This fact sheet uses data from the 2017-18 Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) to explore information about dual enrollment and Advanced Placement (AP) exam participation for students enrolled in grades nine to 12. This fact sheet is a complement to an August 2021 fact sheet [ED616295] that covered AP and IB course-taking using the same CRDC data.…

Non-degree credentials awarded by higher education programs for students with intellectual disability are a relatively new type of postsecondary education credential. While the requirements of associate, bachelor's or master's degrees are widely understood, many people are not as familiar with the educational pathway leading toward these…

Financial aid has helped millions of students pay for their education beyond high school. This document provides information about federal and Minnesota financial aid programs, including the following sections: (1) How do I apply for financial aid?; (2) Five basic steps to apply for financial aid; (3) What types of financial aid are available?;…

The new Lifelong Loan Entitlement (LLE), due to start in 2025, is a major and positive improvement to how the student support system in England enables lifelong participation in higher education. It also has the prospect of commanding cross-party support, at least in broad design if not in the detail. However, in this timely Policy Note, Rose…

TICAS, in partnership with MDRC and LEO, has worked for more than a year and a half with a community of seven evidence-based college completion programs. These programs, which span the country geographically, all employ a similar model that uses counselors, coaches, or case managers to connect students with a range of support -- personal,…

Nationally, Ithaka S+R estimates that over six million students have completed credits at postsecondary institutions that they cannot document due to a past due balance. These overdue balances contribute to a national problem of stranded credits--credits that students have completed but cannot document because they were unable to fulfill their…

This article highlights the College Level Examination Program -- or CLEP -- from the College Board, as another pathway for students to earn college credits toward degree completion. The renewal of interest in alternative pathways to degree attainment has come about in response to yet another round of national studies reporting declining rates of…

When students apply to a four-year college or university directly from high school, they know they want to earn at least a bachelor's degree. Not all students who enroll in community colleges have the same clarity about their future. This lack of clarity about their educational goals is one of many hurdles that community colleges face in helping…

The capabilities expected to be attained by learners, after learning a course or programme, are called course outcomes (CO) and programme outcomes (PO), respectively. The objectives of outcome-based education (OBE) are to ensure realization of grooming graduates with all the theoretical, practical and soft skills required to make them competent…

Today's postsecondary students accumulate college credit and other validated learning experiences from more sources and in more forms than ever before. As credit accumulation options have proliferated, student mobility patterns have also shifted and are now increasingly multi-directional, crossing institutional types, system and state boundaries,…

Many community college students majoring in education plan to transfer to four-year institutions, but they are hampered when course credits do not transfer. This disproportionately impacts low-income students, contributing to low graduation rates. A New York State community college professor and a four-year college professor collaborated to…

Institutions of higher education face a great deal of pressure to be accessible, inclusive, and diverse, but these goals should not come at the expense of maintaining high standards. Universal and vigilantly enforced standards exist not only to safeguard students' best interests, but are crucial to the academic integrity and core educational…

The transfer function is comprised of the characteristics of the system that supports student transfer among higher education institutions. Student transfer is complex; although students meet competencies and learning outcomes--measured as courses, credits, and grades represented on a transcript--it is difficult to translate the learning…

Between the 2002-3 and 2010-11 academic years, the number of high school students taking college courses for credit increased by 68 percent, to nearly 1.4 million. By 2015, nearly 70 percent of high schools offered dual enrollment, according to the Government Accountability Office. The explosion has been a boon for the nation's community colleges,…

This paper describes current trends and issues in implementing micro-credentials. The COVID-19 epidemic, combined with the increasing cost of higher education; employer concerns about graduate skills and competencies; increasing inequities in access; and student frustrations about lack of job opportunities have all been a catalyst for…