The purpose of this study is to evaluate the factors that influence the college choice process for first-generation, low-income, and academically at-risk students in a TRIO Upward Bound program. The literature review theoretically explores the multi-level factors with Perna's college choice model, social construction theory, and Bourdieu's social,…

This dissertation examines the course-enrollment behavior of first-year students at a public Midwestern university. Using the student choice construct, modern college choice theory, and the constructs of habitus, human capital, financial capital, social capital, cultural capital, along with background variables such as gender and locus of control,…

One of the most pressing problems facing our nation is the large percentage of students who enroll in college but never complete a degree. The U.S. Department of Education estimates that only 57 percent of students who sought a bachelor's degree and enrolled in a four-year institution in the fall of 2002 completed that degree within six years. For…

Choosing a college is one of the first important decisions that many young adults undertake. Popular media suggests how students should find an appropriate college based on traditional practices (Hallet, 2008; Kulman, 2007), yet, many aspects of the reality experienced by new kinds of students and colleges is largely ignored in the college choice…

An important number of high-school graduates start their post-secondary educational careers at academic 2-year colleges even though returns to graduation are negligible. However, the returns to transferring to 4-year colleges are large: academic 2-year colleges act as a "stepping stone" in which agents learn about themselves in a cheaper and less…