The federal government has made increasing post-secondary attainment a priority, and though much research has been done on the topic, many of these studies have focused on urban schools and students. This qualitative case study, utilizing social capital and organizational brokerage frameworks, will explore how one rural school district in…

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant disruption to enrollment in higher education. The overall shut down of the nation in March of 2020 forced colleges and universities to shift their content delivery primarily online, a context which continued for the remainder of the 2019-20 academic year. As the pandemic stretched on through the summer,…

Higher education can help improve Washington residents' outcomes so they will have the opportunity to lead productive and financially rewarding lives and contribute to the economic success and social wellbeing of the state. But the COVID-19 crisis is having a major impact on higher education, and postsecondary enrollment in Washington was down 13…

The College Bound Scholarship (CBS) is designed to inspire and encourage Washington middle school students from low-income families to prepare for and pursue postsecondary education. Postsecondary enrollment rates of College Bound students match or exceed those of non-College Bound Washington high school graduates; however, the postsecondary…

Why individuals choose not to sign up for social programs, particularly when the costs of sign-up are low and the benefits generous, is a crucial question for policy scholars. In this paper, we show that a substantial share of qualified middle school students fail to sign up for Washington State's College Bound Scholarship program, and this…