By many accounts--on August 11th and 12th, 2017--a "Unite the Right" rally organized by white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia, catalyzed a series of violent events culminating in the injury of dozens of people and the death of three people (Alvarez, 2017; Astor, Caron, & Victor, 2017; Heim, 2017; McKelway, 2017).…

We study the effects of homeschool background and time use on academic performance among students at Patrick Henry College, a private religious institution with a 63-credit core classical liberal arts curriculum. Using ordinary least squares regression analysis, we examine four research questions: (1) Does time use influence academic performance?…

America's diverse higher education landscape includes more than 700 four-year nonprofit colleges and universities that focus on baccalaureate education. These private nondoctoral (PND) institutions are located in almost every state and collectively enroll about 1.6 million students and award nearly 150,000 degrees annually, with the majority of…

This paper reports results from a mixed-methods study about how college students engage with news when questions of credibility and "fake news" abound in the U.S. Findings are based on 5,844 online survey responses, one open-ended survey question (N=1,252),and 37 follow-up telephone interviews with students enrolled at 11 U.S. colleges…

Independent colleges and universities are cautious adopters of online education for undergraduate students. These institutions seek to balance a tradition of student-focused pedagogy in face-to-face settings and faculty wariness of online courses against the promise of lower instructional costs, changing student expectations, and the potential for…

This study examines key aspects of the cost-effectiveness of private nondoctoral (PND) colleges as providers of baccalaureate degrees and explores how states might feasibly make better use of these colleges to produce more degrees efficiently. The study looks at degree production and cost in the PND sector relative to other higher education…

Access to and use of mobile technologies are growing exponentially. The authors of this study identified four schools of education in the United States that self-identified as having a fully implemented curriculum for teachers on mobile technology use in PK-12 classrooms. In-depth interviews were conducted with a representative from each…

How have college and university-based archives and special collections fared over the past few years in the midst of an historically grim economic downturn? The authors conducted in-depth interviews with directors of 13 archival repositories at state universities and private colleges in the Appalachian region of Virginia, West Virginia, North…

Communicating Ocean Sciences to Informal Audiences (COSIA) is a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded project consisting of six three-way partnerships between the Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS) and an informal science education institution (ISEI) partnered with an institution of higher education (IHE). Together, educators from the ISEI (often…

Purpose: To measure the degree of implementation and satisfaction level with the outsourcing initiatives from higher education institutions. Design/methodology/approach: Uses a survey questionnaire to measure the levels of satisfaction with the institutions' services and the questionnaire was based on six factors that are deemed significant in…

This report provides both an overview and a detailed analysis of the general education core in the undergraduate curriculum in Virginia's colleges and universities. Sixty-eight campuses participated in the study, including all 15 public four-year institutions, all 24 public two-year institutions, 20 private not-for-profit institutions, and 9…

The Tuition Assistance Grant and Loan Program (TAGLP) provides financial assistance to Virginia students attending independent colleges in Virginia. The study described in this report was designed to examine the group of students who receive financial assistance (in the form of grants) under the TAGLP, and to determine the impact of the Tuition…

This report of selected characteristics and degree programs for Virginia's public and private colleges and universities is published by the State Council of Higher Education. The report provides information frequently requested by students, parents, and other citizens including: headcount enrollment, institutional charges, and degree programs. In…