A substantial proportion of Latina/o college students enroll at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) and emerging HSIs. Utilizing data from the University of California, Los Angeles Cooperative Institutional Research Program, this study quantitatively examines the choice process of Latina/os enrolled at 4-year HSIs, emerging HSIs, and non-HSIs.…

Studies have shown that, aside from student differences, the college that a student attends plays a role in their likelihood of remaining in college and ultimately earning a degree. Increasing attention has been given to "undermatching," which occurs when a student enrolls in a college for which they are overqualified, based on their…

Previous CalYOUTH memos suggest that the overwhelming majority (upwards of 85%) of youth in California foster care who go to college first attend an in-state, public, 2-year college. The current memo takes a closer look at the types of colleges that foster youth enroll in, including average retention rates and the number of semesters completed at…

This study explored the college access and choice processes of high-achieving African American students who were admitted to University of California (UC) campuses but elected to enroll elsewhere. Employing critical race theory as an interpretive framework, the study found that many of these students were denied access to their priority UC…

High-achieving African American students in California are not attending University of California (UC) campuses. Due to hyper-implementations of Proposition 209, which limited UC campuses' ability to use race as a significant admission criteria, the UC system and individual UC campus policies have scaled back their efforts to recruit…

This study examined the experience of relocating to the United States for a select group of students, third culture kids (TCKs), so the factors that may assist higher education professionals as they seek to support these students in their personal development through their college years would be understood. The research question used to drive the…

We examine the impacts of being awarded a Cal Grant, among the most generous state merit aid programs. We exploit variation in eligibility rules using GPA and family income cutoffs that are ex ante unknown to applicants. Cal Grant eligibility increases degree completion by 2 to 5 percentage points in our reduced form estimates. Cal Grant also…

Although some scholars report that all students are better served by attending more prestigious postsecondary institutions, others have argued that students are better off attending colleges where they are about average in terms of academic ability and suffer worse outcomes if they attend schools that are "out of their league" at which…

At a time of sustained unemployment and sluggish job growth, students and policymakers are increasingly asking tough questions about postsecondary education and training outcomes. Do graduates find jobs? What are they paid? What will they earn in the future? Despite growing national interest in this information, good answers are not widely…

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of how current internet-based resources are affecting the college choice process. An explanatory mixed methods design was used, and the study involved collecting qualitative data after a quantitative phase to explain the quantitative data in greater depth. An additional study was…

This paper outlines the major influences on the college choice process of Latino undocumented students with a specific focus on the "choice" stage of the broader college opportunity process (Hossler & Gallagher 1987; Hossler, Schmidt, & Vesper 1999). As theorized by Hossler et. al (1987; 1999), the choice stage is where students…

Undocumented students, lacking United States residency or citizenship, select colleges annually. These students navigate a college application process in California whereby they prove AB 540 residency, take standardized exams, and attend competitive four-year universities without a social security number, a driver's license, or federal financial…

Excelencia in Education aims to accelerate higher education success for Latino students by providing data-driven analysis of the educational status of Latino students, and by promoting education policies and institutional practices that support their academic achievement. This second brief of a three-part series on Hispanic-Serving Institutions…

Interviews with 48 Mexican American college students who excelled in high school revealed that Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores did not predict time to completion of degree, college grade point average, or likelihood of applying to graduate school. However, many students with low SAT scores were initially traumatized and were aware of missed…

This study deals with Bakersfield College students who transfer to institutions that grant the baccalaureate degree. Three parts of the study answer the following questions: How many transferred and where did they go? What courses did they take? What kind of grades did they earn? Part 1 of the report, Numbers of Bakersfield College Students to…