We estimate the education and earnings returns to enrolling in technical two-year degree programs at community colleges in Missouri. A unique feature of the Missouri context is the presence of a highly-regarded, nationally-ranked technical college: State Technical College of Missouri (State Tech). Compared to enrolling in a non-technical community…

The problem this study addressed is that undergraduate, female, single parent students are less likely than other groups of women to complete college. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore perceived challenges of persistence to degree completion of undergraduate, female, single parent students in a Southern state, at a…

An estimated 1,400 colleges and universities nationwide have invested in predictive analytics technology to identify which students are at risk of failing courses or dropping out, with spending estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars. How accurate and stable are those predictions? The authors put six predictive models to the test to gain…

In an era of accountability for educational performance, community colleges should know whether student success is influenced by hiring racially diverse employees. Student interactions with diverse individuals improve student achievement on key performance indicators. This correlational study expands the limited body of knowledge on the…

Only a quarter of full-time U.S. students complete their desired goal from community college attendance, with the rate of success even lower for Latinx students. This panel-data regression study looks for evidence regarding the expected influence of increasing the presence of Latinx faculty or administrators on cohort completion rates for all…

This annual report provides information regarding students who registered with disability services at Maryland colleges and universities. To better understand higher education outcomes for students with disabilities in Maryland, the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC), in collaboration with the Maryland Department of Disabilities and in…

Guided pathways, a program that aims to improve college completion and student success through remodeling of the student journey, supports learners in choosing a program of study, ideally resulting in transfer to a four-year school or the start of a lucrative career with a two-year degree. Colleges that employ a guided pathways model are seeing…

This research study examined the developmental and prescriptive academic advising preferences of two Texas community first-time-in-college (FTIC) students. For more than 100 years, higher education institutions have employed academic advisors to undertake meaningful interactions with students to assist with their academic progress. Their…

This article highlights the College Level Examination Program -- or CLEP -- from the College Board, as another pathway for students to earn college credits toward degree completion. The renewal of interest in alternative pathways to degree attainment has come about in response to yet another round of national studies reporting declining rates of…

Two-year public colleges serve roughly one-third of undergraduate students in the United States, and, like other types of colleges across the country, they face shifting population demographics. Additionally, completion rates at two-year institutions have received political and scholarly attention within states and across the nation in recent…

Objective: Dual enrollment has become a significant portion of community college enrollment throughout the country. Some scholars have argued that dual enrollment implementation can be used as a viable policy lever to achieve the certificate and associate degree obtainment outcomes identified in "Reclaiming the American Dream," a…

The Maine Community College System is providing this letter in accordance with 20-A MRSA §10013. This law requires the Maine Community College System (MCCS), University of Maine System (UMS), and Maine Maritime Academy (MMA) to provide the following information about first-generation college students by January 15th of each year: (1) data…

The purpose of this non-experimental quantitative study was to evaluate the relationships between completion of high school dual enrollment courses and subsequent success of first-time, full-time community college students as measured by completion of an associate degree and time to completion of the degree. In addition to comparing dual and…

Research has revealed that online writing instructors use a variety of instructional methods in class to improve student learning experiences. However, current research has not addressed rural students' learning experiences with connectivism in an online composition course. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore what, if any,…

The Student Success Center Network (SSCN) is dedicated to advancing racial justice and economic mobility by dramatically and equitably increasing the number of students earning postsecondary credentials with labor market value. Managed by Jobs for the Future, the SSCN has worked since 2012 to develop, implement, and scale student success…