Research shows that Early College high schools have a significant impact on high school and college outcomes for students from low income and racial/ethnic minority backgrounds, but how similar opportunities extend to English learners (ELs) remains unknown. We examine a program that offers Early College opportunities in high schools serving large…

Technological advances and changes to America's workforce have created a need for adult workers to upskill their abilities. Many of these adults address this need by pursuing a college degree. While adult learners tend to excel in their coursework their graduation rates lag behind those of traditional undergraduates. Credit for prior learning or…

Higher education institutions have prioritized supporting undecided students with their major and career decisions for decades. This study used a U.S. public research-focused university's large-scale institutional data set and undecided student's retention and graduation rate predictors to demonstrate how to couple student and institutional data…

Credit hour policies, or performance-based financial aid policies, have become increasingly popular among policymakers seeking to improve degree completion rates. In the Unites States, the college completion agenda has been bolstered by national calls from intermediary organizations and philanthropic foundations alike to raise the overall rate and…

This study explores the social and academic experiences of Latinas at the University of Kansas, with an aim at understanding how these experiences impact their progression to degree. Literature on progression to degree of Hispanic students has historically come from a deficit point of view, while this study is focused on student success. In…

Higher education students in the U.S. have been transferring at record levels. More than two-thirds who earn bachelor's degrees from four-year institutions today have changed colleges at least once according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. However, the U.S. Department of Education reported in 2015 that on average, students…

One explanation for negative or null findings in prior research on postsecondary remediation is that college may be too late to address issues of academic underpreparedness. This study evaluates the impact on student outcomes when college math remediation is offered in the senior year of high school. The Seamless Alignment and Integrated Learning…

This First Look report presents selected findings from transcript data collected through the Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS) for the 2011-12 cohort of the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:12). The students in the 2011-12 cohort were selected during the 2011-12 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study…

How should colleges determine whether students are placed into developmental or college-level courses? Each year, colleges place millions of students into developmental math and English courses upon enrollment. To do so, colleges most often use a high-stakes placement test, which numerous research studies have shown to be highly inaccurate in…

Higher education is the surest pathway to a better living and a better life. Yet, the goal of a valuable college credential goes unrealized for too many students, especially students of color and students from low-income backgrounds. Today, more than 36 million Americans have some college credit, but no awarded degree and, the COVID-19 pandemic…

In this study, I examined the student experience of transferring technical credits from community college institutions under the State Center Community College district umbrella to California State University, Fresno. I focused on two different participant populations to glean perspectives that would construct a well-rounded view of the students'…

The 3-year graduation rate is a rarely measured metric in higher education compared to its 4- or 6- year graduation rate counterparts. For the first time in college (FTIC) students to graduate in three years, they must come with certain skills, abilities, plans, supports, or motivations. This project considers two distinct but interrelated ways of…

The term dual, or concurrent, enrollment refers to the broad array of programs available to high school students that allow them to take college-level courses for credit. Dual enrollment creates multiple pathways to college by enabling high school students to take: (1) selected academic courses on college campuses; (2) college-led academic courses…

One way administrators and policy makers have responded to the complexity of the community college transfer process has been to create articulation agreements between two-year and four-year colleges in a state or region. Our study examines the effects of one such statewide articulation and transfer policy, the Ohio transfer module (TM). This…

Income gaps in college enrollment, persistence, and graduation raise concerns for those interested in equal opportunity in higher education. We present findings from a randomly assigned scholarship for low-income students at a medium-sized public 4-year university. The program focused solely on the first four semesters of enrollment and tied aid…