Segregation is often seen in terms of race. However, it can also be based on socioeconomic status. Public colleges and universities in the U.S. had highly divergent responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite operating under similar health and legal considerations, campuses at most elite institutions were treated as essential functions while the…

In order to assist higher education institutions and their students during the pandemic, the federal government established the Higher Education Emergency Relief (HEER) Fund, which directed over $75 billion to institutions of higher education--including nearly $25 billion to community colleges--over a three-year period. The U.S. Department of…

Research consistently describes the large percentage of community college students who struggle to meet their basic needs such as food and housing. These challenges may be exacerbated for students in rural communities. At the same time, we are also learning more about the connection between addressing students' basic needs and improving their…

The study explores the faculty, staff, and student perceptions of how leadership decisions impacted Odessa College, a Texas community college, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Community colleges in Texas have experienced a decrease in enrollment in recent years. The pandemic exacerbated the problem, as evidenced by the further drop in enrollment in…

This phenomenological study explored how directors of Texas community college centers of faculty development supported face-to-face instructors as they transitioned to emergency remote instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic. The eleven director participants in this study, representing small, medium, and large schools from most of the…

Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore how public community college presidents draw upon data, their core values, and lived experiences to make decisions about how they can best respond to the holistic needs of their students. Method: Utilizing secondary elite focus group data with 15 community college presidents in Texas, we employed…

Basic Need Insecurities often impact the ability of community college students to persist and complete their goals. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated BNI for students' forcing administrators to respond to and address BNI. This study will highlight administrators' responses toward BNI and focus on the changes and/or services administrators…

Community colleges play a key role in driving talent development in the United States, producing workers with the kinds of training that employers need while enhancing economic mobility for students. There has been a push among policymakers at the federal and state levels to hold community colleges accountable for the employment outcomes of their…

For decades, the number of students enrolling in online courses has been increasing, and this trend toward online education has been further intensified as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The completion rate of online courses is not as high as in-person instruction, and researchers and practitioners have long been invested in identifying ways…

Texas has been declining compared to many other states and foreign nations in supplying an educated workforce needed to compete in a global economy. The 60x30TX plan, if successful, is expected to reverse Texas' decline and prevent a future of diminished incomes, opportunities, and resources. The present study evaluates steps a medium-sized…

This study's purpose is to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on international students who were studying at U.S. community colleges at the onset of this public health crisis. While previous work has explored the impact of the pandemic on international students generally, we argue that community college international students deserve…

The COVID-19 pandemic had a far-reaching impact on community colleges. When many campuses closed, students lost the academic and other resources available to them, including financial aid offices. Financial aid provides a crucial source of funding for low- and middle-income students attending community colleges. How has financial aid practice…

Distance ed and information technology (IT) have had to teamed up to boost Wi-Fi on campus and provide students with face-to-face tutoring due to COVID-19. While the relationship between IT and distance-learning staff is often necessity-driven, changes wrought by the coronavirus resulted in more of a "hand-and-glove" approach, where most…

Despite evidence suggesting that standardized tests are an imperfect measure of academic readiness, many community colleges across the country rely on them alone to determine student course placement. However, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced campuses to transition to remote operations in spring 2020, proctoring in-person placement tests became…

This Postsecondary Teaching with Technology Collaborative (the Collaborative) report examines how faculty and staff at seven community colleges and two broad-access universities reconsidered students' online learning needs in the midst of the pandemic. The report focuses on a set of interconnected student mindsets and competencies that the authors…