"Several students told a crowd [in Denver] on Monday that complications with financial aid, doubts about whether they were college material, and concerns that they wouldn't fit in on a campus almost kept them from attending community college," The Chronicle of Higher Education reports. "But once the students made it through the door, they said, their experiences were largely positive. [Four] Community College of Denver students shared their stories as part of a session on the struggles that students go through in their first semester - and, in many cases, before they even attend a class. The session also previewed a few findings from the new Survey of Entering Student Engagement, or Sense, which was administered for the first time this fall at 22 colleges across the country. The survey, which is an offshoot of the Community College Survey of Student Engagement, found that first-semester students were less engaged than returning students on several key measures. They were less likely to ask questions in class or contribute to discussions, to work with other students on a project or assignment, or to discuss an assignment or grade with an instructor."