The purpose of this qualitative comparative case study is to explore the similarities and differences of the lived experiences and satisfaction of undergraduate business management majors attending a small, private, liberal arts institution and those attending a large, public, research university. Through the utilization of document analysis and…

Community colleges provide postsecondary education to millions of students in the United States each year, but their graduation rates are low. Many community colleges have implemented interventions to help students persist in college and earn degrees. MDRC has studied many such interventions; several of them improved students' academic outcomes,…

Little is known about the extent to which higher-education faculty members required help and resources transitioning back to face-to-face teaching and learning both during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Problems have included (a) determining the best resources and technologies for faculty members to use in the classroom in order to ensure that…

First-generation students are faced with different challenges when joining the institutions of higher learning. Some of the experiences encountered by these students when entering these institutions can disorient them in a manner that affects their learning abilities. For this reason, it is necessary to come up with an approach that enhances their…

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the mass shutdown of universities across the United States in the spring of 2020. As the pandemic progressed, regional regulations resulted in a broad range of teaching modalities for the 2020-2021 academic year. While some regions remained tightly locked down (resulting in online-only instruction), others allowed…

This quasi-experimental study investigated the role of prior psychology knowledge and in-class retrieval activity in the testing effect. Undergraduate introductory psychology students (N = 53) from two classes at a small liberal arts college practiced retrieving information in class with multiple-choice quizzing and concept mapping. Prior…

Contemporary students have a varied set of needs--the "lifecycle" of a typical student may no longer be 4 years of continuous enrollment between the ages of 18 and 22, and many students bring rich and varied experiences with them to college. As institutions strive to allocate resources in ways that provide the most benefit to student…

Perhaps the most challenging aspect of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business accreditation process for small, teaching-based universities is the formation of faculty motivated to publish peer-reviewed journal articles. At these types of schools, where research is generally undervalued and not rewarded, the challenge of changing…

This paper describes relationships between tuition discounting (TD), net tuition revenue, and other institutional characteristics at four-year, liberal arts institutions. TD, a practice whereby institutional grants are used to subsidize a student's educational expense, has become a common practice at four-year institutions. TDs impact on…

Small, private, liberal arts colleges are in a time of crisis. Many of these colleges are undergoing significant changes as a result of the external forces driving declining enrollment and increasing operating costs. At the same time, the average age of college presidents is increasing and average tenure is decreasing. In response, this intrinsic…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to review the literature with regard to the course leader in small and specialist higher education in the UK. Design/methodology/approach: First, the role of the course leader is explored, followed by an evaluation of the barriers to effective course management. This is then followed by a discussion of…

The future looks very bleak for many small and medium-sized colleges and universities in the U.S. Amid all the gloom and doom, though, there is one strategic opportunity for small to medium-sized universities: incorporating carefully designed international student recruitment into the overall recruitment plan for the next five to seven years.

College students are often urged to "find their passion," but if students believe that passions or interests are fixed, they may not develop interest in fields beyond the academic identity with which they enter college. Can a brief intervention that portrays interests as developable, not fixed, boost interest, and even grades, in…

Recognizing that higher education settings vary considerably, librarians at Gettysburg College sought to better understand textbook spending behaviors and the effects of costs on our students. We adapted the Florida Virtual Campus 2016 Student Textbook and Course Materials Survey to suit the context of our small, private, liberal arts college.…

Students acting as co-creators of academic material is growing in popularity as a pedagogical approach in higher education. With student engagement and persistence consistently being emphasized for student and institution well-being, educational praxis must foster engaged, high-retention student cohorts. This exploratory research uses a…