Student Experiences with Diversity at Liberal Arts Colleges Research Paper

Student Experiences with Diversity at Liberal Arts Colleges - Research Paper Example While larger college campuses have the draw to pull a large body of minority students, smaller liberal arts colleges typically have fewer students, less diversity and fewer resources to offer this same environment, yet they still manage to provide their students with many of these benefits. It has not yet been established why or how these smaller colleges manage to give their students this type of experience. Therefore, this study was designed to answer primarily three questions: How do students at liberal arts colleges compare with their counterparts at other types of institutions in terms of their diversity-related experiences; what organizational factors and conditions are related to diversity experiences at liberal arts colleges; and what are the relationships between diversity experiences at liberal arts colleges and other educationally purposeful activities and outcomes? One of the questions explored by this study is whether or not students at the smaller liberal arts colleges experience the same, the less or greater degree of diversity than those students attending larger university campuses with greater inherent diversity among its student population.   This is relevant both in determining whether students at smaller institutions are receiving the type of education desired in terms of being able to meet ‘real-world’ challenges as well as whether true diversity in student population is necessary to provide students with this education.   The study also begins to formulate ideas regarding which programs, activities, curriculum or other factors contribute to an effective experience.