African American male enrollment in degree-granting postsecondary institutions saw a small increase between 2010 and 2019, rising nine percent over that period. However, their representation only reached eight percent of total undergraduate students by fall 2019, down slightly from nine percent in 2010. Only 37% of African American men who started…

Texas higher education institutions serve some of the most diverse student populations in higher education. However, graduation rates remain among the lowest in the United States, particularly for underrepresented minority students. Diverse faculty who act as mentors have the potential to increase underrepresented minority students' sense of…

The Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning serves as the governing board overseeing the eight public universities in Mississippi, including the University of Mississippi Medical Center located in Jackson. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools is the accrediting body for each of the public universities in Mississippi.…

Research has shown that undergraduate research experiences can have substantive effects on retaining students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). However, it is impossible to provide individual research experiences for every undergraduate student, especially at large universities. Course-based undergraduate research…

Students of traditionally disadvantaged backgrounds generally need to receive extra support as they enter college. Many resources have been developed to address this issue, such as peer-counseling programs, faculty-mentoring programs, and federally funded TRIO Programs. There is an increase in retention problems in higher education communities and…

For students pursuing a postsecondary education, where they go is as important as whether they go. National College Attainment Network ("NCAN") member programs and college access programs more broadly often inform students about their likelihood of completing a degree at their prospective postsecondary destinations as part of the…

This quasi-experimental study examined the effectiveness of a one-time emergency financial relief program among Pell Grant eligible undergraduate students in Spring 2015 pursuing their first bachelor's degree across academic and financial outcomes. The academic outcomes included retention to the next semester, degree completion, attempted credit…

Purpose: The purpose of this journal-ready dissertation was to determine the degree to which the rates of students who did not persist or graduate had changed from the 2014-2015 academic year through the 2019-2020 academic year for first-time in college students by their ethnicity/race (i.e., Hispanic, Black, White, and Asian) and enrollment…

Students of color remain underrepresented in social work education programs. According to the Council on Social Work Education (2016), only 37.4% of the 19,596 BSW degrees awarded during the 2014-2015 academic year were awarded to students from historically underrepresented groups. Through the lens of empowerment theory, this article presents a…

Placement policies are intended to match students with appropriate courses in order to improve student success, but how do you evaluate these policies? In this article, we evaluate four placement policies at Towson University by considering three categories of outcomes: long-term outcomes such as graduation and retention rates, short-term or…

Graduating from college is a life-transforming achievement for young people with foster care backgrounds. Not only do the majority of adolescents in foster care aspire to finish college, but holding a degree has been associated with an increased likelihood of being employed and having higher earnings. Still, existing research estimates that fewer…

The purpose of this retrospective analysis research study was to create a trend description of rural students' characteristics and outcomes of higher education in one state in the northeastern United States. An additional aim of the study was to determine the distance to campus for rural and non-rural students and the relationships between…

College completion rates among Latina/o undergraduate students represents a crisis in our national educational system. Latina/o students are seeking higher education, but experiencing multiple barriers which inhibit degree completion. This qualitative case study offers an opportunity to explore components of degree completion of Latina/o graduates…

Graduating from college can enhance one's life significantly, however Black and Latinx students may face significant barriers in this process. This a problematic concern at Lehigh Carbon Community College which is in the predominantly white area of the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania. The local demographics have rapidly changed and so has the…

The gaps in graduation and retention rates between ethnic and gender groups continue to be a foremost area of focus at Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC), The City University of New York (CUNY). Equity and inclusion is also a critical concern as it relates to faculty and staff. At BMCC, a college-wide initiative, Designing for Success,…