The first goal of this study was to better understand the differences between rural and urban students' selection of academic program upon entering a public university in Pennsylvania. The second goal of this study was to better understand if particular academic programs impacted rural to urban migrations after graduating from the university. The…

This dissertation studies the market for higher education and impacts of higher education policy on the market. In the first chapter, I estimate the short-run elasticity of supply of higher education using the rollout of state merit grant programs as plausibly exogenous variation in student demand for in-state higher education. I find that public…

As populist forces stretch apart higher education and government, colleges lobby in measurable ways to secure scarce funding and respond to accountability regulations. The non-profit and corporate lobbying literature provides a basis of comparison to ask if colleges lobby like corporations, which have been successful lobbyists under challenging…

This is one of the first major empirical studies on research faculty and administrative collaborations in the context of seed grant-based strategic international university partnerships (IUPs), designed as a multiple case study. The partnership at focus is between two large, comprehensive, public research universities in the US and the UK. This…

This study examines the relationship between tuition increases, retention, and Pell Grant recipients attending college for the first time at 279 four-year public universities in the southeastern and southwestern regions of the United States. The data for this study was gathered from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) using…

This dissertation includes three chapters focusing on policies directly related to improving college access and success. The first chapter focuses on lifetime eligibility of federal and state financial aid policies. The Pell Grant plays a critical role in helping students across the US to afford undergraduate education. In spite of its importance…

This dissertation contains chapters that explore higher education policy issues related to student outcomes. In the first chapter, I examine the results of a controlled randomized trial of a brief, inexpensive phone call outreach to a sample of Pell eligible students at the University of Missouri intended to increase FAFSA filing, on-time FAFSA…

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between public HEI's fiscal resources and student persistence to degree completion. Consequently, building upon the studies of researchers such as Titus (2006a, 2006b), Hearn (2003a, 2003b), and Winston (1999), this study investigates the relationships between institutional organizations…

Public community colleges enroll nearly half of all undergraduate students in the United States and many of these students are enrolled in 1- and 2-year Career and Technical Education programs. Employers have indicated that colleges should place more emphasis on reading, writing, and critical thinking skills. Career Technical Education can address…

This quasi-experimental, nonequivalent control group study compared the impact of Ennis's (1989) mixed instructional methodology to the immersion methodology on the development of critical thinking in a multicultural, undergraduate senior-year learning community. A convenience sample of students (n =171) were selected from four sections of a…

While the entire weakened economy has had serious implications for higher education and the public investment in the mission of community college, the literature reveals a limited amount of research regarding the types, prevalence, and accountability of more sophisticated fundraising efforts in community colleges. Community colleges are seeking to…

This quantitative research study used ex post facto data to analyze possible relationships between a discrete set of independent variables and academic achievement among provisionally admitted students at a public, four-year historically black university located in the mid-Atlantic United States. The independent variables were first-generation…