At no other time in American history has the need for post-secondary educational attainment been so pervasively necessary. Since 2007, three in every four jobs created has required a bachelor's degree or higher. Such a prerequisite to fiscal viability occurs parallel with rising costs of college attendance, a nebulous financial aid process,…

Trends in tuition and financial aid policy have increased the number of students who borrow for higher education and the aggregate debt students acquire. Most research on student borrowing over the years has analyzed the effects of borrowing and the prospects of indebtedness on individual students' choices and persistence. However, dynamics at the…

Doctoral student socialization is the most popular theoretical lens for understanding doctoral education. Socialization perspectives have illuminated the complex processes doctoral students undergo within their doctoral programs. Very little attention has focused on forces external to doctoral education. This study highlighted the ways in which 35…

Higher education has changed dramatically in the last 40 years. What was the privilege of rich nations or poor countries' elites is now an integral part of international competition and development strategies. However, the rapid expansion in enrollment has posed significant challenges in terms of providing adequate financing, access and securing…

The costs associated with attending a community college have increased over the years, not unlike most sectors within higher education (Mitchell & Leachman, 2015). As such, community college students often find borrowing student loans a necessity in order to seek the academic credential they intend (McKinney & Backscheider Burridge, 2015).…

This mixed methods study's focus was on exploring the perceptions of obstacles that hinder Hispanic students from pursuing postsecondary food and beverage management degrees. The study's overarching research question was what do Hispanic students perceive as the greatest obstacles or barriers to pursuing postsecondary food and beverage management…

Higher education is seen by society as an opportunity for doors to be opened for high school graduates in achieving their personal and professional goals. It has long been held that a college education is vital to creating engaged and productive citizens. A bachelor's degree has become necessary for forward mobility for oneself and future…

This phenomenological study explored the perceptions and lived experiences of female West Indian immigrant students as they academically and socially acculturated while attending Florida Atlantic University (FAU). Snowball techniques were employed to select 11 female immigrant West Indian undergraduate and graduate students living in southeastern…

Using a phenomenological method, this study explored the higher-education affordability perceptions of a purposively-collected group of 19 students at the pseudonymous Crestview Community College (CCC) in Colorado. The defining themes of the study were: (a) knowledge of the College Opportunity Fund (COF) program and perceptions of higher-education…

This study was conducted to explore if the Texas peace officer tuition exemption program is being used to the extent and for the purposes outlined with regard to the state law. A qualitative case study method was implemented and conducted to find determine if Texas peace officers are using the program, to what extent the program being used, the…

The U.S. community college is a unique American enterprise in that it is not a national model, but varies by state and locality. Each state created community colleges to support students who had limited or now access to higher education. Per the data collected from 12 community colleges, international students were full-time students, very engaged…

This was a correlational study of 30 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals-Mexico origin (D-MO) students at 2- and 4-year higher education institutions in the 4-state United States-Mexican Borderlands region (California, Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico). The study used an online survey to gain a better understanding of the relationship of four…

Shared experiences of academically successful first-generation, low-socioeconomic college students were examined using narrative inquiry. All participants were single females. All participants attended college immediately after high school but dropped out. They all returned and became the first in their family to complete a college degree. One was…

The purpose of this study was to identify the status and challenges of online distance education programs in post-secondary institutions in Ghana. This study was a replication of a similar study conducted in Kenya in 2009, at the University of Nairobi and Kenyatta University. This present study was conducted with an online survey using Google…

Student loan debt has had a tremendous impact on higher education over the past 45 years. Over that timeframe, federal student loan dollars have increased by more than 800%. This dissertation examines the perception of value that has been added to the lives of graduates by using student loans to finance their degree or graduate certificate.…