Research for Action (RFA) in partnership with the University of Texas at Austin is engaged in a five-year mixed-methods study of the reforms associated with California AB 705. Over the course of the study, our team will assess the implementation, impact, and cost effectiveness of reforms associated with the law. This report first offers a…

Increasing graduation rates continues to be a high priority for administrators at many institutions of higher education. With longitudinal data from a large research university in the Western United States, the purpose of this study was to examine the potential relationship between matriculating with or without a major declared and degree…

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the ability of colleges and universities to hold in-person classes and conduct vital research. After closures in March 2020, and the transition to largely online studies to complete the academic year, U.S. educational institutions made difficult decisions regarding how to hold classes in the fall 2020 semester. To…

Research shows that Early College high schools have a significant impact on high school and college outcomes for students from low income and racial/ethnic minority backgrounds, but how similar opportunities extend to English learners (ELs) remains unknown. We examine a program that offers Early College opportunities in high schools serving large…

The purpose of this study was to examine whether participating in a collaborative intensive service-learning program, Jumpstart, is associated with positive student academic outcomes. Specifically, the retention and graduation rates, and years to degree of students who participated in Jumpstart were compared to students who participated in a…

Doctoral students often struggle with depression, anxiety, loneliness, and physical concerns, that are directly associated with their programs. Supporting doctoral students' well-being becomes critical during a global pandemic, when students become further isolated, uncertain, and struggle academically. The present study examined students' top…

Higher education institutions have prioritized supporting undecided students with their major and career decisions for decades. This study used a U.S. public research-focused university's large-scale institutional data set and undecided student's retention and graduation rate predictors to demonstrate how to couple student and institutional data…

Background: In this paper, we investigate the predictors for enrollment and success in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) programs in higher education. We develop a sequential logit model in which students enroll in STEM education, may drop out from STEM higher education, or continue studying until they graduate in an STEM…

This study explores doctoral students' views about the support schemes and resources deployed to run PhD programs at one public university in Ethiopia. The research used questionnaire, interview and documentary evidence as principal data collection tools and involved 164 doctoral students at four purposely selected colleges of the university. The…

Community colleges serve as the primary entry point for many nontraditional student populations. Over 3.8 million students in higher education are student parents (e.g., college students with dependents), and 42% of student parents are enrolled in community colleges across the country. In this report, we center the voices and experiences of…

As the economy struggles to recover amidst ongoing uncertainty, adults across the country could benefit from earning a degree and opening the door to new careers. Colleges and universities recognize the importance--but also the challenge--of getting "some college no degree" (SCND) students back on track and supporting them, along with…

Although equity, diversity, and inclusion have become increasingly important to Canadian higher education institutions, research on experiences of disability in post-secondary institutions is limited. What's more, the perspectives of disabilities from non-disabled academics far exceed that of those with disabilities. In the existing literature,…

States and institutions employ articulation agreements to streamline curricular pathways. We investigate the efficacy of that streamlining by considering how course sequences, enacted through pre- and co-requisites, relate to graduation rates for transfer students at different time intervals. Applying a curricular complexity framework that…

A January 2021 executive order requires Utah executive agencies to identify occupational regulations that are no longer necessary or can be reined in to reduce barriers to entry. One regulation that should be on the table is cosmetology licensing. This policy brief draws on a national study to explore the experiences of people pursuing cosmetology…

Motivation for the study: The Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) is implementing and expanding a suite of high impact practices (HIP) in its community colleges. Service learning, one of such HIPs, is incorporated into general education or degree programs' requirements via credit-bearing service learning components of different durations. While…