “theories”
• Lack of knowledge
• Colleague support: Others may not believe in theory or
dismiss importance.
• Developmental approach can be confused with
dismissiveness.
• Labeling: Student first – Descriptor second.
Always Remember
• Theory DRIVES practice. It does not
DEFINE practice.
Questions?
Contact Information
Chris Wise
Waubonsee Community College
630-466-2491
cwise1@waubonsee.edu
Reference
• Evans, N., Forney, D., Guido, F., Patton, L., & Renn, K. (2010).
Student development in college. San Francisco, CA: JosseyBass.