In 2016, the North Carolina legislature implemented the North Carolina Fixed Tuition Program. This policy ensures that, once enrolled, an undergraduate student's tuition rate at any of the state's four-year public colleges will not increase for eight consecutive semesters of enrollment. While touted as an effort to increase affordability by…

Objective: To examine social connection as a protective factor against exam stress. Participants: 55 undergraduate students at two universities. Methods: Students were evaluated on an exam day for their hardest class and at baseline, a day in a week where they had no exams. Social connection, salivary cortisol, perceived stress, and cognitive…

The purpose of this explanatory, sequential mixed-methods (QUAN [right arrow] qual) study was to investigate undergraduates' attitudes toward mathematics and perceptions of a community of inquiry in the fully online (FO) mathematics learning environment. Specifically, the study aimed to learn more about relationships between undergraduates'…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to examine how college undergraduates perceive the effectiveness of internships that lead to career aspirations in their major. The theoretical foundation was Super and Hall's career exploration stages of the working life model. The sample was college undergraduates from a public urban…

Spring admission is an undergraduate admissions strategy for traditional incoming freshmen. "Spring admission is a strategy to fill spots that empty in the spring when students graduate early or study abroad" (Hussain 2017). Admitting spring students is also a way to replace tuition dollars lost due to fall-admitted students'…

This study examines how inequality manifested during the emergency remote COVID-19 transition in higher education. We use 35 in-depth interviews with college students, conducted virtually, in real-time, during spring 2020 lockdowns, to examine how the transition impacted their lives. Students in the sample from lower-income backgrounds reported…

This brief report uses data collected under the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) Fall Enrollment survey to highlight distance education data in the state of North Carolina. The sample for this analysis is comprised of all active, degree-granting…

This research seeks to understand the experiences of African American female undergraduates in STEM. It investigates how familial factors and science identity formation characteristics influence persistence in STEM while considering the duality of African American women's status in society. This phenomenological study was designed using critical…

With a bachelor's degree fast becoming the standard requirement for achieving success in the modern economy, college enrollment is increasing rapidly nationwide. State funding for colleges and universities continues to subsidize the cost of educating state residents, but spiraling expenditures in other areas are straining the ability of states to…