"Bottom Line" provides intensive advising for low-income high school students, most of whom are the first in their family to go to college. The advising is designed to help students apply for college and financial aid and select a high-quality, affordable institution. For students who attend one of "Bottom Line's" target…

Baccalaureate degree completion is essential for future development as a nation. Latinxs are the largest minority group in the country and by 2050 nearly one out of every three individuals will be of Latinx descent. While Latinx enrollment may increase, the proportion completing college is not comparable. This study explored the pre-college…

The rapidly changing economy is raising the stakes on states to address the skilled workforce needs of employers and to expand economic opportunity to more people and places. To guide the policy actions of states, Jobs for the Future (JFF) designed a comprehensive policy agenda for increasing attainment of postsecondary credentials valued in the…

Federal free-college policies are now at the center of the Democratic higher education agenda. Sen. Bernie Sanders helped move the idea into the mainstream during the 2016 presidential campaign, and other lawmakers have since worked to advance the policy in Congress. Joe Biden effectively put free college on the ballot in 2020 when he fully…

In 2004 and 2005, the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education (Pell Institute), sponsored by the Council for Opportunity in Education (COE), published two editions of "Indicators of Opportunity in Higher Education." In 2015, the commitment to documenting trends in higher education equity was renewed by publishing…

Student debt is a major barrier to adult student reengagement and degree completion. Institutional debt forgiveness is one approach to addressing the affordability barrier for returning students. This guidebook features an interview with leaders at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, who share details about the innovative debt-forgiveness…

Since the turn of the 21st century, going to college has become increasingly financially difficult in the United States. Tuition prices continued to rise, state funding for higher education declined, and the mean family income declined or stagnated for all but the top 20 percent of families (Goldrick-Rab 2016). In a period where college has risen…

This study explored the perspectives of medical students from first-in-family (FiF) university backgrounds. Semi-structured interviews focused on steps into, and experiences of medical education, and effects of student identity on social networks. Twenty FiF medical students from one English medical school took part in qualitative interviews. Data…

Guided by the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) (Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010), our study aims to understand how community college transfer students' STEM degree attainment behavior is shaped by their beliefs, intentions, contextual factors and social-demographic characteristics. This study drew upon data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002…

Student feedback is essential to ensure continued quality and relevance in the education system. Through surveying former students, British Columbia (BC) Student Outcomes provides the information needed to help shape post-secondary education in British Columbia. In 2018, 92 percent of the former post-secondary students surveyed were satisfied or…

This report, the seventh in this series, brings together again in partnership the Pell Institute with the Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy of the University of Pennsylvania (PennAHEAD). These reports draw from multiple sources of existing data to provide, in one place, indicators that describe trends in equity in postsecondary…

The State of Student Aid and Higher Education in Texas (SOSA) annual report from Trellis Research provides information helpful in informing policy and programs for higher education student financial aid. The report serves as a reference for colleges, universities, and policymakers, and provides a comparison of Texas state and federal student aid…

"Bottom Line" provides intensive advising for low-income high school students, most of whom are the first in their family to go to college. The advising is designed to help students apply for college and financial aid and select a high-quality, affordable institution. For students who attend one of "Bottom Line's" target…

"Bottom Line" provides intensive advising for low-income high school students, most of whom are the first in their family to go to college. The advising is designed to help students apply for college and financial aid and select a high-quality, affordable institution. For students who attend one of "Bottom Line's" target…

Michigan's public education system remains in a perennial rut, as it has for decades. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), Michigan's fourth grade reading scores show no significant change over the past 16 years. Even before the pandemic, too many dreams have stalled, and academic achievement remains largely…