As states and higher education institutions continue to face headwinds in attempting to develop and refine initiatives targeting student success metrics and enrollment management objectives, dual enrollment programs have become increasingly prevalent nationwide. Stakeholders have turned to these early postsecondary programs based on their…

A functioning and equitable college transfer pipeline can help students to lower college costs, minimize student debt, and get credit toward a four-year degree. These benefits are crucial for students and families who pursue postsecondary education for upward economic mobility. However, in the face of a complex maze of policies and practices that…

Before the process starts for African-American students to choose a higher education institution, the students are faced with challenges in high school and in the college search phase that either help or stunt their college preparedness, and therefore impact their college choice. The lack of access, knowledge, and readiness are all barriers that…

The purpose of this qualitative case study is to gain insights into the activities and outcomes associated with participation in the Temple Education Scholars (TES) dual enrollment program, an initiative for seniors attending high school in a large city in the Northeast region of the United States. The objectives of this study are twofold: (1) to…

This study examines college choice decisions of students admitted to the University of California (UC) and the relationship between these choices and degree attainment. It does so using a dataset that combines UC administrative data with National Student Clearinghouse data on enrollment and degree attainment. It first discusses how academic and…

As more students in the US explore college options outside of the country, school counselors need more training to support this exploration and process. International College Options began in 2013 to address this need by providing professional development opportunities for school counselors. This quantitative study examined the program's influence…

Background/Context: Policies featuring individualized learning plans (ILPs) have become increasingly popular among states seeking to improve college and career readiness through early postsecondary planning. Although ILPs are featured in legislation for more than 35 states, limited work has been done on measuring their effectiveness to ensure that…

Institutional websites are powerful tools that communicate wide range of information. Providing access to higher education requires institutions to consider how services are communicated with a goal of engaging students from diverse populations. This study utilized a conceptual content analysis to review university and college websites to…

Hispanics comprise the fastest-growing ethnicity in the United States. One in five college students is Hispanic. While Hispanics are gaining access to higher education, their college completion rate is dismal, compared to Whites and other ethnicities. Hispanics face unique academic and social challenges in college. This phenomenological study was…

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the factors that influence the college choice process for first-generation, low-income, and academically at-risk students in a TRIO Upward Bound program. The literature review theoretically explores the multi-level factors with Perna's college choice model, social construction theory, and Bourdieu's social,…

Parental involvement is widely acknowledged as a critical factor influencing the college choice process among families. What is not clear, though, is whether this parental driven factor also takes place at the school level along with school related factors. Using a national sample of 9th grade students drawn from about 900 schools, we found that…

We examine the role of information in college matching behavior of low- and high-income students, exploiting a state automatic admissions policy that provides some students with perfect a priori certainty of college admissions. We find that admissions certainty encourages college-ready low-income students to seek more rigorous universities.…

"Who Do You Think You Are?" helps parents, school counselors, and administrators get teens thinking about--and interested in--their future careers. Success in college and beyond relies on thorough prior preparation; by identifying interests and passions early on, young people are better able to plan for the career they want by mapping…

Inequality in academic, financial, and social outcomes for children in the United States has grown over the past decade. Interest by policymakers in strengthening social and economic mobility has focused on points of transition in students' life trajectories. A key transition point is the shift from secondary school to postsecondary pursuits,…

Access to higher education begins with a student's decision whether and where to apply to college. This paper examines racial and ethnic differences in college application behavior of high school graduates, using two recent graduation cohorts from Texas. We estimate racial and ethnic differences in the probability of applying to college,…