The need for mental health professionals is increasing rapidly, and the United States is facing a critical shortage of mental health counselors. Concurrently, one of the largest and fastest-growing graduate student populations is first-generation (FG) college students. But this marginalized population is less likely to persist to graduation than…

Seminaries in the United States have for more than two centuries sought to equip ministerial leaders for service within the community of faith. And yet these institutions have traditionally been the focus of very little quantitative research. This lack of data is particularly noteworthy given the existential crises many seminaries currently face,…

Online courses provide flexible learning opportunities, but research suggests that students may learn less and persist at lower rates compared to face-to-face settings. However, few studies have investigated more distal effects of online education. In this study, we analyzed 6 years of institutional data for three cohorts of students in 13 large…

Curriculum research is an important tool for understanding complex processes within a degree program. In particular, stochastic graphical models and simulations on related curriculum graphs have been used to make predictions about dropout rates, grades, and degree completion time. There exists, however, little research on changes in the curriculum…

Few studies have been completed on the persistence of certificate-seeking students attending American proprietary career colleges. Therefore, this study investigated variables predicting the persistence of certificate-seeking students at ABC Career Health College (a pseudonym), a Texas proprietary career institution. Data for the quantitative…

Purpose: Doctoral students' ill-being in terms of stress, exhaustion and high levels of mental health problems has been well documented. Yet, the well-being of doctoral students is more than the absence of these negative symptoms. The number of studies exploring the combination of positive and negative attributes of doctoral students' well-being…

The discourse on science and engineering education focuses on ways of preparing students, as future employees, and global citizens. While this discourse deals with the purposes and characteristics of engineering education, it tends to neglect the students' perspectives. The purpose of this study was to provide insights into the perspectives of…

Educational leaders, including directors of special education (DSE), often lack the depth and breadth of knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to effectively manage the nuanced needs of special education. It is critically important, both legally and morally, for DSEs to have skills and mindsets to be effective in their roles. It is imperative…

There is a multitude of studies that have examined graduation rates within the traditional 4- to 6-year time frame. What fails to be captured in these studies are students who are outside the 4- to 6-year time frame. In the present study, we sought to empirically explore a cohort of students who successfully completed their bachelor's degrees at a…

Previous research demonstrated the variety of learning environments in which experiential learning is used, as well as how constructivism plays a role in education and learning. This study was designed to fill the gap in literature by examining the extent to which participants viewed an experiential learning opportunity as beneficial in relation…

Do older community college students build momentum toward graduation differently than their younger peers? One-third of students in community colleges are 25 years of age or older, and these students tend to have lower rates of graduation than their younger peers. Yet, we know little about how the factors that influence college graduation differ…

Beginning in 2016 and with funding from the National Science Foundation, the Rural and Diverse Student Scholars Program at George Mason University supported two cohorts of diverse undergraduate students from rural Virginia in their pursuit of a STEM degree. A holistic program design and individual components aimed to combine to support student…

This dissertation addressed the underrepresentation of African American women attaining doctoral degrees at universities across the nation. It also explored the McNair Scholars Program, and the role the program played in preparing African American female students for graduate school and completion of the doctoral degree. In line with the…

Increasingly, undergraduates take more than 4 years to complete a baccalaureate, a situation widely perceived as a waste of time and money, for students, their families, and taxpayers. We first identify several phenomena that result in a longer time to degree and document the frequency of such delays. Then, using nationally representative data…

With the growth of online doctoral programs, administrators are interested in determining the best programmatic structures to support student success. The structures of online doctoral programs vary widely. Some institutions require in-person or virtual residency experiences, while others can be completed entirely online without a synchronous…