Establishing early academic momentum via credit accumulation is strongly associated with community college student success. Using data from one of the nation's largest and most racially diverse community college systems, our quasi-experimental study examined how different first-semester credit loads influenced persistence. For part-time students…

In the UK, higher education (HE) policy discourse over the past 60 years has advocated flexible part-time HE for social mobility, personal development, economic advantage and leisure. However, part-time undergraduate HE in the UK is in steep decline. Against this backdrop, we were interested in how universities promote, or fail to promote,…

Mature adults comprise more than half of the UK higher education student population, indicating significant growth in participation opportunities. However, this expansion has not necessarily resulted in equal educational quality and outcomes for adult learners. This study addresses the research gap regarding the availability and quality of support…

Community colleges provide postsecondary education to millions of students in the United States each year, but their graduation rates are low. Many community colleges have implemented interventions to help students persist in college and earn degrees. MDRC has studied many such interventions; several of them improved students' academic outcomes,…

Part-time study in the UK is significant: nearly 40 per cent of higher education students study part-time. This article reports on a literature review that sought to understand the economic and social benefits of part-time study in the UK. It concludes that there are substantial and wide-ranging benefits from studying part-time. The article also…

This report examines the efforts of 46 European nations to harmonize (not "standardize") their higher education systems and indicates that the United States higher education system needs to adopt some of the features of the Bologna Process. Based on what can be learned from the Bologna Process, this report makes concrete suggestions for…

Recent developments in econometrics that are relevant to the task of estimating costs in higher education are reviewed. The relative effectiveness of alternative statistical procedures for estimating costs are also tested. Statistical cost estimation involves three basic parts: a model, a data set, and an estimation procedure. Actual data are used…

The impact of completing a part-time degree course by one year of full-time study on the personal finances of the students is explored. Analysis indicates that students can normally increase their net incomes during the period of full-time study. (JMF)

Describes a study conducted at the University of Manitoba (Canada) that investigated the magnitude and nature of demographic changes in distance-education students. Results indicate that the independent-study population has shifted toward younger students, local residence, and full-time course loads that combine independent study with on-campus…

Two quantitative enrollment projection techniques and the methods used by researchers at the Ohio Board of Regents (OBR) are discussed. Two quantitative approaches that are typically used for enrollment projections are curve-fitting techniques and causal models. Many state forecasters use curve-fitting techniques, a popular approach because only…

Based on data submitted by Florida's 28 community colleges for the fall 1993, 1994, and 1995 terms, this report describes the characteristics of the state's community college students by program area. Following an introductory narrative, six tables are presented providing data on students in adult education, college preparatory, advanced and…

The title of this document is a deliberate play on the title of the biennial reports on the progress of Bologna produced by the European Students' Union, "Bologna With Student Eyes." It is a way of paying tribute to student involvement in the Bologna reforms, and marking a parallel student working participation in the state system…

Discusses study of tenth and eleventh graders that was undertaken to determine how paid employment influences the behavior and attitudes of adolescents. Topics discussed include the development of responsibility, isolation from adults, negative effects of working, and West Germany's system of apprenticeship combined with part-time schooling. (10…

This report uses data from the 1995-96 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study to profile undergraduates who were enrolled in U.S. postsecondary institutions in the academic year 1995-96. The report begins with an essay that explores the extent to which undergraduates work while they are in school. This essay found that 79 percent of…

Trends in undergraduate, graduate, and professional enrollment in public and private colleges since 1976 are charted, and the changes in salient student characteristics are discussed, including the increase in the proportion of part-time and female students. The role of institutional efforts to cultivate new constituencies is emphasized. (MSE)