Objective: Community college baccalaureate (CCB) programs are expanding across the nation, particularly in California--home of the largest and most ethnically/racially diverse community college system in the nation. CCB programs provide many benefits, two of which include providing an accessible and affordable pathway towards baccalaureate…

This longitudinal study investigated the challenges and sources of community cultural wealth that underrepresented communication sciences and disorders (CSD) students leverage in navigating each application stage to master's level speech-language pathology (SLP) programs. Four surveys were distributed over 11 months via Qualtrics to CSD…

Stratification in selective college admissions persists even as colleges' criteria for evaluating merit have multiplied in efforts to increase socioeconomic and racial diversity. Middle-class and affluent families increasingly turn to privatized services, such as private college consulting, to navigate what they perceive to be a complicated and…

Undocumented immigrants face learning, compliance, and psychological costs when confronting in-state resident tuition (ISRT) policy implementation. Building on administrative burdens scholarship and using qualitative data from 19 semi-structured interviews with undocumented youth immigrants, this article examines administrative burdens that may…

This dissertation consists of three chapters that examine topics in the economics of education. Chapter 1 tests the impact of holding student loan debt on borrowers' post-schooling decisions, with a focus on how it changes the way they evaluate risks when choosing between jobs. Chapter 2 analyzes the impact of an expansion of public-school choice…

For decades, college tuition costs have been skyrocketing, yet state financial aid has failed to meet the increasing economic needs of college students -- leaving many young people with the choice of bridging the financial gap by taking out student loans or not attending college at all. This pressing issue of rising college tuition is not just a…

The National Academies Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education hosted a hybrid public workshop in March 2024 to consider the use of admissions strategies for ensuring a sustainable, high-quality workforce that is adequately staffed, reflects the population being served, and is equitably distributed. Speakers explored the…

Regardless of entry point, nearly all potential speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in the United States (US) share the experience of navigating the arduous application process for graduate school. For students of color, especially first-generation students, this application process can serve to cause them to question whether they belong in the…