This study compared the geographic mobility of community college students with that of students at other institutions of higher education. Using a sample of 7192 students at 39 institutions across the United States (13 community colleges, 14 public 4-year institutions, 12 private 4-year institutions), it employed the method of operationalizing…

Institutions and community-based organizations that serve their communities are creating positive opportunities for students and families. Over 20 years, "Excelencia" in Education has prioritized bringing national attention to the programs, institutions, and people making a positive difference for Latino students and their communities.…

Considerable scholarly attention has been devoted to how gender, race and various other demographic factors shape the odds of majoring in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs. Such work has identified sizable disparities in access to STEM fields across various dimensions. In turn, these empirical findings have informed…

In the City of Chicago, a collaboration between the City Colleges, the Chicago Public Schools, the philanthropic community and the mayor's office has berthed a unique program called the Chicago Roadmap for Success (The Roadmap). The Roadmap aligns resources to ensure that more students have more access to college. One of the keystone features of…

This study explores the indicators of university-community engagement and their implications to evaluation. Through an examination of 47 studies, we validate that university-community engagement can unfold in many ways and impact many stakeholders, and that, evaluation focusing only on university perspectives might leave out the community…

When the federal government banned incarcerated students from accessing Pell Grants in the mid-1990s, a new model for supporting Higher Education in Prison (HEP) programs emerged--utilizing Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) as third-party facilitators to fill the gaps left behind in the absence of federal financial aid. With the long-awaited…

This dissertation examines how education and migration policies negatively shape access to and opportunities within post-secondary education for Latinx students in mixed-status families. To do so, I develop the concept of deficit policies, or policies that presume deficits in the targeted population and then produce those deficits. Engaging a…

Blind/partially blind people are underrepresented in post-secondary education and lack equitable opportunities to develop a sense of belonging. This study shares narratives of 28 blind/partially blind students from across Turtle Island (in what is colonially called Canada) using Teng et al.'s (2020) Belonging in Academia Model (BAM) as a…

Community engagement programs offer college students an opportunity to impact youth in rural, low-income communities. While in a rural setting where educational training and support is not abundant, college students learn about struggles that rural, low-income youth face in exploring and attending postsecondary education options. The Alternative…

Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) play a critical role in ensuring college access and opportunity for underserved and underrepresented students. Although MSIs encompass only a small percentage of all colleges and universities, they are disproportionately responsible for educating and preparing a large proportion of students of color, as well as…

Adult English language instruction is the fastest growing segment of U.S. adult basic education population. Supporting adult emergent multilingual students through English as a Second Language or English for Speakers of Other Languages classes, referred to here as ES(O)L, and developmental literacy programs presents a "wicked problem"…

The ongoing pandemic has affected all aspects of human life globally. Universities have faced significant challenges in continuing their educational and research activities while at the same time becoming more visible due to their work on identifying treatments, developing vaccines, understanding the impact of the pandemic and exploring the ways…

This article reports research exploring students' perceptions of higher education in traditional and local universities in England and Cuba. The study has explored parallels identified in the course of research-informed teaching that harvested qualitative questionnaire data from students at two English universities. One a Traditional (high-status…

California Community Colleges (CCC) served over 20,000 Justice-Impacted Individuals (JII) between 2021 and 2023, and the California State University (CSU) system saw a 280% growth in the number of justice-impacted students participating in their PRb program pursuing graduate studies between 2018 and 2021. (CCC Chancellor's Office--Data Mart, n.d.;…

Community colleges serve as access points to bachelor's degree attainment for a growing number of students, particularly those who live in rural areas. Although increasing the number of people trained in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields remains a national need, and a bachelor's degree in these fields offers a higher…