Examines Taiwan's transition from elite to mass higher education, including the political and cultural background, and compares its experience to the United States and Japan. Concludes that problems include fears for educational quality, a rise in the unemployment rate of graduates, and an increased financial burden on the government. (EV)

Examines the intersection of affirmative action with educational attainment based on meritorious achievement. Also highlights the confluence of affirmative action and educational mobility for graduating high school students. Seeks to frame conceptions of diversity from a historical perspective; address diversity in relation to educational, social,…

Examines the special challenges faced by low-income students, concentrating on those characteristics and behaviors that make it particularly difficult for low-income nontraditional students to persist and succeed in higher education. (EV)

Describes how Ohio State University, to confront the nexus between nontraditional students' financial decisions and their academic success in a large-scale setting, has redesigned its financial aid processes, developed minicourses, and brought together financial aid and academic advisers to provide students with one-on-one attention at the most…

Examines how the wealthy Lumina Foundation aims to improve student access to college, but that its origins in the student loan industry raise suspicions about its motives. (EV)

Discusses basic writing pioneer Mina Shaughnessy, who advocated for a humanistic approach to writing instruction for disadvantaged students, within the context of the City University of New York's policy of open admissions. (EV)

Noel-Levitz, a consulting firm specializing in higher education enrollment management, financial aid, and student retention, honored seven institutions with its 2001 Retention Excellence Awards. This article takes a look at the award-winning academic retention programs and what makes them effective. (EV)

In this article, the author describes the "Get on the Bus" program and how it was instituted in high school. The program aims to snag students with the feel of a college campus. Since high school is not sufficient for success in the society, the high school faculty agreed to send at least 90% of each graduating class on to further education.…

In debates about the adoption of the unified state examination, evaluations have ranged all the way from "a key direction in the modernization of education" to "a three-letter outrage," while those who are support it and those who oppose it have probably done more to accuse their opponents of all the deadly sins than to…

This paper uses data from the 1979 and 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth cohorts (NLSY79 and NLSY97) to estimate changes in the effects of ability and family income on educational attainment for youth in their late teens during the early 1980s and early 2000s. Cognitive ability plays an important role in determining educational outcomes…

National assessments of U.S. high school students' writing and other verbal abilities do not show that literacy has declined substantially in recent years. In fact, scores have been relatively stable since the 1980s. The proportion of students with solid writing and reading abilities has held fairly steady but remained small during the past 25…

The percentage of public high school graduates entering the University of California (UC) and the California State University (CSU) has increased in the last two years, offsetting the downturn that occurred between 2001 and 2003. In 2005, 9.8% of California public high school graduates entered CSU and 6.4% entered UC. College-going rates for CSU…

This report about undergraduate costs of attendance and financial aid in New York State is based on information provided by New York's degree-granting colleges and universities, the Higher Education Services Corporation, and a simulation model developed by New York State's Education Department. Chapter 1 compares trends in college costs, family…

Tuition futures programs and alternative plans are considered that might be enacted in New York State. Tuition futures is a college finance technique that involves a guarantee of stable tuition rates in return for payment years in advance. After describing tuition increases nationwide and in New York State, information is provided on prepayment or…

Quantitative trends and patterns of public policy in industralized countries are reviewed. In times when the ideal of universal higher education is waning, there is a need to move beyond numbers and toward an explicit concern with the democratization of knowledge. (Author/MLW)