Each year as tuition costs increase, more students rely on financial aid to attend institutions of higher education. Financial aid packages, which are created to encourage individual investments in education, consist of a variety of types of funding assistance and aid packages, and are highly tailored to individual students. In general, financial…

Higher Education and its evolution in the twentieth century has seen a paradigm shift and an increased focus on the disconnect of the classroom with the employment field and market. Higher education has been presented with the challenge of not only understanding how one behaves and adapts to transitions but the approach and how to analyze a change…

Student success is a movement mobilizing various community college stakeholders to make policy and institutional change. More recently, researchers, policy leaders, and other community college stakeholders suggest expanding definitions of student success to include community college student post-graduate labor market outcomes, as community college…

Kuh's theory of student engagement was used in this quantitative study to examine the relationship between student participation in co-curricular activities and student engagement among women in engineering programs in community colleges. Self-reported ex post facto student data from the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) for…

In spring 2023, The Research and Planning Group for California Community Colleges (The RP Group) partnered with the CEO Affordability, Food & Housing Access Taskforce of the Community College League of California (CCLC) to assist in survey data collection efforts and provide updated data trends regarding California Community College (CCC)…

Working while in college is frequently treated as an impediment to academic success. However, many students need to work to meet their financial obligations, especially community college students, who are more likely to be from low-income families than four-year college students. This study reconceptualizes student employment--specifically campus…

This study used responses from 17,354 student veterans on the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) to investigate the relationship between student engagement and likelihood of withdrawal. Student veterans who utilized campus services more often, and those who perceived campus services as important, reported a higher likelihood of…

In December 2023, TICAS published new research on the College Affordability Gap--the gap between students' total cost of attendance and non-loan aid available to them--in California, Michigan, and New York, with a focus on students eligible for Pell Grants. Our new report builds on this research with data from nine additional states (Colorado,…

This study examined the influence of multiple types of insecurity on student GPAs. Data demonstrated that students who did not experience one of the four insecurities had significantly higher GPAs that those facing housing, transportation, and employment barriers; food insecurity or combination; or all four insecurities.

This study investigates student perceptions of artificial intelligence (AI). The study analyzed four independent variables -- age, gender, school, and employment -- to predict students' level of readiness to adopt AI within an educational setting. Using an instrument with two constructs, data was collected from a diverse, multicultural group of…

This study examines the root causes of student success and struggle in the first semester of a community college tuition-free promise program. The research is set within the context of the Gateway2NKU River Cities Promise Program (RCPP), a partnership between Gateway Community and Technical College (Gateway) and Northern Kentucky University (NKU)…

Low degree completion rates are a critical problem at rural community colleges. In 2023, only 36% of students who enrolled at a community college in 2017 had earned a credential in the past six years (National Center for Education Statistics, 2023a). Academic advising is critical to help students navigate the confusing pathways of higher…

TICAS partnered with higher education researcher Dr. Donald E. Heller to examine the "affordability gap" that students are facing when paying for college. The report uses federal data to determine the so-called "college affordability gap" in three states--California, Michigan, and New York--with a focus on students who are…

In this qualitative study, through a "testimonio" methodology, we examined the working-learner re-entry experiences of eight Latinx students enrolled at a community college. In particular, we studied how their multiple identities influenced their educational journey as they attempted to complete their college degrees. Our findings show…

Employer-provided training is the dominant form of skill development among American workers, but when it comes to training that people can seek out on their own, community colleges are just one of many options that include job training programs run by government agencies, nonprofits, proprietary schools, online programs, and unions. This brief…