This study explored nontraditional community college transfer students and their bachelor's degree attainment. The study findings suggest that there was no significant difference in the odds of earning bachelor's degrees between nontraditional transfer students and their counterparts. Thus, the pathway to bachelor's degree attainment through…

Many existing student persistence and retention studies overlooked the different types of departure (e.g., dropout, transfer) and aggregate them into a single departure variable, as a result, the estimates from these studies are spurious when one is interested in what student characteristics prompt dropout but not transfer. This can be especially…

This study uses secondary data to explore the relationship between the percentage of Latinos enrolled in a postsecondary institution and two educational outcomes: graduating within six years and total amount in student loan debt. Research on the concentration of Latino students in higher education have mostly focused on Hispanic Serving…

Research has shown that students who are satisfied with college and more engaged on campus are more likely to graduate (Astin, 1993; Kuh et al., 2008; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005; Schreiner & Nelson, 2013). Thus, investing in programs or services to engage students and increase satisfaction has been a focus of some institutions (Kezar et…

Co-enrollment, defined as simultaneous enrollment at more than one postsecondary institution, has become increasingly prevalent among college student attendance patterns. This descriptive study analyzes the characteristics and experiences of a nationally representative sample of co-enrolled Latinx community college students from the Beginning…

Postsecondary co-enrollment, or simultaneous enrollment at multiple institutions, is becoming increasingly common among U.S. college students. This descriptive analysis documented the characteristics and co-enrollment patterns of Latinx/a/o students in the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (12/17). Findings of the study revealed…

In a nationally representative sample, first-year U.S. college students "somewhat agree," on average, that they feel like they belong at their school. However, belonging varies by key institutional and student characteristics; of note, racial-ethnic minority and first-generation students report lower belonging than peers at 4-year…

Objectives/Research Question: This study aims to explore who transfers between 2-year colleges (lateral transfer students) and how these students fare in terms of degree attainment. More specifically, this research explores two research questions: (1) What are the predictors of lateral transfer? (2) Is lateral transfer associated with degree…

Youth who were in foster care as adolescents make up a small but highly vulnerable subpopulation of the college student body. This article analyzes secondary data collected from one of the most comprehensive longitudinal studies of foster youth. The analytic sample includes 329 foster youth from three Midwestern states who attended college in the…

Objective: The purpose of our study was to identify the factors associated with federal loan default among a nationally-representative sample of community college students. The guiding research question was: For community college students who borrow federal loans, to what extent do demographic, academic, and enrollment characteristics relate to…

Objectives: In this study, we explore the influence of enrolling initially at a community college before transferring to a 4-year institution on the selectivity of the destination 4-year institution. Method: We leverage nationally representative data and a propensity score matching approach to compare the institutional selectivity between students…

Objective: This study examined the statistical association between net tuition and changes in degree aspirations among community college students. In addition, the study explored the moderating influence of unmet financial need. Method: Analyses relied on data from the most recent iteration of the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal…

This study examined the longitudinal persistence behavior of first-time, nontraditionally aged students at four-year institutions by leveraging the 2004 to 2009 Beginning Postsecondary Student data set. A human capital theory framework was employed to assess how student background characteristics, enrollment characteristics, and financial factors…

The COVID-19 pandemic brought the care crisis in the United States to the fore. Unprecedented closures of child care programs throughout 2020 placed a disproportionate burden on families, and mothers in particular. For parents enrolled in college or considering postsecondary enrollment at the time of the pandemic, the loss of child care services…

Dual enrollment (DE) programs allow high school students to take college coursework and simultaneously earn both high school and college credit. These programs have become increasingly popular in recent decades, with roughly one-third of high school students taking at least one DE course. However, the financial implications of taking DE courses…