This study examined the student characteristics of Athabasca University (AU), Alberta, Canada, a distance and open university, and asked whether AU serves the student clientele that its mission proposes and to what the AU graduates attribute success. Established to make it possible for people to earn a university education regardless of where they…

Reviews ERIC literature focusing on: (1) community college part-time faculty; (2) open door admissions policies; (3) retrenchment and its effect on program quality; and (4) differential salaries for faculty. Includes an extensive bibliography. (AYC)

Describes a study using the Student Reactions to College (SRC) questionnaire to investigate students' perceptions of General College of the University of Minnesota, comparing students by age, race, and socioeconomic status. The SRC contained 150 items in the areas of the instructional process, student goals, college administration, and…

The Commission to Study the Future of Community Colleges in Kentucky was established in 1988 to review the accomplishments of the Kentucky Community College System (KCCS), to assess its current status, and to provide direction for the KCCS towards the year 2000. Developed as part of a collection of reports on the KCCS for use by the Commission in…

Current social, economic, and policy trends threaten to erase the gains in educational access and attainment minorities have made since 1960. The educational reform movements of the past two decades reinforced the concepts of equity and opportunity, but in the face of financial exigency and retrenchment, driven by state legislatures and public…

Points to high failure rates among educationally underprepared students at the City University of New York (CUNY). Argues that CUNY's Hispanic and African-American students often enter with inadequate school socialization, learning, and standard English skills and that CUNY's efforts regarding diversity and pluralism neglect the student and often…

The concept of barrier-free transfer from two-year to four-year colleges is an important element in planning for student access to the baccalaureate. While it seems clear that transfer works reasonably well for most students most of the time, evidence suggests that transfer may be a qualitatively and quantitatively different experience at the…

There are parents and students who are to be won or lost depending on which sector--public or private--answers their calls for programs to match their learning styles and desire for rigor, vitality, and variety. This report examines where choice has evolved from, what it offers parents and students, and how its disappearance could affect this…

Though recent research indicates a stronger sense of purpose and satisfaction among faculty at community colleges relative to four-year institutions, criticism of community colleges for alleged deficiency in facilitating transfer to the four-year schools is widespread. This function however, is only one of the many comprehensive services provided…

In 1992, the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges adopted a Student Equity Policy to ensure that groups historically underrepresented in higher education have an equal opportunity for access, success, and transfer. The Board amended that policy in 1996 to (1) establish the adoption of a student equity plan as a minimum standard…

The three case studies in this report describe state-level efforts to address diversity and equity in postsecondary institutions in California, Maryland, and Washington. A preface provides some background on affirmative action programs, litigation history, and the roles of state coordinating agencies and institutional governing boards. The…