Community colleges have been an educational source for individuals to increase capital and social mobility. But the reality of these opportunities is not the same for all. First generation, low income, non-traditional minority students make up a large percentage of students enrolling in community colleges yet retention rates, primarily for African…

This study examined areas of concern within the community college level of higher education affecting the retention and attrition rates of African American male first-year students at three community colleges in the state of New Jersey. It used a four-stage investigative design to identify variable factors that are correlated to retention and…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship of age, gender, ethnicity, military experience, educational level, and the Criminal Justice Basic Abilities Test (CJBAT) score of recruits to discern if those factors are valid predictors of student success in a community college law enforcement academy. The relationship…

Adjunct faculty members constitute the majority of faculty in higher education. Due to the increased use of adjunct faculty, the relationship between job satisfaction and job performance, and the potential impact on community college institutions, researchers are being asked to inquire into job satisfaction of adjunct instructors (Boord, 2010;…

Policymakers at the state and national levels have identified college completion as a key policy priority. The proportion of adults with a college credential has decreased and the equity gap in college completion is expanding. Given this policy context, there is an interest in the extent to which degree pathways are inefficient and how these…

The purpose of this research study was to identify demographic characteristics, academic factors, and student behaviors that contributed to successful degree and certificate completion for entirely online, nontraditional undergraduate students at a large community college. A discrete-time event history analysis was used to model the retention of…

The issue of attrition in online courses at higher learning institutions remains a high priority in the United States. A recent rapid growth of online courses at community colleges has been instigated by student demand, as they meet the time constraints many nontraditional community college students have as a result of the need to work and care…

This study examines survey and transcript data for a stratified random sample of over 4,000 students enrolled in the nine campuses of the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) and found that several campuses predict small but statistically significant differences in "unit completion ratio" (defined as the ratio of units [or…

The purpose of this study was to explore Bean and Metzner's (1985) persistence factors, defined by items on the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE), to determine the impact on nontraditional student persistence. This quantitative study measured nontraditional student persistence at a community college in the Midwest using…

This study compares the impact of timing of registration on the student learning outcomes of students taking courses at three rural community colleges in the southeastern U.S. during the school years 2001-2003. Findings from this study indicate that early registration has a positive influence on students' grades and course completion rates. Also…

The current study extends the research on student persistence in community colleges by investigating factors likely to influence a student's decision to drop out or stay in school. Specifically, this study examined demographic, financial, academic, academic integration, and psychosocial variables and their relationship to student persistence. A…

Understanding why people accept or reject e-learning technologies has become one of the most challenging issues in education research. Thus, this study set out to determine the effects of factors that influence service-learning faculty to include e-learning technologies in their curriculum. The principal study population was 134 service-learning…

Students encounter many issues that influence their persistence in college; some they come with, others they encounter while enrolled. Factors influencing students' success in college have taken on much interest in recent years. Students' persistence studies have been increasing; however, there is much to be learned about factors influencing…

This study compared traditional and distance education delivery platforms (onsite, hybrid, and online) at the college level in an urban setting in terms of student success, measured by final course grades and identified predictors of student success. The study examined the role of variables (prior knowledge of mathematics, language, gender,…

This study sought to explain how high school seniors across the United States think about community colleges in the context of the college choice process. The study described what attributes are associated with the community college experience and what influences those attributes. Since a weak college choice process can contribute to later…