This qualitative inquiry explores students' (N=20) perceptions of Kalamazoo Promise (KPromise), how perceptions influence student motivation, and by what means students are covering remaining costs. Responses indicated deep appreciation of KPromise, built through community efforts. Perceptions of KPromise have developed into strong motivation to…

Few studies consider how non-cognitive factors shape outcomes for students served by Promise programs, which are programs that guarantee tuition-free college attendance within a specified geographic area. This single-institution study examined differences between enrolled and stopped-out Kalamazoo Promise scholars' (N = 142) basic needs,…

In the quest for broader participation in higher education, blended synchronous courses are offered as a way to support nontraditional as well as traditional students. While students appreciate the option of participating either face-to-face (F2F) or remotely (RMT), questions remain whether RMT students are as engaged and learning at the same rate…

Purpose: Building on existing study abroad literature, the purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of both short-term and long-term study abroad programs on students' leadership skills and their career aspirations. Design/methodology/approach: A sample of college students were invited to complete an electronic survey about their experiences…

Although the number of international experience requirements (IER) for college students is growing, there is limited research on their impact. The authors present a four-year study of the impact on an IER at the University of Michigan's Penny W. Stamps School of Art and Design, comparing outcomes for required and non-required cohorts. Evaluation…

A variety of factors influence a student's ability to succeed in college and complete a degree program. Students who live on-campus, at least during their freshman year, have been shown to be more likely to complete their degrees than are students who live off-campus. Students who are commuters may have more demands on their time and may have…

This study examined the historical performance of students at Michigan State University in a two-part biochemistry series Biochem I (n = 5,900) and Biochem II (n = 5,214) for students enrolled from 1997 to 2009. Multiple linear regressions predicted 54.9-87.5% of the variance in student from Biochem I grade and 53.8-76.1% of the variance in…

This study applies competing risks survival analysis to describe outcome attainment for an entire cohort of students who first attended a Midwestern community college in the Fall Semester 2001. Outcome attainment included transfer to a four-year institution, degree/ certificate attainment from the community college under study, and transfer to a…

This study addressed two questions: (a) Do different forms of campus racial diversity contribute uniquely to students' learning and educational experiences when they are simultaneously tested utilizing multilevel modeling? (b) Does a campus where students take greater advantage of those diversity opportunities have independent positive effects on…

For the past eight years the University of Michigan has offered two different styles of biochemistry courses each semester, one a standard lecture-based and discussion-section (SLB) course and one a self-paced, non-lecture Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) course. We tracked student responses to selected exam questions that were used in…

This article explores the teaching styles of the professor, learning styles of the students, characteristics of the students, comparisons of Pearson's correlation coefficients between student grades earned in the course versus their cumulative grade point averages, and factors to consider for future Web-enhanced courses. The objectives of the…