Preparing educated and active citizens is one of the primary goals of higher education, yet colleges and universities may neglect civic engagement due to the prioritization of labor market preparation. Drawing on neoinstitutional theory, this paper examines the missions, infrastructure, activities, and outcomes related to civic engagement across…

Qualitative research on the first-year experiences of Black male commuter students entering institutions of higher learning is necessary to provide a deeper look at institutional and individual factors that these students may experience, which impact their academic success. Understanding the issues that affect Black male college students in…

This article describes a private, open-enrollment school in Washington state's agricultural valley which typically serves first-generation college-goers who were actually discouraged from seeking higher education. Heritage University, a 1,346-student commuter university, serves a region and a population that other institutions have historically…

A volunteer sample of 16 Hispanic first-generation commuter college students, 9 women and 7 men, 18-30 years of age, attending a private college in the Northeast, were interviewed about their first-year college experience, with an emphasis on issues related to cultural capital and habitus. Five aspects of cultural capital were of interest:…

College student persistence and dropout have been studied for decades, but little inquiry has focused on community college or private two-year college students. Although about half of first-time postsecondary students enroll in a two-year college, researchers understand little about why only approximately a quarter of these degree-seekers complete…

Reports on experiences of eight private Long Island (New York) colleges that compete for similar students. Discussion centers on Dowling College and Adelphi University; and Hofstra, a possible exception with a $100 million endowment, which aspires to become a comprehensive regional university. However, most institutions have scaled down grandiose…

A study in one private residential and one public commuter liberal arts college compared these characteristics in students whose parents had not attended college with those whose parents had: social integration, academic integration, external support, institutional context, satisfaction with college, role embracement, academic rewards, and…

Papers from the National Association of State Scholarship and Grant Programs/National Council of Higher Education Loan Programs conference on student aid are presented. They include: (1) "Keynote: Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Student Aid on Access, Choice, and Persistence" (Larry Leslie and Paul Brinkman); (2) "College Choice…

The most widely accepted classification system of institutions of higher education, the Carnegie system, does not provide any sub-groupings for the category of two-year institutions. This lack of precision has inhibited the understanding of the diversity among and between community colleges, their missions, functions, curricula, students, and…

The needs and characteristics of urban students at 10 urban U.S. colleges and universities were surveyed in 1983. Attention was directed to students' personal characteristics and educational and financial background, why students select and attend the institutions, and how students view programs and services. The campuses were primarily…

The extent to which Tinto's model of college withdrawal has predictive validity in different types of postsecondary institutions was tested during the 1978-79 and 1979-80 academic years. Secondary analyses were conducted on a sample of 2,326 freshman students from 11 diverse institutions participating in project CHOICE (to better inform…

Fundamental changes that will affect American higher education during the next 20 years are discussed with specific reference to residential colleges. It is suggested that many traditional residential colleges will have difficulty meeting the challenges of a changing society and will be forced to close their doors. The development and adoption of…

Information about and excerpts from the 1981 "Commuter Institution Index," an annual publication on research on commuter institutions of higher education are presented. The Index provides an overview of the demographic characteristics of responding institutions and the functions most frequently performed by these institutions for commuters. It…