Employee retention is an ongoing challenge for higher education student affairs professionals, who account for the largest employee group across the higher education workforce. Job satisfaction and organizational commitment have previously been identified as correlated with college and university employees' decision to stay or vacate their…

Using rich administrative data from the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office that tracks each student longitudinally, this analysis examines how the onset of the pandemic affected student enrollment duration. Data are disaggregated by student characteristics and college campuses in order to understand variable impacts and equity…

With the increase in online course enrollments each year, there is a continued examination of online course persistence, particularly in accelerated online courses. This examination of online course persistence has typically examined individual learner factors as contributors to persistence. However, research examining the institutional and…

This nonexperimental, longitudinal panel study was designed to test the predictive capacity of a grit intervention within a first-year seminar course that targeted academically underprepared students at a Mississippi community college. Extant pre- and post-grit scores for developmental students enrolled in the first-year seminar were analyzed for…

This study investigated whether social identity (i.e., ethnic, science, or a combination of ethnic and science identities) and self-efficacy (i.e., general academic and science) predict academic persistence in STEM (i.e., graduating with a baccalaureate degree in a STEM or STEM-related discipline). The study drew on social cognitive theory (SCT,…

The purpose of this quantitative predictive correlation study was to address the lack of research regarding the impacts of persistence factors on the educational outcomes of Hispanic college students. The study was a predictive correlation design with a criterion variable of grade point average (GPA). Predictor variables were the persistence…

Although dual enrollment programming and interest in how that programming shapes students' college outcomes have expanded considerably in the past 20 years, policymakers, educational administrators, and practitioners do not have adequate information about which dual enrollment structural options are most effective. Using statewide administrative…

In this study, we explored the alignment between initial transfer intent and subsequent course-completion patterns among 1,668 first-time STEM-aspiring students at two-year institutions. Using survey and transcript data, we conducted latent profile analysis and subsequent path analysis that revealed five distinct course-completion patterns:…

In this study, we develop and implement a text messaging re-enrollment campaign to encourage former community college students to return to college. Former students are randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups that either receives information to simplify the re-enrollment process or receives both information and a one-course tuition…

There is persistent underrepresentation of female and ethnic and racial minority students in computing. While community colleges provide a unique opportunity to increase diversity in computing fields, many students do not persist. This study aims to understand the factors that predict students' momentum--completion of a certificate, degree, or…

This quantitative study investigated the ability of the noncognitive characteristic of grit to predict community college student success and persistence. Grit levels were measured using the eight-item Grit-S scale that was administered to students in classes of a large suburban community college. Individual-level institutional data also were…

Research on the community college student is lacking a full understanding on all the variables that may impact online course success. Researchers in this study examined the effects of student demographics, academic motivation, learning style, and locus of control on retention rates in community college online courses. A descriptive discriminant…

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…

Community colleges are an important, yet understudied, tier of the higher education system in the United States. Community colleges serve students from all socio-economic backgrounds. As such, community college students face challenges to their educations not seen in those attending more traditional schools. This dissertation recognizes these…

Research has shown that academic momentum is a key factor in degree completion for students attending 4-year institutions. The characteristics of 2-year students (also called community college students) often lead them to engage in behaviors contrary to the theory of academic momentum, and these behaviors theoretically reduce their likelihood of…