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Table of Terms

Millennial Generation Student - Young people who were born between 1982 and 2002, also
referred to as generation Y.
Generation X (Xers) are people born between 1960 and 1980.
Baby Boomers Generation people born 1940 and 1960.
FacultyThe teaching and administrative staff and those members of the administration having
academic rank in an educational institution. (#1, page 116).
MillennialA person born 1980 to 2005. (#1, page 116).
PodcastA program (as of music or talk) made available in digital format for automatic
download over the Internet. (#1, page 116).
TechnologyA manner of accomplishing a task especially using technical processes, methods,
or knowledge.
WeblogA Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and
often hyperlinks provided by the writer.
Helicopter parents- are regarded as very overprotective and overly involved in the affairs of
their children, hovering around them, and swooping down in times of crisis (#5, page 94).

Purpose of the Study

Most scholars define a generation by a specific time period (e.g., 19431960) and shared
experiences (e.g., World War II). Possessing a common history, members of a generation are
influenced by people, places or events that become enduring social referents.

As a result, members of a generation often develop shared values and behaviors (Lancaster &
Stillman, 2002). Curiously, generations do not evolve linearly as extensions of preceding cohorts,
but rather develop in a cyclical fashionboth complementing the dominant generation and
filling the cultural vacuum left by their predecessors (Howe and Strauss, 2000; Lancaster and
Stillman, 2002). Further, as they develop, youthful members of a generation will explore the
values of their eldersaccepting some ideas, tweaking others and rejecting those with which
they cannot identify (Coomes and DeBard, 2004).

As time changes, and society advances, California Community Colleges continue to evolve in
order to accommodate new college students. There is a need to understand the new generation of
college students, from a counseling and staff perspective. These new college students have
grown up with a variety of technology options within their grasp. They are of a generation that is
accustomed to easy and fast accessibility with very little wait time. The internet has provided
these students with an accessible platform to explore questions or concerns, as well as retrieving
answers to a variety of questions, there is no limit to the various topics they can research or the
amounts of information that they can attain which leads us to the purpose for this study.

The purpose of this study is to explore the observations and experiences of counseling faculty
and staff working with the new millennial generation student that make up a large majority of the
student population at the California Community College. This research is an exploration of the
phenomenon of the millennial generation student (Millennials) through the lived experiences
of the professionals who interact with them. The general aim of this study is to access
information about the differences, perspectives or observations of this new millennial generation
student from the experiences of counseling faculty and staff at the California Community
College.

The Millennials

The millennial generation student (Millennials) are young people who were born between 1982
and 2002, also known as generation Y. They range in age from 18 to 34 years of age. Millennials
view education differently than that of the previous generations, their view of education is as a
structure of accountability.
Born after 1981 and graduating from high school in the new millennium, this population of
students is not only the largest generational group in the nations history, but also the most
racially and ethnically diverse (Broido, 2004; DeBard, 2004; Howe & Strauss 2000, p 17).
However, it is important to note that a unique aspect of the millennial generation is its distinct
hip-hop culture, which has roots in African American (used interchangeably with Black in this
article) and Latino life-styles.

Data from the National Center for Educational Statistics (2005) indicates that approximately
43.2% of Millennials are enrolled in college; 57% are female, 43 % are male, 13% are Black,
11% are Hispanic, and 6% are Asian. As indicated by these enrollment data, females outnumber
males by 14% and they (females) are forecasted to continue to increase at a higher rate than
males among all racial groups of college students (Marklein, 2005, p. 17). Constant socializing in
a connected world leads to persistent distractions from any assigned task. . Many disciplines,
including business, medicine, education, and psychology, are interested in the unique traits of
this generation. They recognize that social and political issues are complex and enjoy the
challenge of working to solve them. (Essinger 2006, 2-3).

Millennials are the most diverse

generation of students in U.S. history (Howe and Strauss 2003), and they believe that everyones
voices should be heard and valued (Twenge 2006, 30).

As a counselor in the community college setting, I began to notice the differences in regards to
the characteristics and behavior in todays students from when I was a student at the community
college. There is a serious focus at the California Community College on student success and
developing more programs to accommodate this millennial generation. I also began hearing
comments such as these students are so different from other counselors and administrators in
meetings and during conversations about this generation of students. My curiosity peaked about
this new millennial generation student that was coming to our college in large numbers. I wanted
to learn more about millennials so that I could become a more effective counselor.
The millennial generation is a fascinating group of students who have grown up with a variety of
technology options within their grasp. At California Community Colleges, they require the
attention of administrators, staff and counseling faculty for a couple of reasons. One reason being

the new student success mandates handed down by the state of California. The second reason, is
that millennial generation student are the majority of students arriving and currently in
attendance at our colleges and universities. The millennial generation will also have the largest
numbers in our current workforce as baby boomers are retiring. There is more fascinating and
intriguing literature than I thought I would find addressing the millennial generation student. It
was extremely exciting to review all of the articles covering various aspects of the millennial
generation student. They are definitely the new majority of students flooding California
Community Colleges as new college students.

Review of the literature

The literature regarding millennial college students reveals that they differ in many ways from
their predecessors, including Baby Boomers and Gen Xers (Coomes & DeBard, 2004; Howe &
Strauss 2000; Oblinger, 2003; Woodall, 2004).
My literature review is focused around the characteristics of millennial generation student in
higher education. Lancaster & Stillman (2002), studied the millennial generation student by
looking at who they are, their age and characteristics as compared to other generation of
students. Their research was a great starting point, helping me truly define the millennial
generation student. They appeared to have completed extensive research on the millennial
generation student. Susanne Fenske (2011), described the degree to which millennial generation
students who attend two year colleges exhibit the characteristics of the seven millennial
generation characteristics. This article was extremely interesting and beneficial to my research. I
am interested in learning more about those characteristics that staff or counselors at the
California Community College have noticed. Will the counseling faculty, staff and professionals
at the California Community College notice the same characteristics? Neil Howe and William
Strauss (2000) studied the millennial generation student by addressing in detail five different
generations. This was a great way to research the histories of the generations in comparison to
the millennial generation. This research was definitely informative for my research, providing a
bigger picture. There are articles that address the counseling needs for this new millennial
generation student. These students have also been asked about their feelings on counseling
services. Finn & Han (2008), studied the millennial generation student by looking at Cyber
counseling. The National Board of Certified Counselors describes cyber counseling as the
provision of some aspects of counseling through technology, via such applications as email,
Web-based information access, course registration, academic advising and career guidance. This

study has also proven to be extremely valuable to my research, Cyber counseling applications
(course registration, academic advising and career guidance) are included in the new student
success initiative. There is literature on teaching and learning with the millennial generation
student. The articles address how these students learn. There were also articles that addressed the
best teaching methods for the millennial generation student. Robert Debard (2004), discussed
topics about Baby Boomers and how literature about millennial generation students offers a
view of some of the thematic elements that bring this generation into focus for educators who
would appeal to these characteristics to help students learn, develop, and grow. This study has
proven to be interesting and provides insight to my research, as well. There has been research
completed on the millennial generation student in regards to counseling and its benefit from a
students perspective. Teaching and learning issues have been the subject of journal articles but
little has been published on teaching and learning from the perspective of California Community
College counseling faculty and staff. During my research, I found that there was little to no
literature addressing the observations of this new generation from the perspective of California
Community College counseling faculty and staff. There is value in the opinions and/or
experiences of these professionals who may not only represent a different generation, but possess
a vast body of knowledge and insight. These identified professionals are also on the frontlines,
working with the millennial generation student, on a daily basis.
Throughout the literature, there were many characteristics utilized describing the millennial
generation student. Through my research, I would like to learn if California Community College
counseling faculty and staff have also noticed these characteristics. Characteristics of the
millennial generation student noted most often in the research include the following: Feeling
special, feeling pressured sheltered, confident, conventional, team-oriented, high achieving,

respectful, structured followers, short attention span, multi-tasking behaviors, lack of critical
thinking skills, helicopter parents, lacking interpersonal skills, over reliant on technology,
indecisive, sensitive, tied to one major, trouble finding a career, and having trust issues
(Lancaster & Stillman, 2002; Susanne Fenske, 2011; Howe and William Strauss, 2000).

Methodology

The qualitative approach that I will be utilizing to answer my research questions is the
Phenomenological Design (Creswell, 2013). I am attempting to study the perceptions,
perspectives and understandings of counselors and staff as they relate to the millennial
generation student. I will access the lived experiences of counseling faculty and staff at the
California Community College, their experiences play a major role in my research. These
individuals have a wealth of knowledge and information that I would like to understand and
document.
I will be using semi-structured interviews in order to extrapolate the lived experiences of these
individuals as their experiences relate to their understanding, observations and knowledge of the
millennial generation student. I plan to interview counseling faculty and staff. To date there, are
112 California Community Colleges. I plan to conduct this research at specific California
Community Colleges in southern California.
My interviews were transcribed using paper and pen to document and interview these
professionals. I interviewed two counseling faculty from two different colleges, one counselor
had seventeen years of experience and served in various counseling roles at the California
Community College. The other counselor had thirty two years of experience and served as the
Department Chair and a generalist counselor. They are both professors at a California
Community College and have taught for many years.
This research explores the phenomenon of the millennial generation student through the lived
experiences of the professionals who interact with them. There has been research completed on
the millennial generation student in regards to the counseling disciplines and its benefit from a
students perspective. Cyber counseling has been a topic in several articles. Teaching and
learning issues have also been covered but not much currently from the perspective of the

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California Community College Counseling faculty and staff. There is definitely value in the
opinions, perspectives, experiences and observations of these professionals who may represent a
different generation of knowledge and insights because they themselves are vast data banks
waiting to be tapped for information.
This study is unique in that the current experiences of these identified professionals have not
been analyzed much at the California Community College. Will the opinions, experiences,
perspectives and observations of California Community College counseling faculty and staff
reveal and support the same observations reported in the literature on this new generation of
students? The research questions include those characteristics of the millennial generation
student which were identified from the literature.
What are some of the differences that you have observed in this new millennial generation
student in the California Community College setting? What have been some positive experiences
working with the millennial generation student? What have been some negative experiences
working with the millennial generation student? These are some of the questions that I would
like my research to include.

Data Analysis/Discussion:

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Semi-structured interviews were conducted. It was important for me to get the lived
experiences of these professionals in order to relate it to their observations, knowledge and
understanding of the millennial generation student.
My interviews were transcribed using paper and pen to document and interview these
professionals. I interviewed two counseling faculty from two different colleges, the first
interviewee I will refer to as Counselor A. Counselor A had seventeen years of experience
and worked in various positions at the California Community College. The second interviewee, I
will refer to as Counselor B. Counselor B has thirty two years of experience and served as
the Department Chair and a Generalist Counselor. They both are professors within the California
Community College system and have taught for many years.
My first interview with Counselor A was in an office setting. The second interview was
conducted by telephone. Both counselors were surprised at being interviewed, but both were
open to the interview and were willing to answer the questions. At the conclusion of both
interviews, it was evident that the Counselors each have a passion for their discipline, and truly
enjoy working with students.
The five questions that I asked were as follows:
1. What has your experience been with the students ages 13-33?
2. How would you describe the millennial generation student?
3. Which characteristics have stood out to you in regards to the millennial generation
4.

student?
Have you changed your counseling style or approach when counseling millennial

students? If so, in what ways?

5. In your professional opinion, to what extent has technology had in the lives of the
millennial generation student?

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I chose these question to identify the California Community Colleges Counseling faculty and
staff experiences, opinions, perspectives, observations and knowledge of the millennial
generation student.

Millennial Characteristics/Behavior

The third question asked, which characteristics have stood out to you in regards to the millennial
student generation? This proved to be a good question that provoked intense discussion, received

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a lot of response and emotion out of the interviewees. They were more than eager to answer this
question and came across as very sincere.
In response to question number three asking about characteristics that stood out in regards to
the millennial generation, Counselor A had a lot to say. Counselor A felt that the millennial
generation student are more immature and needy, requiring a lot of hand holding and guidance.
Counselor A believes that the millennial generation student struggles to figure things out on
their own because they are used to their parents or an adult figure telling them what to do.
Counselor A believes that the millennial student was more dependent than previous
generations. Counselor A as a freshman in high school was sent downtown to take care of a
business transaction for his parents. He had never traveled thirty to forty minutes away from
home using public transportation nor was he familiar with the location of the building where the
business transaction was to occur. He had to figure it out and he did get that transaction
completed and returned home in a timely manner. Counselor A believes that the millennial
generation could not figure it out and that the parents would not send their child on such a
journey by themselves.
Counselor B comments were almost exactly the same as Counselor A. Counselor B stated
that the millennial generation student is clueless. Counselor B believes that the millennial
generation student has a hard time figuring out things on their own. Counselor B says that
rather then read their schedule of classes or the college catalog, the millennial generation would
rather ask questions. Counselor B also believes that the millennial generation student is not
motivated about education or life learning skills and believes that the millennial generation
student appears to be too relaxed. Counselor B says that the millennial generation student will
hand their problems off to their parents and let them worry about it. It was interesting to me that

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both counselors comments seemed to mirror one another. What both counselors conveyed in
their responses is also covered in the literature.
The literature cites that the millennial generation student lacks critical thinking skills and that
they are structured followers. I interpret structured followers to mean that the millennial
generation student need to follow explicit directions, if they are not explicit, the millennial
generation student might have trouble. The literature also says that the millennial student is
indecisive and has a short attention span. The prevailing educational view is that students in
undergraduate programs have incomplete cognitive thinking skills. They tend to be multi-taskers,
often doing several tasks at once (Taylor, A. 2012).
Although labeling a person as belonging to one generation or another based solely on the year
they were born is stereotypical, it can be a useful tool for making general statements about the
likely characteristics that exist in a group of individuals. The generation to which one belongs
can also be of use in making generalizations as to how groups with different life experiences and
expectations learn most effectively (Carlson, 2005). Oblinger and Oblinger (2005) describe four
"Matures" (1900-1946), "Boomers" (1947-1964), "Gen X" (1965-1982), and "Millennials"
(1983-1991). Using these dates, in 2011 (the current year). Matures would be 65 years and older.
Boomers between 64 and 47, Gen Xers 46 and 29, and Millennials 28 and 20. (Page 12).
Howe and Strauss (2007) purport that the Millennials exhibit seven key characteristics in their
behavior: Special, Sheltered, Confident, Team-oriented, Achieving, Pressured and Conventional.
According to Howe and Strauss, Millennial students feel they are special, have been sheltered,
are team oriented, exhibit confidence and optimism, are pressured, have a strong desire to
achieve, are peace keepers, and are accepting of those from varied cultural backgrounds.

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Barnds (2009) and Grant (2008) describe Millennial as individuals exhibiting a casual attitude
towards employers, possessing a higher degree of loyalty to their personal lives than their
employer, display a propensity to challenge rules, expect instant gratification, and value a fun,
flexible work environment where coworkers are friends.
Scholarly publications on millennials and their attitudes suggestto a lesser extent than popular
media publicationsthat their sense of specialness and the parental attention that contributed to
it has resulted in a sense of entitlement, even narcissism, regarding how they ought to be treated
in higher education and the workplace (Ng, Schweitzer, & Lyons, 2010; Twenge, 2006). As
Angela McGlynn, a psychologist, writes, They are used to being indulged as a result of
changing child-rearing practices, and they are used to being consulted in decision making by
their parents (2005). They expect their ideas to be heard and respected in every context and are
interested in getting frequent feedback from supervisors, conscious as they are of achievement
(Ng, Schweitzer, & Lyons). (Page 2). This belief in themselves combined with the pleasure they
derive from achievement may contribute to a low tolerance for less-than-challenging work,
bordering on a low tolerance for anything that doesnt have obvious, explicitly deep meaning
(Ng, Schweitzer, & Lyons, 2010, p. 283). (Page 2-3).
Others have characterized Millennials as team oriented, cooperative, and technology savvy
individuals who want a job with good benefits, a competitive salary, clear direction, the
opportunity to grow, and diversity in assigned projects (Feiertag & Berge, 2008; Gordon, 2010;
McCafferty, 2003).

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Millennial Observations, Trends and Values:

The second question asked was, How would you describe the millennial student? The second
question addresses the overall observation of the millennial generation student through the eyes

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of these professionals who work with them on a daily basis. Question number two when
answered by both counselors really connected to some of the observations described in the
literature. Counselor A used the word fortitude to describe what the millennial generation
student is lacking as far as their observation. Counselor A saw more of a need for mental
strength and physical toughness. The motivation of the millennial student is something that
counselor one saw as missing as well. Counselor A described the millennial generation student
as a late bloomer but had more of a caring position when stating that. Counselor A stated
that the millennial student takes longer to figure out their educational and career path, which is
supported by the literature as the millennial student being indecisive. Counselor A also stated
that the millennial generation student has a need to feel appreciated, which is also supported by
the literature.
Counselor B described the millennial generation student as spoiled and more family
oriented. When asked to elaborate on the term family oriented, Counselor B stated that the
millennial generation student appears to be more comfortable with being at home around family.
Both descriptions are also supported by the literature. The literature does not use the description
spoiled but does use the term sheltered, which I interpret as having the same meaning from
reading the literature.

The literature cites that the Millennial Generation is a subject of paramount interest for 21stcentury educators. It is a generation unlike its predecessors, with some stating it is the most
intelligent consumer generation in history. Experts in the fields of neurobiology and psychology
have found that Millennial brains may actually be "physically different" because of the
bombardment of digital input received from birth. Additionally, this generation is the most

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protected in history, indulged and consulted by their families on important family decisions.
They rebel against the traditional styles of previous generations, and they demand technologyrich learning with supportive feedback to assist them on their learning pathway (Jones, V. R.,
2012).
Millennials, which includes persons born between 1982 and 2002, often have been characterized
as a mixed bag with two over-arching variables used in describing this population: (1) the diverse
nature of the group; and (2) the closeness that exists between them and their parents. In the case
of the latter, millennials have a closeness to their parents who tend to belong to the groups
euphemistically referred to as "Baby Boomers" and "Generation Xers" and who have very high
expectations for their children (Mattai, P. R., Wagle, A. T., & Williams, J. M., 2010).
In a chart created by Debard, R. (2004). Comparing Generation Values, they show comparisons
between Baby boomers, Gen Xers and Millennials. This chart shows that millennials value a
high level of trust toward authority. They value being committed when it comes to loyalty to
institutions. Their values lead them to most admire following a hero of integrity. Millennials
view meaningful work as rewarding whereas other generations viewed having a title and the
corner office as well as the freedom not to do something as rewarding. When it comes to parentchild involvement the millennials valued parents intruding, whereas the other generations valued
receding and distant. The chart also showed that Millennials definitely value having children of
their own and the other generations saw it as being controlled or doubtful. As mentioned
previously in this dissertation, Millennials valued being protected as children. They value
education and see it as a structure of accountability. The chart showed that Millennials valued
evaluations when they wanted it, so at their request. They definitely differ in values from the
other generations when it comes to political orientation. Millennials crave community whereas

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Boomers attacked oppression and Gen Xers were apathetic and individual. The chart reveals that
the differences in generations is vast and definitely different.