To help students cope with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, higher education institutions offered students flexible grading policies that blended traditional letter grades with alternative grading options such as the pass--fail or credit--no credit options. This study conducted an in-depth analysis of the flexible grading policy at a…

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic triggered unprecedented disruptions in higher education, forcing swift changes to core operations, particularly within divisions of student affairs. A review of the literature reveals COVID-19 presented many unique challenges for students and student affairs professionals, including disruptions in traditional…

In an era where many states' postsecondary education governance dynamics are evolving, we set out to understand whether state-level governing boards with centralized governance functions affected institutions' decisions to engage in in-person instruction during the fall of 2020, the first fall of the COVID-19 pandemic. We examined sociopolitical…

Purpose: External pressures, like the pandemic, influence industry and academia. ICT can assist in creating service innovations and better responses to external pressures. When higher education institutes combine service innovations with an appropriate business model, they can better understand educational transformations and marketing and aim for…

Test-optional admissions policies have been steadily, though slowly, expanding throughout higher education institutions for decades. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, sparked a rapid expansion of institutions adopting test-optional policy. Using a diffusion of innovations framework, this study assesses the institutional characteristics that shaped…

In this study, we interrogated the efforts adopted by community and technical colleges in a Midwestern state to address racial inequities since the onset of COVID-19. We analyzed such efforts reported in institutional newsletters and associated media through critical content analysis supported by text mining techniques. Our findings demonstrate a…

This study examines how inequality manifested during the emergency remote COVID-19 transition in higher education. We use 35 in-depth interviews with college students, conducted virtually, in real-time, during spring 2020 lockdowns, to examine how the transition impacted their lives. Students in the sample from lower-income backgrounds reported…

In July 2022, the University of California (UC) permanently eliminated the standardized tests requirement for its freshman admissions in order to alleviate the severed socioeconomic gap and college access barriers that were heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic. This critical policy analysis research explored the immediate effects of UC's policy…

After years of slow erosion of funding and enrollment, higher education in Wisconsin faces a flash flood. Financial challenges had been accumulating for the state's public colleges and universities, brought on by stagnant state funding, a tuition freeze, and declining enrollment. Now COVID-19 threatens to wash away key pieces of this system,…

After years of slow erosion of funding and enrollment, higher education in Wisconsin faces a flash flood. Financial challenges had been accumulating for the state's public colleges and universities, brought on by a tuition freeze, stagnant state funding, and demographic trends. Now COVID-19 threatens to wash away key pieces of a system that will…

States invest heavily in education, providing funding either directly or in the form of financial aid from preschool through college, with positive outcomes from those impacting nearly every other area of public policy, particularly the workforce. To understand and assess results, states collect and analyze information about these investments at…

With the philanthropic support of the Art for Justice Fund and Michelson 20MM Foundation, the Campaign for College Opportunity produced this research brief that provides an overview of the current state of higher education for currently and formerly incarcerated students. This brief provides descriptive demographics on California's incarcerated…

The 2020 General Assembly adjourned its regular session by providing over $390 million in additional general fund support for Virginia higher education institutions in the 2020-22 biennium. However, in March, the nation experienced the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to address the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on state revenues, Governor…

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…

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…