Over the past several decades, there has been a shift toward gender parity in enrollment in colleges and universities across the United States. While more women have been enrolling in institutions of higher education, there has been a stagnation in the graduation rates of these women. This mixed methods study sought to understand the role that…

For the United States to regain the top ranking in the world for college degree attainment, Latinos will need to earn 6.2 million degrees by 2030. To reach the Latino degree attainment goal by 2030, the United States can close the degree completion gap by accelerating Latino completion while increasing for all students and scale up programs and…

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 primary purpose of this study was to determine if there was a statistically significant difference in the bachelor's degree graduation rates of three groups of undergraduate students at a regional, public university in Kentucky. The three groups consisted of those registered with disability services, those registered with disability services…

Currently, roughly one-third of college students fit the federal government's definition of first-generation college student status, meaning neither parent has earned a baccalaureate degree (RTI International, 2023). This study utilized archival data at an access institution in the southeastern United States in a causal-comparative study using…

Performance funding policies for higher education allocate appropriations to public institutions based on student outcomes such as degree completions. This study investigates whether a special science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) incentive in 13 state performance funding policies leads to greater undergraduate degree…

First-generation college students (FGCS), nearly 50% of which identify as Hispanic, are an underserved population. The psychosociocultural theoretical framework posits that individual, environmental, and cultural factors contribute to the academic success of Hispanic students. This study examined the relationship between these factors (i.e.,…

Community college bachelor's (CCB) programs have only existed for a few decades, yet now reach 25 states. Since 1989, both state policies allowing these programs and the number of CCB programs itself has grown steadily. A body of research on CCBs is growing in the wake of changing state policy and the growth of new programs. This literature review…

The problem targeted by the study was that while nontraditional students are increasingly attending college in record numbers, they are more than twice as likely as other students to drop out in their first year of study, indicating the delayed promise of degree completion may never be realized. The study focused on the opportunities and fiscal…

Canada ranks first by a substantial margin among OECD member countries in the proportion of the adult population whose highest level of educational attainment is the completion of a programme of short-cycle tertiary education. Short-cycle tertiary education (SCTE) refers to the types of programmes typically offered by community colleges and…

A third of the 2- and 4-year undergraduates beginning college in 2011-2012 changed their major in the first 3 years of enrollment. Yet, few studies have examined the effects of major switching on student outcomes, particularly in community colleges. Major switching can delay or impede college completion through excess credit accumulation, or it…

Pay-for-performance has become a state finance policy du jour for public postsecondary institutions. A total of 35 states currently distribute varying amounts of appropriations to colleges and universities based on outcome measures. This study uses a difference-in-differences quasi-experimental technique to assess the impact of performance-based…

This longitudinal study of 17,455 students, the majority from underrepresented groups, investigated leaks in the vertical transfer pipeline from associate's-degree program entry to bachelor's-degree receipt. Investigated were both the size of the leaks and some associated variables. Pipeline progress examinations included quantification of early…

Students of color remain underrepresented in social work education programs. According to the Council on Social Work Education (2016), only 37.4% of the 19,596 BSW degrees awarded during the 2014-2015 academic year were awarded to students from historically underrepresented groups. Through the lens of empowerment theory, this article presents a…

Educational attainment is a crucial contributor to postsecondary achievement for deaf people, as a key component of narrowing employment gaps. Fewer deaf people complete high school and postsecondary education than their hearing peers, resulting in severe educational attainment gaps. However, secondary data analyses of the American Community…