An increasing preference for nondegree credentials evident prior to the pandemic has become even more apparent. Nondegree credentials can and sometimes should be part of a postsecondary education, but the inchoate credentials environment encourages poor planning and unwise decisions. The competitive advantages that a balanced education can offer…

Until recently, most community colleges have done little through the new student onboarding process to help entering students explore academic and career interests, choose a program of study aligned to their interests, and develop a plan for completing such a program. This has been the case even though many students start college without clear…

Objective: In view of the values of individualism and competition embedded in neoliberalism and global capitalism, this paper seeks to illustrate empirically students' instrumentalism in higher education, and to explore how far such instrumentalism could be conceptualized as student alienation. Method: The illustration relies on experiences of…

Data from past economic downturns show that "recession graduates"--those graduating from high school or college during a recession--may have worse outcomes in earnings and health for years or even decades to come. MDRC sought to work with stakeholders to better understand the challenges recent graduates are facing in the current context…

Objective: Community colleges, which can lead students to job opportunities and well-paying careers, are one of the main entry points to higher education for student parents. We use a conceptual framework that bridges career capital and community cultural wealth to understand student parents' college and career trajectories. This study asks (a)…

"Career Pathways: From School to Retirement" brings together leading workforce researchers and practitioners to provide new perspectives on school-to-work and workplace career pathways. This groundbreaking book explains the transformations that have taken place in the workplace over the past several decades and how those transformations…

Now, more than ever, more adults must earn college credentials in order to earn family sustaining wages and to help fuel and sustain a robust national economy. That means that institutions of higher education must do all they can to help adult students enroll in college and complete a postsecondary credential. Achieving the Dream emphasizes a…

The National Science Foundation's Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program gives two year college educators leadership roles in developing model technician education programs for advanced technology fields. Since the first ATE grants were awarded in 1993, community college educators across the nation have partnered with industry and other…

This study employed the career capital framework (DeFillippi & Arthur, 1994; Inkson & Arthur, 2001) and the associated three ways of knowing adapted for community colleges: "knowing why" (aspirations), "knowing how" (knowledge and skills), and "knowing whom" (sources of information). The authors constructed an…

This study synthesizes lessons learned about the promising role of "career navigators" at community colleges to aid students in the transitions through disjunctures in their careers. Career navigators are student support personnel who follow students from recruitment, through their studies or training programs, to job placement. Findings…

The importance of community colleges has never been as recognized by the country's state and national elected officials as it is today. Community colleges are viewed as an essential, if not the most essential, resource in addressing the economic and workforce development needs of many regions and communities across the country. This paper examines…

The government has strategised initiatives to organize an education system that improve the training and skills quality wise, as well as enhancing the lifelong learning programs. In the field of education and training, interests and apprehensions on the entrepreneurship subject is the highlight of today's higher learning institutions. This study…

Contemporary concerns for college programs focus on the ability of the program to prepare students to become employable upon graduation. For a community college psychology program, that focus is somewhat muted by the fact that many of the community college graduates will transfer to four-year state universities. For this reason, it is imperative…

This study sought to evaluate the efficacy of service learning through the lens of faculty members, community partners, and student learning outcomes at a midsized community college in North Carolina. As a teaching tool integrating community service with instruction, service learning depends on the collaboration of multiple stakeholders and…

This study aimed at exploring the differences in professional/career orientation and awareness while considering a number of variables including locus of control, academic specialization and school backwardness. Several measures were used to achieve the study's goals. The first two, a professional/career orientation measure and a…