Objective: The COVID-19 global pandemic has created severe, long-lasting challenges to college students in the United States (US). In the present study, we assessed mental health symptomatology (depression, anxiety, life stress), academic challenges, and economic stress during the first wave of the Coronavirus pandemic. Method: A total sample of…

The strength of alignment between Student Housing and its functions with Student Life may impact its ability to promote the retention and persistence of first-generation and historically excluded students who live on campus. The purpose of this action research study was to investigate the role of Student Housing, as a Public-Private Partnership,…

Supplemental Instruction (SI) is a peer-led academic support program in which SI Leaders help students develop study habits and note-taking strategies as well as facilitate test preparation. While the effects of SI on students receiving the instruction have been thoroughly investigated, there have been far fewer studies that have assessed the…

As increased attention and proposed funding are being directed toward community colleges, it is important to consider the sexual and reproductive health care needs of this growing population. Existing data suggest there are significant sexual health needs among this population and often insufficient provision of services. Some community college…

The author reflects on his 44-year career as a science instructor, during which he gradually implements new active learning strategies in the classroom and shifts to integrating science and literature in the teaching of learning communities. The author describes three learning communities to show how the disciplines of science and literature can…

In thinking about the changes in higher education over the past five decades as "Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning" turns 50, the image that comes to mind is pixilation, the process by which complex digital images, when seen up close, are expressed as small individual squares of color. The realization that all the images on digital…

Community colleges have long had multiple missions. The first community college was designed to relieve elite colleges of the burden of educating 18- and 19-year-olds. Thus, it was initially conceived of as a transfer institution--students would go on to upper division courses at a four-year college once they had matured and were ready for more…

This phenomenological study examined the experiences of students with learning disabilities (LD) in acquiring the metacognitive skills necessary for success in California community college. Within 8 years of high school graduation, over 67% of young adults with LD will enroll in post-secondary education, many choosing a community college. The rate…

While enrollments across all higher education sectors decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic, this decline has been particularly steep for community colleges. Many colleges and universities across the country instituted tuition freezes during the pandemic as a way to try to retain enrolled students and attract potential students, and relief funds…

Bachelor's degree attainment for community college transfer students is one underutilized but essential pathway for reducing equity gaps in higher education. One way to achieve this at scale is through state-level initiatives dedicated to supporting transfer from community colleges to not-for-profit independent colleges. The Teagle Foundation and…

During the 2016 campaign, President Trump promised to establish numerous anti-immigration policies, which heightened undocumented students' fears and anxieties. The present longitudinal qualitative study investigated seven undocumented students' socioemotional states and whether administrators and educators provided sustained positive validation…

Broad higher education contexts shape how community college students and postsecondary personnel approach transfer from community colleges to baccalaureate-granting institutions. We leverage the concept of strategic action fields, an organizational theory illuminating processes that play out as actors determine "who gets what" in an…

Although the engagement with on-campus services among Southeast Asian Americans (SEAAs) at 4-year universities and colleges have been documented, there is limited understanding of their use of on-campus services in the community college setting. Data from the Community College Success Measure (CCSM) were analyzed to examine 605 SEAA community…

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…

Gerrymandering is a controversial practice in American politics, and one that has generated a significant amount of legal, academic, and political interest. While gerrymandering is an important and timely topic, this issue receives relatively little attention in most introductory courses in American government. This omission is compounded by the…