Enrollment and retention in higher education can be challenging under normal circumstances, but combined with a global pandemic, institutions will need to look at strategies to help navigate these uncertain times. This dissertation provided the needed research on the processes of decision-making related to enrollment, retention, institutional…

This study explored master's students' perceptions of student services as it relates to their satisfaction at a small, private liberal arts institution in Louisiana. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 master's students who were enrolled in both on-campus and online master's degree programs. A qualitative phenomenological research…

This study examines how Chief Student Affairs Officers (CSAO) make sense of their role engaging with fundraising at small, private, liberal arts institutions with endowments below the median endowment size of $140.2 million. Specifically examining how they make sense of engaging with fundraising and how they have gained knowledge or experience in…

Student affairs practitioners in higher education have been leaving the field at an alarming rate (National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, 2022). As personnel working on the front lines in efforts related to student success and retention, early-career incumbents in these positions experiencing such high rates of attrition…

Tuition resets decrease an institution's published tuition price to more closely align it with the actual net price most students pay. The strategy is employed to increase the institution's applicant pool, yielding more admits with the ultimate goal of increasing enrollment and net revenue for the institution. The research project examined…

This study examined how undergraduate students from historically underrepresented populations who participated in the research site's precollegiate access program prior to their first semester at a small, private women's university made sense of their success in college. Transcripts were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.…

The academic success of student-athletes is a hot topic on college campuses. This exploratory action research study seeks to understand the best ways to support student-athletes at a small, private college with a large student-athlete population. Utilizing the Whole Student Theory of Advising (WSToA) framework, student-athletes were surveyed and…

This multiple-case study sought to understand how senior student affairs officers engaged in crisis leadership and decision making during the COVID-19 pandemic's first year. Five themes emerged from the research: (a) influence of institutional structure and culture on decisions, (b) uniqueness of COVID crisis decision making, (c) engagement and…

From 2016 to 2020, ten smaller schools in one regional library consortium participated in a user needs assessment project. This article documents the process for implementing a collaborative user needs assessment by utilizing the shared interest and enthusiasm of a team of librarians to create a consortial toolkit. The toolkit supplied direction…

The population of college-going students from diverse backgrounds is increasing (Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education [WICHE], 2020). However, minoritized students have traditionally been less well served by colleges and universities in terms of timely degree completion (U.S. Department of Education, 2020d). Small private colleges…

Despite persistent calls for institutions to offer internal leadership development programs for administrators, colleges and universities struggle to prepare mid-level administrators for professional advancement. Colleges and universities also face problems with employee retention. The experiences of those who occupy the organizational middle are…

This study used a quantitative descriptive design and the CIPP model to evaluate the impact a co-requisite model had on students' passing rates in entry-level college math courses. The co-requisite model has become the alternative to the traditional developmental education sequence, and understanding how it impacts students' passing rates is…

This qualitative dissertation explored the research question: "How do presidents at small private universities collaborate with local government and industry leaders in their host communities to enhance economic development?" The data were collected from three presidents that had been a university president at a qualifying institution…

According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), there were 3,982 degree-granting postsecondary institutions in the United States in the 2019-2020 school year. Of these, 1,625 were public institutions and another 1,660 were private, nonprofit institutions (four-year and two-year schools). The private, nonprofit sector plays an…

Two qualitative studies, 2015 and 2020, on seniors' satisfaction with faculty interactions provided the background for this 2023 qualitative study. This present study explored the characteristics and development of the faculty, staff, and student interactions that influenced college student satisfaction. Even though quantitative research showed…