College Promise programs--initiatives designed to guarantee tuition and fees for eligible students--have swept across the country, unlocking the opportunity of higher education for students in more than 200 communities across 44 states, including 16 statewide programs that have passed through legislation or executive orders. These forward-thinking…

In late 2020, Hawaii community colleges participated in a national study of community college workforce education. Hawaii was one of 14 states where education authorities volunteered to encourage colleges to respond early enough in 2020 to receive preliminary statewide results in January 2021. This brief compares Hawaii to the 14 states in this…

On February 18-19, 2016, representatives of 10 states participating in the Credit When It's Due (CWID) initiative attended a convening held at the University of Utah. The meeting was led by the CWID Research Team and sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The Kresge Foundation, on behalf of the CWID Funders Collaborative. The…

College enrollment and completion rates among low-income and historically underserved students are lower than those of their middle- and upper-income counterparts. "Promise scholarships," also known as "last dollar" scholarships, are becoming an increasingly popular way for states throughout the U.S. to incentivize…

More states are considering what kinds of policies or processes can be put in place to successfully improve the degree attainment of their postsecondary students, and one popular option is a reverse transfer policy. Reverse transfer policies usually involve authorizing community colleges to award a degree or certificate to students that have…

Due to extensive research, we now know that in spite of extraordinary success in expanding access to American higher education over the last 60 years, far too little has been done to ensure that students complete college, even when they take 50 percent more time to complete the degree than full-time attendance should require. Obstacles to success…

Higher education often operates under old rules -- rules that continue despite an increasingly diverse student population and improved understanding of human behavior and choice. Under these old rules, fewer than half of students graduate on time, if at all, and troubling equity gaps exist based on income, race, and ethnicity. It is time for new…