Many students enter postsecondary institutions looking to further their educational endeavors. These students enter at various levels of preparedness, which can affect their learning experiences, with not all first-semester college students entering postsecondary education prepared to face the challenges of college-level work. Students come to…

The purpose of this Explanatory Mixed Methods study was to investigate the impact of dual enrollment and mentoring programs on college readiness, retention, and graduation. The current study focused on Point Park University's College Now dual enrollment and mentoring program and the impact on past participants. Furthermore, two phase quan-qual…

It has been reported that former foster care alumni aspire to attend college and graduate. However, the intent of those aspirations and the reality of those aspirations differ greatly. Many former foster care alumni do not make it to graduation. The purpose of this case study is to explore how an exemplar support program helps their former foster…

A small public historically Black college and university (HBCU) is offering the Providing Opportunities with Education and Readiness (POWER), a summer program to improve precollege high school students' academic performance and subsequent retention once in college. The problem investigated by this study was the low retention rates and grade point…

Individuals with disabilities live in higher rates of poverty and are not always able to fully integrate into their communities. Postsecondary education has traditionally been a means to enhance employment opportunities. Currently, students with disabilities are attending community colleges as their primary choice for higher education. Having an…

Two persistent shortcomings of the American labor market are the wage gaps and unequal unemployment rates that exist between racial groups. More specifically, Black and Latinx high school graduates earn less and are more likely to be unemployed than their White counterparts, on average. Likewise, students from low-income families are much more…

The Alaska Performance Scholarship (APS) rewards students who strive to excel in high school and continue their education in degree and certificate programs in Alaska. This report covers the high school, postsecondary, Alaska residency, and workforce outcomes of the APS program between Fall 2011-2023. [This report was prepared by Resource Data,…

In post-secondary education, degree attainment for first-generation college students (FGCS) is essential. The purpose of this explanatory sequential mixed-methods study is to explore the first-generation college student's persistence from their first year to the second year at a private or public post-secondary institution. The second purpose is…

Many high school seniors who plan to attend college do not enroll, and others enroll but do not return for a second year. Low-income students are more likely than their higher-income peers to fall off track after high school ends, when they often have limited connections to advisors, insufficient information about key college transition steps, and…

Many high school seniors who plan to attend college do not enroll, and others enroll but do not return for a second year. Low-income students are more likely than their higher-income peers to fall off track after high school ends. Text-message-based advising is a popular strategy to get students timely information and support, including among…

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact a Summer Bridge Program had on academically at-risk students who entered their first year of college. Additionally, this study looked at participants' and non-participants' involvement in extracurricular activities, students' sense of belonging to the college, and retention of first-year…

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of academic peer-mentorship programs on predicted persistence and predicted academic performance of academically at-risk students. A quasi-experimental design was used; the model was a non-equivalent (pretest and posttest) control group design. First-time, full-time college students were…

High school students from low-income backgrounds experience academic under-preparedness, financial distress, and socialization challenges when entering college. For these students, challenges may begin in the K-12 setting, where this population is more likely to face limitations in college counseling, lack highly qualified teachers, and have…

This study investigates the impact of summer bridge programs on the transition, engagement, and retention of Black male students at predominantly White institutions (PWIs). Black males continue to face significant challenges in higher education, including low retention rates and limited feelings of belonging. The purpose of this mixed-methods…

In recent years, there has been a shift in studies of black males and academic performance from a deficit perspective to a resilient framework. This study used a qualitative case study approach to understand black male college graduates' perceptions on the impact of the Middle or Early College high school (MEC) on their development of…