The problem addressed through this study was that Native American students in the area surrounding a local university participated in higher education at low levels. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore local Native American college student perspectives about becoming a college student, including their individual experiences…

Early college high schools (ECHSs) have been proposed as a high school reform solution to improve college access and success among underserved and underrepresented students in higher education; however, little to no research has centered the experiences of Latinx/a/o students in ECHS. In response, I used critical narrative methodology to better…

To understand why Native American members are hesitant to enroll in higher education, it is necessary to understand this population's barriers to achieving this goal. Degree attainment by American Indians has remained consistently low while other minority groups have consistently risen. The focus of this qualitative single-case study was on…

Given the steady decline in undergraduate admissions over the past decade, universities in the United States have a unique imperative to use positive, targeted, and niche marketing techniques that focus on building brand equity among members of underrepresented groups, including Black students. Despite significant efforts by university leaders and…

The purpose of this phenomenological inquiry is to understand the experiences of formerly incarcerated Black male students who attend a Northeast urban community college and the unique barriers they encounter while navigating the institution. The United States imprisons more people than any country in the world, and Black men are…

Black males continue to be underrepresented in post-secondary education and also routinely identify as first-generation college students (FGCS) once they arrive on campus (Camardelle et al., 2022; RIT International, 2019). Historically, research surrounding FGCS has utilized a deficit-based framework which presents FGCS, in comparison to their…

There are eleven million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. Approximately two million are young people under the age of twenty-four. Although they came to the United States as children and were essentially raised and educated here, they remain without a pathway to legal permanent citizenship. Relatively little is known about the…

Within a decade following World War II, more than two million veterans attended college through the use of the GI Bill, with an additional almost 5.5 million taking advantage of vocational training (Mettler, 2005). Now, over fifty years later, "Only one in ten veterans using GI Bill benefits enrolls in institutions with graduation rates above…

Education and training after high school is critical for individual development and career advancement in Washington's innovative and evolving labor market. However, college enrollment and completion rates lag behind state goals and the national average. Washington has some of the most generous state financial aid opportunities in the country to…

Family structure can influence level of risk children face and their likelihood of attending college, despite many benefits associated with higher education. The Resilience Theory suggests that protective factors mitigate risk exposure and help individuals recover from negative experiences. This study involved examining relationships between…

Understanding educational aspiration is pivotal for studying access to and success in higher education, given its influence on academic, occupational, and societal trajectories. Yet, aspiration is a challenging topic to research, in part because of its complex definitions, measurements, and contexts. This review focuses on the educational…

Children of families involved with child welfare services are considered high-risk and are vulnerable to developing problems in a number of domains. In particular, educational achievement among this population tends to be lower relative to general population peers. The goal of this qualitative study was to understand the educational aspirations…

A longstanding critique of homeschooling is that it isolates children from mainstream society, depriving them of social experiences needed to thrive as adults. Although a small number of empirical studies challenge this criticism, this research tends to be derived from self-reports of homeschooling parents about their children. In this study,…

Early college high schools (ECHS) were created to disrupt inequities in the secondary school systems by intentionally serving underserved students in higher education. Using Acevedo-Gil's (2017) College-"Concimiento" model, this qualitative "testimonio" study primarily focused on the narratives of 12 Latin* first-generation…

This manuscript focuses on the role of Black megachurches in addressing the historical educational exclusion that continues to affect Black students' college access. Secondary data analysis of semistructured qualitative interviews with 27 church and ministry leaders of three Black megachurches in the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. uncovered how…