A functioning and equitable college transfer pipeline can help students to lower college costs, minimize student debt, and get credit toward a four-year degree. These benefits are crucial for students and families who pursue postsecondary education for upward economic mobility. However, in the face of a complex maze of policies and practices that…

Mississippi appropriates millions of dollars each year to the Higher Education Legislative Plan for Needy Students (HELP) Grant to help college-ready, low-income students pay for college, but little is known about the effectiveness of the program. This dissertation in practice examines the impact of the HELP Grant by comparing the college-going…

Research has indicated that family social class, college readiness, and college affordability are factors for post-secondary barriers (Freeman, 2005). The term family social class refers to sociocultural aspects, behaviors, knowledge, and lifestyles into which one is socialized by one's family (Bourdieu, 1979). Bordes-Edgar et al. (2011) define…

The purpose of this study was to analyze and examine the support that is available to students at a North Central Texas Higher Education Institution. There is a global and national effort to increase the number of individuals entering STEM professions. Overall, there are not enough trained individuals to fill the number of STEM jobs that are…

Evidence from around the world shows low university participation among young people from low socioeconomic status backgrounds. A common concern is that disadvantaged young people may be unable to afford higher education costs. Using data on government benefits intended to support students from low income households in high school, we identify…

Each year, more than a million young people in the United States experience homelessness; some of these young people, known as unaccompanied homeless youth, will face the challenges of homelessness while living on their own without the support of a caring adult. Unaccompanied homeless youth face the same struggles as other young people: trying to…

As the Latinx population in the United States continues to increase, so does the enrollment of Latinx students in higher education. However, the growth in enrollment is not matched with graduation and retention rates due to a general lack of support from the institutions and barriers including experiences of discrimination and struggling with…

Affordability is considered a key predictor of college enrollment and academic success, yet higher education costs continue to rise. Over the past three decades, textbooks and course materials alone have increased almost three times the rate of inflation (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016). To identify the extent to which course material costs…

This study addresses the problem of low-income, first-generation college students who are academically successful, but choose to leave college before finishing due to financial constraints. This study investigates their lived experiences as well as the effects of a peer mentorship program where incoming, first-year, low-income, first-generation…

This study aimed to better understand college students' decisions to participate in short-term study abroad programs and to identify influential factors. Our constructive interview data with traditional and nontraditional students from three mid-Atlantic community colleges identified (a) the interplay between individual, social, and institutional…

Concerns about college costs and affordability are widespread, but who is impacted and what does that impact look like in California? Twenty-two higher education and financial aid experts with a broad array of experiences and viewpoints were asked these questions to understand more about college affordability and the policymaking landscape in…

This report for Success Boston, The Boston Foundation and the Boston Opportunity Agenda explores the many reasons why students at two institutions, Bunker Hill Community College and UMass-Boston, "stopped out" of their learning without a degree, and the reasons they did (or did not) return. The report also discusses ways in which other…

This qualitative phenomenological studied investigated the lived experiences of first generation Latino and Latina community college students who share common behaviors in their pursuit of educational attainment. Based on Tinto's (1994, 2002) persistence theory a narrative investigation collected data through interviews from 10 first generation…

The national commitment to increasing postsecondary educational attainment, combined with growing economic anxiety, has made community colleges the focus of many federal and state policy initiatives. There is good reason for this: by virtue of their nature and reach, community colleges--public institutions of higher education that predominantly…

This report looks at the progress of the ACT®-tested 2019 US high school graduating class relative to college and career readiness. The data in this report are based on nearly 1.8 million graduates--52% of the students in the 2019 national graduating class--who took the ACT at some time from grade 10 to 12. The ACT was taken by the majority of…