Despite the ostensible proposition of American higher education to create a level playing field and advance an individual's life opportunities, the history of access to higher education in the United States has demonstrated a lack of equality in enrollment patterns. This enrollment inequality appears most pronounced when considering family…

The purpose of this narrative study is to understand the educational experiences of academically resilient, first-generation students from low-income backgrounds who demonstrate first-year success in college. Through a framework based on academic resilience, this study aims to provide a strengths-based exploration of the contributing factors that…

This study examined the experiences of six college participants who entered college with many risk-factors for drop-out, but who persisted to graduation. The present research was conducted at a private, liberal arts university. All participants possessed multiple risk factors for drop-out including low high school academic performance,…

Low socioeconomic urban students do not attend universities at a rate proportional to other populations. This perpetuates a cycle of recurrence and diminished potential benefits associated with degree attainment. The commonly ascribed Theory of Student Choice (Hossler, Braxton & Coopersmith, 1989) does not apply to this population. The purpose…

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to gain an understanding of the college choice experience of rural low-income students and how their potential use of student loans influenced their college choice decisions. In order to conduct this research study, in-depth, semi-structured interviews were used as the primary data source. Additional…

This dissertation consists of three chapters examining issues relevant to current higher education policy debates. In the first chapter, I use surveys, in-depth interviews, and administrative records from a sample of Wisconsin Pell Grant recipients who chose among Wisconsin public colleges and universities to explore whether students' initial…

This study examines the critical role that teachers and institutional agents play in increasing access to college for low-income students. The study is an analysis of 23 student interviews of seniors from an urban high school. The researcher interviewed students at the end of their senior years who did not plan on going to college, planned on…

The influence of institutional grant aid on the enrollment behavior of college students has been the focal point of several empirical studies during the past decade. Yet, the extent to which this multibillion dollar per year grant-allocation process influences the matriculation choices of students deciding between multiple institutions remains…

The driving force behind the recent increase in financial aid for college education is the rapid growth of state merit-based grant programs that provide scholarships to students who meet predefined standards of academic preparation at the state level, and this trend represents one of the most pronounced policy shifts away from a long tradition of…

This research study explored and analyzed the perception and attitudes of first year White special education teachers' experiences as they successfully matriculated through an alternative teacher certification program with a concentration in Special Education. The certifying entity for this teacher preparation program was a historically Black…

The purpose of this study was to explore how junior level students at a Georgia postsecondary institution perceived their college experiences were impacted by the meritbased aid they received. The study employed a phenomenological method and was based on Tinto's psycho-social-economic-organizational model, from "Theories of college student…

College access is a top educational priority in the United States as millions of federal and state dollars are funneled into programs to ensure college access for all students, minorities and low-income students in particular (U.S. Department of Education, 2009a; U.S. Department of Education, 2009b). Over 80% of high school students and their…

Since the late 1990s, China has dramatically increased its college enrollments, the number and diversity of its higher education institutions, university tuition fees, and financial aid. Now students from a wider range of backgrounds have significantly more opportunities to attend college and also compete for entry into more selective…