Seligman (2011) introduced well-being theory as a multidimensional model to increase and measure well-being. The PERMA model of well-being theory defines well-being in terms of five constructs: Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment. Together, these five constructs are the foundation of individual and community…

The present study focuses on the experiences of students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in higher education. It was important to conduct this study because of the rising numbers of students with ASD in higher education and the scant amount of research available about how to best serve them depending on their actual needs, not the perceived…

As the visibility of transgender (trans) college students has increased, college policies have also increased for these students to help them persist. One such policy is a preferred name policy that allows students to change their names on non-legal campus records to their chosen name without a legal name change. This narrative research study…

Though colleges have focused efforts on admitting more African American students, a need to improve engagement and retention exists. The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine if community college was a source of social capital for African American male students by way of early integration into an academic and social network. Relying…

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study is to describe the lived experiences of first-generation college students (FGCSs) majoring in music education at a small, private university in the southeastern United States. Through understanding FGCSs' experiences, university faculty and administrators can make informed decisions that…

African American males have the lowest retention and graduation rates of all races and genders. The problem at the local study site was that lower number of African American males from two public 4-year institutions were graduating from college as compared to all other ethnic groups and genders. The purpose of this qualitative study was to…

Black students who attend PWIs often experience social exclusion on campus. To gain a greater understanding of this issue I conducted a qualitative research study that allowed me to gain insight of the difficulties that Black undergraduate students experience at PWIs. The institutions in this study excluded Black students by not providing the…

The purpose of this grounded theory study was to explore evidence of transformation as perceived by African American undergraduate students who participated in and persisted through community college study abroad programs in Ghana. Critical pedagogy, transformative learning, African ontology, and intercultural communication theoretical paradigms…

This qualitative study provided a compilation of Latinx student stories and experiences at a medium-sized community college located on the west coast of Central Florida to further understand student challenges with persisting to degree or certificate of completion and motivational factors contributing to re-enrollment after a stop out period.…

The purpose of this study was to examine the individual perspectives and experiences of adult college students and their life contexts, resources, and demands experienced as they engage in the college environment and explore how adult college students utilize developmental regulation strategies to overcome goal conflict and achieve success while…

Racial and ethnic minorities in higher education have low enrollment and graduation rates. This well-known problem continues to plague the higher education system. Specifically, in athletic training, the enrollment and retention numbers for minorities are low compared with other healthcare education programs. Increasing the minority population in…

This qualitative study examined the lived experiences of seven undocumented immigrant college students living in Massachusetts as they negotiated the sociocultural, socioeconomic, and institutional challenges of their college experience. Three research questions guided this study: (1) What role do undocumented college students believe…

This study examined whether racial identity attitudes, resilience, microaggressions experienced in one's academic program, and coping skills predicted academic resilience for African American/Black, single-parent mothers pursuing doctoral degrees. A mixed-methods approach, utilizing both quantitative and qualitative data, was used in this study to…

This study explored the development of professional vision as related to transfer students becoming upper division, four-year mathematics students. We drew from qualitative focus groups with 21 participants at a four-year research university, who were enrolled in a trio of concurrent transitional mathematics courses. We examined the development of…

This study highlights Latino/a first-generation students by investigating the associations of stress, depression, and social isolation with family and friend social support in their college experiences. Using random sampling, nine-hundred and seven (N = 907) Latino/a first-generation students participated in this study. Results indicated family…