This qualitative collective case study aimed to explore that attitudes and perceptions of alumni engagement at a private women's college in the Southeastern United States. A total of thirteen alumni from one of two generational cohorts: baby boomers or millennials, were interviewed and six participated in two focus group sessions. Interviews and…

Purpose: All-women's higher education institutions serve the goal of offering a highly marginalized population a safe space to learn, mature, grow and develop physically, emotionally and intellectually. What might seem to be an obvious criticism is that a woman can, theoretically, achieve the same in a co-ed institution. Arguably, the scale of…

Individuals with a growth mindset believe they have the ability to learn (Dweck, 2006). The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to understand the shared lived experiences connected to growth mindset, self-efficacy, and grit in a population of undergraduate students at a private women's university in the Midwest who participate…

Small, private, women's colleges served an important role historically and continue to do so today. The number remaining after the advent of general coeducation at private colleges and universities provide a niche in the diversity of higher education institutions. Many of the women's colleges that remain today undertook significant changes in…

In previous studies, Black gay males have shared their lived experiences at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), but the voices of outwardly presently gay Black males remain void in the literature and how they navigate such institutions. Despite their community and relationship-based environment, the foundational tenets of HBCUs…

Tuition resets decrease an institution's published tuition price to more closely align it with the actual net price most students pay. The strategy is employed to increase the institution's applicant pool, yielding more admits with the ultimate goal of increasing enrollment and net revenue for the institution. The research project examined…

This study examined how undergraduate students from historically underrepresented populations who participated in the research site's precollegiate access program prior to their first semester at a small, private women's university made sense of their success in college. Transcripts were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.…

This study focused on South Asian American students' experiences of belonging at a historically women's college (HWC) in the United States. The purpose of this study was to understand where, how, and with whom South Asian American undergraduate students experience and enact belonging at historically women's colleges. The research questions that…

Student perceptions of faculty-student interactions are well-represented in existing research (Fauria & Zellner, 2015; Hoffman et al., 2002; Reason et al., 2007; Schwartz et al., 2018; Tinto 2000, 2012). However, faculty perceptions of this phenomenon have limited presence in the body of knowledge within scholarly literature (Cox et al., 2010;…

First-generation college student success is a matter of significance to college leaders across the United States. According to a recent study, over half of all undergraduate students are first-generation (RTI International, 2019). The problem, however, is that first-generation college students are more likely than continuing-generation students to…

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to understand the experiences that contributed to the persistence of African American males at a historically Black college. The problem was that the percentage of 18- to 24-year-old African American males enrolled in the nation's colleges and universities over the past two decades has…

Over the past several decades, women's colleges have increasingly become coeducational or have closed completely due to declining enrollment. With just 37 women's colleges remaining in the United States as of Fall 2016, the researcher explored how these institutions marketed to prospective students using viewbooks. This qualitative dissertation…

This dissertation is a study of Bennett College for Women (Bennett College), one of two Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) whose mission continues to be the provision of higher education to Black women in America. It is one of just over one hundred HBCUs still operating in the United States. This dissertation tells the story of…

American women in the 21st century have more options from which to select a college education than in the past, yet there are some women who purposely select a women's college. This study examined the culture of women's colleges, specifically Spelman College, a Historically Black Women's College (HBWC) in Atlanta, Georgia, founded by White…

Institutions of higher learning have seen increased pressure to improve retention and graduation rates. Funding, institutional prestige, and recruitment are often tied to retention and graduation rates, motivating institutions to increase persistence rates. One way of addressing minority student persistence is to provide students with mentors.…