First-year seminar courses have become increasingly popular for colleges and universities as they are expected to help aid in the transition to college and help students persist to graduation (Culver & Bowman, 2020). Utilizing pre-existing data from the Office of Institutional Research Effectiveness and Planning (IREP), the…

As state leaders across the country seek strategies that will drive progress toward their postsecondary attainment goals, many have used data to analyze the current attainment levels of different segments of the state's residents. Reverse Transfer, sometimes referred to as degree reclamation, is a policy strategy that can be used to aggregate the…

As of 2011, 31 million adults in the United States had some college credit but had not earned a postsecondary credential, defined in this brief as a near-completer. This brief provides an overview of the 2017 near-completer policy landscape and a detailed review of three states implementing innovative outreach to this population. State example…

Most research about college students concentrates on credit students, with relatively little research focusing on noncredit students and why some transition from noncredit courses into credit classes. This dissertation research examined factors that may contribute to students transitioning from noncredit courses into credit classes at Mississippi…

Higher education often operates under old rules -- rules that continue despite an increasingly diverse student population and improved understanding of human behavior and choice. Under these old rules, fewer than half of students graduate on time, if at all, and troubling equity gaps exist based on income, race, and ethnicity. It is time for new…