Nearly half of all new community college students drop out of school before successfully completing a degree or credential. It has been found that the greatest percentage of these "non-completer" students terminate their college careers before entering their second year of attendance. First-year seminars (FYS) have long been believed to…

The United States must tap into its growing minority population in STEM fields to maintain global competitiveness. Despite increased diversity in STEM work-related fields within the United States, African American (AA) students are still underrepresented in STEM majors, resulting in low community participation in STEM careers compared to their…

According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), there were 3,982 degree-granting postsecondary institutions in the United States in the 2019-2020 school year. Of these, 1,625 were public institutions and another 1,660 were private, nonprofit institutions (four-year and two-year schools). The private, nonprofit sector plays an…

Online learning in the higher education sector has grown exponentially over the past 15 years. Whereas online learning was once a viable alternative for the nontraditional adult student, enrollment trends now show an influx in traditional students opting for virtual education opportunities especially in the last three years during the COVID-19…

Although the purpose of this qualitative descriptive phenomenological study was to investigate how low-socioeconomic high school graduates describe their lived experiences in secondary schools and how their experiences influence them to graduate from high school and enroll in college. A purposeful sampling protocol was utilized to select 12…

Enrollment Management has been adopted by institutions of higher education as a strategy for managing enrollment to meet institutional goals, and it increasingly manifests as an administrative division that supports students. Many models of Enrollment Management exists, with the Divisional model being the most centralized; however, even within a…

Higher education institutions across the United States have increasingly faced an uncertain future as student populations shift, financial pressures mount, and skepticism rises regarding the value of higher education (Seltzer, 2018). As a result, university leaders find themselves endeavoring upon a blind venture of adapting the various corporate…

Financial stability in higher education continues to decrease as enrollment declines. Higher education administrators who do not address declining enrollment may experience lost revenues, potentially leading to inoperability. Grounded in Kotter's eight-stage process for leading change, the purpose of this qualitative single case, descriptive study…

This dissertation further investigates predominant issues in the educational pipeline, that is, both the higher education and K-12 context. In particular, I first attempt to answer why post-secondary enrollment at U.S. colleges and universities has increased among all students, but racial/ethnic and gender inequalities persist in the college…

Upward Bound is a federal program for first-generation and/or low-income students to develop the skills and further motivation to enroll in postsecondary education. Previous research has established that participating in Upward Bound frequently leads to increased postsecondary enrollment. However, the mechanisms through which these outcomes were…

Research shows that cultural, socioeconomic, and challenging college admission processes are three themes plaguing Latina students pursing higher education. Latinas are faced with familial obligations, strained income gaps, and limited resources supporting their college application process. The purpose of this study was to determine if enrollment…

Community colleges have been hailed as a "cornerstone of American higher education", and act as an important access point to post-secondary education for a wide range of students, particularly socioeconomically disadvantaged students and underrepresented minorities. However, community colleges have also been criticized for poor…

The community college baccalaureate has been around for decades but there continues a need for quantitative research regarding this policy. Contentious debate exists with regard to this policy and its proposed impacts. As this debate continues, research lacks baseline or longitudinal data with respect to the community college baccalaureate and its…

Since its introduction in the early 1900s, the codification of vocational education has made explicit that one purpose of the American public education system should be preparation for the workforce. Over three-quarters of high school students participate in present-day career and technical education, nearly half of undergraduate degrees conferred…

To ensure the future success of Lower-SES, college-intending, Black students, there is a need to understand the factors that lead to their resilience, which is the heightened likelihood of success in school and other aspects of life, despite environmental adversities, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This study sought to elevate the lived…