Understanding how gist representations influence cognitive dissonance between pre-commencement expectations and the perceived experience of regional university students

Educational inequality is a wicked problem in Australia and abroad (Raciti 2021). In Australia, students from regional and remote (RR) areas are an identified equity group with the recent national 'Napthine Review' highlighting the gap between tertiary education attainment between RR students and their metropolitan peers (Napthine et al. 2019). Fuzzy Trace Theory (FTT) suggests the development of 'gist' representations shape critical decision-making processes, where cognitive representations capture the basic meaning of something, to influence expectations by using this simple gist of understanding as a foundation (Renya, 2021). Gist induced interpretations of university have the potential to create ill-informed expectations, making the transition into higher education a confusing experience, with studies indicating students less satisfied with their university experience are more at risk of withdrawing from their studies (Rivera Munoz et al., 2020). The incongruence between expectations and actual experiences results in cognitive dissonance. Understanding how a student attempts to rationalise their behaviour, and feelings as part of their university experience will help better understand how students use information to create their cognitive representations (Festinger, 1962). Understanding how FTT gist representations shape expectations and interpreting the cognitive dissonance between expectation and experience for first-year, first-time (FYFT) regional university students, will be instructive for universities in exploring the impacts of pre-commencement expectations on the overall university experience.