In Massachusetts and across the nation, the percentage of community college students who attend part-time averages more than 60% (Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, 2023; AACC, 2023). Additionally, approximately 80% of students have been enrolled part-time for some of their time in community college (CCSSE, 2018). However, despite their…

My Dissertation in Practice concentrated on sexual assault in community colleges with a focus on a mid-western community college. Sexual assault is a pervasive issue that has plagued higher education for years. The purpose of this quantitative descriptive exploratory research study was to explore students' knowledge and awareness of the policies…

Virtual simulation has become prevalent in healthcare education. Much evidence proves that virtual simulation is an effective training tool for nursing training in western countries. However, its application in Hong Kong nursing education is still developing. The insufficiency of knowledge impedes the development of virtual simulation in Hong Kong…

For decades, higher education institutions have undertaken comprehensive and systematic efforts to explore, document, and improve the assessment of student learning outcomes, as well as improving learning itself. However, many of these assessment practices have been designed for full-time traditional students, even as the number of non-traditional…

As the number of traditional-aged students steadily declines in the United States, colleges and universities must seek to attract and enroll the large number of adults who have some college but no degree. This research sought to understand how one southern mid-sized institution recruited and enrolled a consistent number of adult learners over…

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to investigate community college student perceptions of academic advising for 12 first-time first-generation (FTFG) General Studies students attending a rural southeastern community college. The phenomenological research approach was utilized to better understand participant experiences by…

As the adult learner population in higher education continues to increase, there has been a renewed focus on how to best serve this student population in recent years. While adult learners are more likely to take online classes and to enroll part-time, engagement and retention efforts have not heavily focused on part-time online adult learners,…

This study addresses the need to better understand community college students' varied enrollment behaviors and experiences in the context of the national college completion agenda, current research, and retention theory. The purpose of this study was to explore the stop-out experiences of part-time and fluidly enrolled, low-income,…

This qualitative study explored the challenges and experiences of part-time enrolled Latina students moving through a Hispanic-serving California community College (HSCCC). Grounded in Schlossberg's transition theory, the 4 S system, and Latino critical race theory (LatCrit), the study captures the testimonios of 12 testimonialistas to examine…

Purpose: The purpose of this journal-ready dissertation was to determine the degree to which the rates of students who did not persist or graduate had changed from the 2014-2015 academic year through the 2019-2020 academic year for first-time in college students by their ethnicity/race (i.e., Hispanic, Black, White, and Asian) and enrollment…

Adult learners' retention, persistence, and completion remain a significant challenge for many higher education institutions. The purpose of this action research study was to investigate the factors and improve persistence for part-time older adult learners of color enrolled in a credit-bearing certificate program within a small college in a large…

Almost seventy percent of today's jobs require postsecondary education or training (Carnevale, Garcia, & Campbell, 2019) and to meet those workforce needs, the United States will need to dramatically increase degree production (Grawe, 2017). However, "beginning in the mid-2020s many colleges will enter an extended period of shrinking…

The problem this basic qualitative study sought to address was the length of time it takes minority childcare providers (MCCPs) seeking an associate of applied science degree in early childhood (EC) education to graduate from a community college. For MCCPs to acquire a degree and meet educational requirements, they often work full time to complete…

This work examined the relationship between academic entitlement and noncompliance among college students using trauma or adverse childhood experiences to moderate the relationship. Additionally, this study explored how gender, enrollment type (full-time vs. part-time), and type of student (residential vs. online) impacted noncompliance. This…

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of first-year seminar (FYS) course modality on first-semester GPA and second-semester retention of community college students' system-wide. For many student's community colleges serve as an affordable option for higher education. The first-year seminar course connects students to the college to…