This study presents the results of a survey of FAFSA applicants aimed at learning why some students delay their FAFSA application to the weeks and months just prior to college enrollment. The assumption is that an early FAFSA filer is more likely to receive a better financial aid package and might be more likely to succeed and persist in college…

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is completed by students annually to determine eligibility for federal student financial aid. This report describes FAFSA completion outcomes for Austin Independent School District (AISD) seniors in 2010.

This article reports that as students flock to public two-year and four-year colleges amid an ailing economy, they find the colleges struggling with financial problems of their own. Midyear budget cuts are forcing many institutions to lay off faculty members, cut course sections, and freeze enrollment. Rising unemployment, slumping values of…

Admissions deans have perfected the wistful tone of regret. In rejection letters, they talk of wrestling with "difficult decisions" and having "so many more qualified applicants than space." To the rejected, those words often ring hollow. After all, the student remains excluded no matter what the reason. There is mounting evidence that top…

Against the backdrop of today's increasingly multicultural society, are America's elite colleges admitting and successfully educating a diverse student body? "No Longer Separate, Not Yet Equal" pulls back the curtain on the selective college experience and takes a rigorous and comprehensive look at how race and social class impact each stage--from…

When it comes to educational challenges, the nation's 12.1 million Hispanic schoolchildren face plenty: language, poverty, lower-than-average graduation rates for high school and college, and, more recently, a wave of laws targeting illegal immigrants that has made school seem like less of a safe haven for Hispanic students in some states. Yet, as…

This report summarizes results from the 2007-2008 program evaluation of Project ADVANCE in the Austin Independent School District.

When The Goldman Sachs Foundation (GSF) made its first strategic social investment decision in 1999, it took note of one of Goldman Sachs' core corporate values: People are its greatest asset. The program's objective was--and is--clear and simple: to increase the number of high-potential young adults from historically underrepresented backgrounds…

This article presents key trends in college enrollment and gives suggestions on how to help students find their way to higher education. The authors believe that schools and school districts should create a college-bound culture. Such as culture fosters student understanding about what is takes to succeed in college and how to get there, and it…

Since 2004, the Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR) has tracked the postsecondary experiences of successive cohorts of graduating Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students and examined the relationship among high school preparation, support, college choice, and postsecondary outcomes. The goal of this research is to help CPS understand the…

Since the late 1990s, China has dramatically increased its college enrollments, the number and diversity of its higher education institutions, university tuition fees, and financial aid. Now students from a wider range of backgrounds have significantly more opportunities to attend college and also compete for entry into more selective…

The urban mission of two-year community colleges with open enrollment policies is to train, retain and graduate students from all walks of life, including the poor, displaced, under-employed, and unemployed. This mission can be undermined if management decisions are not informed by detailed enrollment data, especially on how the timing of student…

The 11th International Conference on Educational Data Mining (EDM 2018) is held under the auspices of the International Educational Data Mining Society at the Templeton Landing in Buffalo, New York. This year's EDM conference was highly competitive, with 145 long and short paper submissions. Of these, 23 were accepted as full papers and 37…

The increasingly popular option of applying "early decision" (ED) requires a student to make a binding commitment that, if admitted to a particular college, she or he will enroll. Now offered by 184 U.S. colleges and universities, ED is a highly effective--and therefore highly seductive--tool for managing enrollment. This author argues,…

A survey of spring 2001 non-enrollees at Boise State University completed by 247 applicants who did not enroll found that students generally changed their mind about attending due to work schedules or the costs of attending. Family responsibilities were also an issue for many students. The admissions process was perceived as very satisfactory,…