This brief is part of the Affirming Equity, Ensuring Inclusion, and Empowering Action initiative. The brief describes the emerging practice of direct admissions, including how the practice has been designed, what outcomes it has produced, and considerations for policymakers debating the implementation of a direct admissions program in their state…

Leveraging rich data on the universe of Texas high school graduates, we estimate how the relationship between geographic access to public two- and four-year postsecondary institutions and postsecondary outcomes varies across race-ethnicity and socioeconomic status. We find that students are sensitive to the distance they must travel to access…

This study examines students' perceptions and preferences for Blackboard at a South African public university. When the South African government, driven by COVID-19, announced the closure of schools in March 2020 for high school learners, home-schooling became the only option despite challenges such as lack of internet access, family support and…

The COVID-19 pandemic has threatened to widen racial educational achievement and attainment gaps in the United States, reinforcing a need to understand how education policy can work to advance racial equity. Dual enrollment (DE) programs offer a potential policy solution that could increase college-going for these students as participation has…

The mission of the University of Wisconsin System is to provide Wisconsin's high school graduates with opportunities to cultivate "intellectual, cultural, and humane sensitivities, scientific, professional and technological expertise, and a sense of purpose." Further, as part of its 2020 strategic plan to meet state workforce needs, the…

In response to the ban on affirmative action and the decrease in racial minority enrollment, the Texas legislature created the Texas Top 10% rule, which mandates public higher education institutions to admit undergraduate applicants who graduate in the top 10% of their high school class (Cortes & Friedson, 2014; Daugherty et al., 2014; Watkins…

Public Law 2015, Chapter 261 created the Public Higher Education Systems Coordinating Committee to recognize more formally the importance of cooperative efforts between Maine's two public systems of higher education. The Committee is comprised of the Chancellor of the University of Maine System (UMS), the President of the Maine Community College…

Key performance indicator (KPI) has become a fundamental part of evaluation that focuses on either an individual or a system. Setting KPIs and their revisions is a continuous process that is often determined through either an agreeable or a heated discussion. This paper is the first to investigate the achievement of KPIs of different players in…

In fulfillment of Ohio Revised Code section 3333.041 (A) (1), the Chancellor of the Ohio Department of Higher Education (ODHE) has published a listing by school district of the number of 2017 high school graduates who attended a state institution of higher education in the 2017-2018 academic year. The listing provides the percentage of each…

Public Law 2015, Chapter 261 (LD 1441) created the Public Higher Education Systems Coordinating Committee to recognize more formally the importance of cooperative efforts between Maine's two systems of higher education. The Committee is comprised of the Chancellor of the University of Maine System (UMS), the President of the Maine Community…

In fulfillment of Ohio Revised Code section 3333.041 (A) (1), the Chancellor of the Ohio Department of Higher Education (ODHE) has published a listing by school district of the number of 2018 high school graduates that attended a state institution of higher education in the 2018-2019 academic year. The listing provides the percentage of each…

Poverty can have a profound effect on academic outcomes and college readiness and students from lowincome families are less likely to go to college. The low rates of degree attainment for low-income students raises questions about whether the students who wish to pursue higher education have access to courses that support their readiness for…

The ostensibly free university education in Greece actually has several private costs. A comparative research design was used to compare Greek families' private expenditures for university education in 2014-2015 to families' costs for the same education in the year 2000 to determine whether there have been any changes during ensuring years. Data…

This dissertation includes three chapters focusing on policies directly related to improving college access and success. The first chapter focuses on lifetime eligibility of federal and state financial aid policies. The Pell Grant plays a critical role in helping students across the US to afford undergraduate education. In spite of its importance…

With over 37 million residents, California is the most populous state in the country. California's primary and secondary schools enroll over 6.2 million students,1 and there are 3.4 million undergraduates attending 683 postsecondary institutions in California. Yet, because of the lack of a strong data infrastructure, we are unable to answer basic…