A review of the literature revealed the need to further explore continuing-generation college students attending community colleges. This case study sought to understand the choice process of continuing-generation, direct-entry college students who enrolled in Miami Dade College (MDC), a baccalaureate community college. This research was planned…

The debate on the quality of services has continued since the establishment of related legislation, and more recently, the implementation of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA; Sect. 412, 2014). Prior studies revealed that rehabilitation counselors with a master's degrees achieve significantly better outcomes than their…

Facing the increased demand for accountability, colleges and universities nationwide embarked on various initiatives to increase college attainment. One such effort is the Florida state statute, commonly referred to as excess hour surcharge policy, which was implemented at 12 state universities effective July 2009. The Florida legislature intends…

This case study analyzed the perceptions of professionalism among an emerging and distinct occupational sector of community college faculty: community college faculty who teach in baccalaureate programs. The research was designed to address three questions as to the experiences of Community College Baccalaureate (CCB) faculty. First, what are the…

The unanimous passing of the Virginia Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2011 highlights the need to create a cost-effective pathway to baccalaureate degree growth. Using an exploratory case study design, this study compared the cost-effectiveness of two baccalaureate degree programs offered by institutions in the State University System of…

This study examined the trend of community colleges offering baccalaureate degrees that address workforce needs. Employers are looking for better-educated employees and in many cases require a baccalaureate degree to even consider an individual for a job opening. Florida's legislature has been an effective facilitator in supporting the development…

Increasing demand for nurses with bachelor degrees, the growing culture of accountability in higher education, and the community college baccalaureate phenomena provided the impetus for this study. This ex-post facto quantitative study examined the graduation rates and time to degree of 240 students who were enrolled in a bachelor of science in…

The American Dental Hygienists' Association (ADHA) and the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) supported the notion that the baccalaureate degree should be the entry-level degree for the dental hygiene profession. There was also clear evidence that there was a national shortage of baccalaureate-earned-minimum dental hygiene educators.…

This study examined the initially intended outcomes of the 2001 Florida Senate Bill 1162, a Florida law that established an educational policy granting community colleges the ability to confer baccalaureate degrees in teacher education programs. The intended outcomes included teachers filling growing vacancies statewide. This study found that 69%…

Background. The demands of the current health-care system support the need for more nurses to be prepared at the bachelor's level (American Association of the Colleges of Nursing [AACN], 2007). However, only 28% of the registered nurse (RN) population in Florida holds a bachelor's degree in nursing (BSN), which may be the result of increased…

An increasing number of community colleges in the United States are becoming baccalaureate-granting institutions. Proponents of the community college baccalaureate (CCB) argue that the CCB provides students with access to higher education, while others argue the CCB will compromise the community college's core values. The purpose of this study…

A survey was conducted of teacher education baccalaureate graduates from the first five years (2004-08) of St. Petersburg College's (SPC) programs in Florida, along with teacher education baccalaureate graduates from 2004-08 of the nearest state university, University of South Florida (USF). The survey focused on graduates who were found to be…

My dissertation utilizes an explanatory, sequential mixed-methods research design to assess factors influencing community college students' transfer probability to baccalaureate-granting institutions and to present promising practices in colleges and states directed at improving upward transfer, particularly for low-income and first-generation…

This study sought to examine and comprehensively describe transfer students who have earned a two-year technical or occupational Associate in Science (AS) degree at the community college and entered the university to pursue the Bachelor of Science in Applied Science (BSAS). The BSAS degree is a specialized baccalaureate degree program created…

In 2004, the State of Florida imposed the Voluntary Prekindergarten Program (VPK). This legislation provides free prekindergarten services to all four-year-old children in the State of Florida (Agency for Workforce Innovation [AWI], 2005a). The legislation outlines the requirements of the VPK schools. This outline addresses specifications for…