School officials, policymakers, administrators, and colleges and universities express concerns express concern regarding issues that affect the persistence of community college students. Graduation rates from community colleges continue to decline at colleges across the United States. The problem investigated in this study was how the negative…

Community colleges rely heavily on their adjunct faculty to provide instruction; however, institutions often fail to fully engage and support adjunct faculty in the work of student success. Although adjunct faculty represent approximately two thirds of all faculty at community colleges (American Association of University Professors [AAUP], 2018),…

Education and academic related services have become as important as manufacturing and, in some cases, even more important. Considering the importance of these services as it relates to manufacturing, a problem exists. Products such as education and academic services are far less specific in value when comparing with manufactured goods, even though…

Achieving a higher education remains a significant goal in the lives of young people. For many high school juniors and seniors, attending a college or university to continue their studies is seen as an inevitable step into adulthood. However, the high school to college transition can come with a plethora of challenges, and first-generation…

The National Science Foundation identified a shortage of STEM professionals in the United States. There is a dire need to promote STEM education to secure high-paying and skilled jobs for the country's residents and the overall healthy economy. This shortage is partly due to students' low retention and persistence to graduate in STEM fields. Due…

The 2020 murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd brought about a racial reckoning some would argue had not been seen since the 1960s. U.S. society was able to get a literal glimpse into how, despite the Civil Rights movement, Black lives have continued to be devalued, minimized, and deemed inconsequential by police, government, and…

The problem addressed in this study was that many students in DE have a decrease in academic success and, as a result, never make it to college-level courses nor complete a program and earn a degree, leading to a decrease in academic success. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to provide insight on historically black colleges…

An increasing number of autistic students attend U.S. universities, and higher education must meet their support needs. Existing literature frames research using a medical model of autism and is limited surrounding how autistic students form academic and social bonds during their first-year transition. This qualitative study examines 13 autistic…

The problem at the southeastern university study site is that adult nontraditional learners taking classes on campus are graduating at a low rate, which may indicate a lack of needed support services. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore the learning support needs of adult nontraditional learners and institutional support…

This dissertation examines the processes and procedures high schools utilize to increase student voice and student efficacy within the identification and enrollment of students into grade 9 literacy intervention. The purpose of this collective case study is to investigate how schools identified students for additional literacy support and how they…

Academic innovation centers (AICs) are a new phenomenon that are being invested in by higher education institutions. As they are a new type of information center, Library and Information Science (LIS) researchers can revisit past LIS approaches in this new setting. Surveys of these centers have been investigated for their service offerings…

This study documents the experiences of international students at one Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) in the United States. The purpose is to explore how international students define their academic success, and how they were able to use institutional support services to achieve their academic goals. The review of existing…

Adult and nontraditional learners are a fast growing student populations in higher education (Wyatt, 2011) and currently make up approximately 37% of undergraduates currently enrolled in higher education in the United States (Bergman, 2020). Despite their prevalence, empirical studies continue to demonstrate that policies, programs, and practices…

Historical influence in present day education contributes to the continuous conversation of equity in higher education systems. In the process of understanding inequalities and exploring the academic achievements of first-generation low-income students (FGLI), this paper summarizes generational effects on the academic journey within the community.…

This quantitative study examined non-TRIO participating first-generation college students' graduation rates and the impact of academic and social integration in one community college setting. This study used archival data to analyze tutoring, purchasing a meal plan, and living in campus housing. The study used Tinto's (1993) Model of Student…