Community colleges play a crucial role in American higher education. As affordable alternatives to four-year universities, they offer a vital pathway to a four-year degree, as well as career and vocational training. Because these colleges also disproportionately serve low-income students and students of color, they are engines of opportunity…

According to the US Department of Education, adult learners make up 45% of all part-time enrollment in community colleges, compared to only 27% of full-time students. As the enrollment of adult learners in post-secondary education increases across the US, accountability efforts among higher education institutions has prioritized full-time…

The State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) report is produced annually by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) to broaden understanding of the context and consequences of multiple public policy decisions in each state. These decisions contribute to public higher education funding levels and funding distributions across…

This report describes four measures of the price of undergraduate education in the 2015-16 academic year: total price of attendance (tuition and living expenses), net price of attendance after all grants, out-of-pocket net price after all financial aid, and out-of-pocket net price after all aid excluding student loans. Estimates are based on the…

This paper examines the effect of a short-lived increase in tuition rates on undocumented college students' schooling decisions. In the spring of 2002, the City University of New York (CUNY) reversed its policy of charging in-state tuition rates to undocumented college students who could demonstrate that they migrated to New York at a relatively…

The State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) report is produced annually by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) to broaden understanding of the context and consequences of multiple public policy decisions in each state. Although the cost of college has been rising for students and families, so has the potential economic…

The State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) report is produced annually by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) to broaden understanding of the context and consequences of multiple decisions made every year in every state in each of these areas. No single report can provide definitive answers to these broad and…

The 2016 Application Trends Survey--the 17th since 2000--includes analysis of data submitted by 872 graduate management programs representing 335 business schools and faculties located in 49 countries worldwide, including 42 US states and the District of Columbia. Survey topics featured in the report include: application volume trends for 2016…

In 1979, less than 30% of full-time university students in Canada worked for pay during the academic year. By the mid-2000s, this had risen to 45%. This trend to increasing work among full-time students is also evident in other countries, and may be a concern if it reduces students' investment in human capital during their studies. I find that,…

The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) collects institution-level data from postsecondary institutions in the United States (50 states and the District of Columbia) and other U.S. jurisdictions. This "First Look" presents findings from the preliminary data of the IPEDS fall 2012 data collection, which included three…

This brief report presents selected findings about student financial aid during the 2011-12 academic year. These findings are based on data from the 2011-12 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:12), a nationally representative sample survey of undergraduate and graduate students enrolled any time between July 1, 2011, and June 30, 2012,…

This "First Look" presents findings from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) fall 2010 data collection, which included three survey components: Institutional Characteristics for the 2010-11 academic year; Completions, covering the period July 1, 2009, through June 30, 2010; and 12-Month Enrollment, covering…

Community colleges open the door to opportunity for millions of Americans who want to pursue higher education and secure their economic futures. As an organization founded on the basic principle of making college accessible to women, the American Association of University Women (AAUW) has been a leading voice for women in education and the…

This paper presents the results of a survey study to understand the differentiation of tuition and fee charges at postsecondary education institutions. The purpose of this study is to understand the extent to which postsecondary institutions set charges that differ depending on academic program, student status, residency, student service in the…

The authors used the data from the "Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study" survey (BPS:04/06) to (a) examine the characteristics of the national sample of college students with disabilities and (b) identify the factors that influenced their first-to-second-year persistence in U.S. postsecondary institutions. Students with…