More students with disabilities are accessing the tertiary sector with many disabilities not easily observed (or hidden), because there are no physical indicators. These "hidden" disabilities affect a variety of cognitive processes and may be developmental or acquired. To ensure students with hidden disabilities can enrol, engage in and…

Australian higher education lags behind other western countries in relation to access and attainment of equity groups (Organisation for Economic Development [OECD], 2010). This is despite major policy reforms in the last two decades targeting better educational outcomes for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The Australian Labor Government's…

This article focuses on understanding successful Latina/o college student retention at 4-year institutions. Deficit models fail to consider how Latina/o students use different forms of capital (i.e., social, cultural, economic, and human) in earning a degree. Using data from the UCLA's Cooperative Institutional Research Program, factors associated…

A study tested a model for assessing the impact of financial aid offers on 2,558 accepted students' college enrollment decisions. The analysis demonstrates that financial aid strategies have a substantial influence on enrollment and the systematic analysis of student enrollment decisions can help institutional administrators refine their financing…

The performance of three groups of mature age unmatriculated students at the University of New South Wales was studied. The first group consisted of 43 students in their second year at the university. Performance of these students was creditable over a wide range of subjects, with a 76 percent clear pass rate. Of the 63 first-year students in the…

A survey of 466 students in a large, urban commuter college investigated the relationship of student finances to academic persistence. Results suggest that financial aid (1) equalizes opportunities for students, thus decreasing attractiveness of alternatives, (2) facilitates academic and social integration, and (3) increases student commitment to…

In a study of student adjustment to university life, excerpts are presented of interviews with 18 mature age unmatriculated women who returned to formal education at the University of New South Wales in 1975. The women were aged between 25 and over 40, half had children, and they were generally middle class. They were not selected by a random…

The notion of applied history is used to complicate present-minded conceptions of higher education by examining both the continuities and changes in colleges and universities. The collection of essays aims to leave the reader with two habits: (1) the active use of the methods and strategies of historical research in approaching professional…

The issue of providing access to alternative college programs for adult students through evaluation of institutional accessibility and development of appropriate responses is addressed in six articles. Barriers that adults experience in the admissions process and in completing college programs are identified by Thomas Taafee and Thomas M. Rocco in…

The academic fate of students from different ethnic groups under open admissions at City University of New York is examined. Three central questions are addressed: (1) Who came and how was the ethnic composition of the university affected by open admissions? (2) To what degree did different parts of the university become ethnically integrated? (3)…

Attrition rates at the State University of New York at Oswego are investigated in this paper. In 1975-76 51 percent of the students who entered as freshmen failed to graduate. The major objective of the study was to isolate and describe the differences that exist in the rates and modes of attrition among students who entered the college as…

This proceedings contains 25 papers, the conference agenda, and summaries of other presentations of a 1989 conference on student financial aid. The following papers are included: "Minorities in Higher education in the 1970s and 1980s-What the Current Population Surveys Tell Us" (Paul M. Siegel); "Estimating Minority Participation in…