Transferring to a prestigious university offers the possibility of opening doors to more opportunities and may attract transfer students, yet less is known about transfer students' experiences with prestigious institutions. In our qualitative study at a highly selective institution with transfer students who identified as low income, from a…

Background: Undergraduate research programs have been shown to have positive effects on student outcomes like retention and academic achievement. This study contributes to the very limited body of causal research on mentored undergraduate research programs (also known as apprentice-style research experiences, or AREs) by measuring the short- and…

The transfer pathway from community college to university holds promise for advancing equity in STEM because it is followed by disproportionately high numbers of underrepresented students. Among the challenges these students face is cultivating belonging in multiple institutional settings. By combining belonging and validation theories, this…

The United States faces an unprecedented mental health crisis, with youth and young adults at the center. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly 50 percent of college students reported at least one mental health concern. The COVID-19 pandemic notably exacerbated these issues and underscored the urgent need to identify and implement ways to…

Community college bachelor's (CCB) programs have only existed for a few decades, yet now reach 25 states. Since 1989, both state policies allowing these programs and the number of CCB programs itself has grown steadily. A body of research on CCBs is growing in the wake of changing state policy and the growth of new programs. This literature review…

Community college students frequently decide to withdraw from college without achieving their educational goals. In decades of research into student attrition and retention, very few studies have asked the students themselves why they chose to leave. This concurrent triangulation mixed methods study sought to add to the literature by analyzing…

Women of Color (WOC)[superscript 1] comprise 20.3% of the U.S. population, and it is estimated by 2060, WOC will be the majority of all women in the United States (Catalyst, 2021). As this demographic shift continues, little research has focused on how WOC experience their place of work. This study examined factors affecting the experience of…

This study investigated the mentorship experiences of TK-12 teachers of Color (TOCs) with community college students aspiring to be teachers and how it informed their growth and development into Murrell's (2000) definition of a "community teacher." Through analysis of 15 interviews with teachers of Color involved in the Community…

This qualitative, multi-site, case study examined the personal and professional experiences of women of color who currently hold higher-level administrative positions at a Texas community college district and the role that Bicultural Socialization Theory played in their pathway to the leadership pipeline. Using interviews, campus observations,…

A 2019 report from the American Council of Education revealed stark inequities in higher education between minority students and their white counterparts (Espinosa et al., 2019). Of particular concern was the performance of Black students, who had continued to underperform in every measurable metric. Therefore, with this knowledge and the renewed…

In recent years, both policymakers and practitioners working to increase postsecondary attainment rates in the United States have shifted their focus from college access to college success. At the same time, they have recognized that the prevalence of 36 million adults with some college education but no postsecondary credential is an important…

Due to institutional and systemic barriers, few BIPOC students transfer from community colleges to 4-year institutions with aspirations to attain a STEM degree. This descriptive case study utilizes the community cultural wealth framework, funds of knowledge, and the role institutional agents play during and after the transfer and transition…

For college leaders, especially presidents and advancement officers, fundraising has become an integral part of the leadership experience. Fundraising is a skill that is expected for top-level college leaders. For public community colleges, keeping tuition costs low necessitates a change in the basic funding model to include a more significant…

This basic qualitative study contributes to what is known about mentoring in higher education: the mentoring experiences of minority women leading in academic and student affairs at Pacific Island community colleges (PICC). This study examined the mentoring experiences of these minority women leaders and related mentorship to their leadership…

The purpose of this study was to investigate if a two-prong stereotype threat intervention strategy would impact placement scores of students of color. Students of color are largely enrolled in developmental education courses at a greater rate than other students (78% and 75%, respectively). Students of color are also more susceptible to the…