This quantitative study explored the formation of different types of social capital among community college students. Utilizing the second-order confirmatory factor analysis, the authors argued that both family and college social capital constructs should be measured for community college students. A structural equation modeling analysis further…

The importance of considering the students's goal for attending community college in examining attrition is addressed. A total of 282 new students (18% of all new students) entering a community college in fall 1990 were tracked. Four items from the Entering Student Information Survey were examined: the degree the student plans to work toward at…

This Colorado statewide survey of student intentions was administered to 3,219 community college students in April 1996. The survey collected data on perceptions of goal attainment and compared shifts in intentions of students attending inner city, suburban and rural community colleges. Most respondents (79.2 percent) reported no change in their…

This study compares the educational aspirations of college freshmen students in public and private two-year colleges around the nation. Surveying a sample of over 13,000 first-time, full-time students from a national database elicited the following results: about half of students at public and private two year colleges aspired to obtain the…

Low-income women, ages 18 to 59, attending basic adult education classes (DHS group) or community college development classes (DEV group) in rural East Tennessee, completed questionnaires examining their occupational possible selves and their locus of control. The two groups were compared as to their number of hoped-for and feared occupational…

This paper analyzes changes in educational aspirations and related constructs as an approach to understanding student careers. It explores the effects of beginning postsecondary education in a two-year college versus a four-year college/university, after controlling for background characteristics (gender, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and…

A follow-up study was undertaken at Lansing Community College (Michigan) to determine whether former students had achieved their educational objectives, to collect assessment data on instruction and support services, and to identify the impact of college attendance on employment status. A stratified sample of 3,000 non-returning students was…

The postsecondary educational plans of black and white high school seniors in the class of 1972 were compared with those in the same racial classification in the class of 1980. Four planning categories were examined: vocational school, community college-vocational, community college-academic, and 4-year college or university. Data were extracted…

The responsiveness of higher education to changing market conditions was assessed in five studies. Two of the studies (information gap studies) were designed to determine the amount of information and interest in higher education held by male and female adults. Another study (community college survey) determined the extent to which community…

A significant reason for the establishment of the junior college was the desire to limit the achievement of large numbers of college entrants, because there were not enough high level jobs for all who aspired to complete traditional degrees. In the history of the junior college movement, this problem of mass education has been attacked by…

As part of a larger exploration of the role of community colleges in bringing the poor, working class, and ethnic minorities into higher education, this study looked at how students and institutional cultures at four urban community colleges interacted to achieve unusually high transfer rates to four-year colleges and universities. In the 1994-95…

The postsecondary educational plans of black and white high school seniors in the class of 1972 were compared with those in the same racial classification in the class of 1980. Data were extracted from the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 and from the survey entitled, "High School and Beyond." In order to test…

A formative evaluation was undertaken at an urban community college to determine how an open-admission general studies program should be restructured to better meet student goals and the college's educational objectives. The evaluation process included: interviewing key college representatives to generate hypotheses, and review of the hypotheses…

A longitudinal study evaluated whether early remediation affected the persistence and/or performance of underprepared students at a midwestern, suburban community college. The study focused on the 3,282 students who completed the basic skills inventory in either Fall 1991 or Fall 1992. Students were classified as either prepared (N=2,028) or…

Student effort, the campus environment, and student age and full- or part-time status have significant effects on outcomes for university students. This study employed the same three sets of independent variables to predict gains in general education and in personal and social development for community college students. The study analyzed data…