Many students enroll in college without proper preparation. Although they may demonstrate they are prepared academically, students who lack the knowledge and awareness of the higher education environment might not succeed in their first year. Although there are standardized exams to evaluate academic preparedness, there are few assessments that…

This book is your one-stop shop for the academic tools and habits needed to make your transition from high school to college a resounding success! The shift from high school to college can be a challenge, with many students finding the skills that had previously worked so well no longer seem to be enough. "How to Become a Successful College…

This research applies the community cultural wealth model to explore how Black and Latinx students experience financial barriers in college from an appreciative lens. The purpose of this study was to increase understanding of how Black and Latinx students use aspirational, familial, social, navigational, resistant, and linguistic capital to…

There is a growing concern in this country that the middle class is disappearing and not in the way one would hope. Instead of families moving into a higher socio-economic class and being able to provide richer life experiences for themselves and their children, vast numbers are shifting to a lower socio-economic status level. The gap between the…

Escalating college costs have far-reaching implications, especially for low-income and first-generation students. Lack of financial literacy can negatively affect the success of these learners and may have long-lasting consequences, yet there is a lack of literature about the borrowing and repayment obligations related to student loans of…

This research study sought to determine whether pre-reading assignments have an impact on a student's academic performance. Learning a new topic which oftentimes seems foreign is never easy. However, reading a short article or reviewing a slide-show presentation on the lecture topic before the lecture happens (otherwise known as a pre-reading…

Despite the U.S. having one of the highest college access and participation rates in the world, equity gaps exist that impact access and success for first-generation, low-income, underrepresented students in higher education (Cahalan et al., 2020). The goal of going to college is often imperiled for first-generation, low-income, transfer students…

This study aimed to understand how emerging adults achieve financial independence by asking how emerging adults who are college graduates describe their experiences with the process of achieving financial independence. Using a generic qualitative design, this study drew connections between emerging adult college graduates' common experiences and…

This study proposed to investigate the financial aid literacy of college students and if differences existed between specific groups. The research examined a causal comparison between students who attended a convocation and who did not, Pell awarded student status, and first-generation college student status. The participants included 58 students…

The purpose of this study is to ascertain whether a student's sense of financial security can increase the degree of predictability of retention over and above the more traditional predictors typically found in the literature, and to get a better sense for how student financial security impacts student persistence decision-making in college. To…

Higher education costs in the United States have increased by 69% in the last decade. Simultaneously, state legislatures have decreased the level of funding provided to institutions of higher education while states have initiated campaigns to encourage students to obtain a post-secondary education. With increased costs, decreased support, and…

One-third of student loan debt is delinquent or in default, creating a crisis in the United States economy and the lives of the students (Friedman, 2020 U.S. Department of Education, 2019). A more complex story is that of the African American student with default rates five times more than their majority counterparts (Mishory et al., 2019;…

Through the lens of Human Capital theory, the role of financial aid (both amount and type) is explored in the context of student financial stress, and ultimately general student health. Data are taken from a sample of 232 students from a major Midwestern university who were surveyed about their financial attitudes, behavior and knowledge. The…

Issues regarding the steadily rising cost of college education, especially among disadvantaged college students, have gained enormous attention among scholars due to the recent global financial crisis. This has led government and colleges to outline financial literacy empowerment initiatives. With an emphasis on financial literacy and education,…

Student debt, some might contend, is a purely financial matter and begins long before students ever arrive on a college campus. Responding to composition's relative disinterest, this article looks to begin the conversation regarding debt's place in the teaching of writing. Against the transactional mechanism lenders insist it to be, debt, as the…