Multiple measures assessment (MMA) is an alternative placement system that involves the consideration of alternative measures of students' performance--such as high school grades or GPA--in addition to or in place of standardized test scores to better place students. While the evidence for MMA is strong, placement reform has yet to spread to many…

This paper studies the causal impacts of public universities on the outcomes of their marginally admitted students. I use administrative admission records spanning all 35 public universities in Texas, which collectively enroll 10 percent of American public university students, to systematically identify and employ decentralized cutoffs in SAT/ACT…

Perceived social support and stress have been extensively examined in the literature. However, changes in online technology and changing student demographics have brought the question of whether online social support has the same benefits or effects as offline support among college students. The present study examined the role of social support…

Objective: To determine the prevalence and characteristics of food insecurity among female collegiate athletes. Participants: NCAA Division I female athletes attending a public university located in East Texas in 2018. Methods: A prospective cross-sectional online survey was employed to gather quantitative and qualitative data regarding food…

Nearly half of students who enter college do not graduate. The majority of efforts to increase college completion have focused on supporting students before or soon after they enter college, yet many students drop out after making significant progress towards their degree. In this paper, we report results from a multi-year, large-scale…

This paper studies the causal impacts of public universities on the outcomes of their marginally admitted students. I use administrative admission records spanning all 35 public universities in Texas, which collectively enroll 10 percent of American public university students, to systematically identify and employ decentralized cutoffs in SAT/ACT…

According to the United States Department of Education (2012, 2016), degree completions are a vital measure of overall institution success. Significantly, declining student persistence rates and low degree completions are consistent problems in public colleges throughout the United States. Not only are diminishing retention and incomplete degrees…

In "Discredited," education scholars Lauren Schudde and Huriya Jabbar illuminate the successes and failures of the systems that support student transfer among postsecondary institutions. Summarizing the key challenges of various transfer pathways, Schudde and Jabbar show how the current decentralized, bureaucracy-ridden, and often…

In this study, the graduation and persistence rates of African-American students at Texas 4-year universities were examined for the 2003-2004 academic year, the 2009-2010 academic year, and the 2014-2015 academic year. Of specific interest was whether the graduation and persistence rates for African-American students changed over an 11-year time…

In the 1980s, leaders recognized a small set of institutions enrolled a large percentage of Latino students but had limited resources to educate these students. The classification of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) formally recognized these institutions for capacity-building and other support. Federal law defines HSIs as accredited,…

The purpose of this research study was to use a phenomenological qualitative research approach to gain insight into how university administrators were prepared to respond to student activism, discover what strategies university administrators used when responding to student activism, and how social media affected university administrator's…

Although researchers support the notion that college- and university-sponsored mentoring programs effectively academically transition and retain postsecondary students from a variety of sociocultural backgrounds, researchers have not examined how mentoring programs address the 'mentorability' or the 'ability to be mentored' of their mentees.…

The 1999 Texas A&M University Bonfire collapse killed 12 students and injured dozens. Response to this event involved a number of campus administrators, lasted for many years, and led to the emergence of new risk management standards. Nearly 20 years later, researchers explored how campus leaders experienced the tragedy and reflected on their…

Texas state grant aid programs provide significant support to many low- and moderate-income state residents pursuing postsecondary education. Only a small share of eligible students receives state grants, however, and students often cannot predict whether they will receive aid, especially if they apply to different types of institutions.…

"Rising Tide II: Do Black Students Benefit as Grad Rates Increase?" looks at a decade of graduation rates for African American students at four-year, public institutions that improved student success during the past decade. It shows that while a majority (almost 70 percent) of institutions we examined improved graduation rates for black…