This article describes a model that can be used to analyze student enrollment data and can give insights for improving retention of part-time students and refining institutional budgeting and planning efforts. Adult higher-education programs are often challenged in that part-time students take courses less reliably than full-time students. For…

Presents the results of an analysis of comparative recurrent expenditure for part-time and full-time enrollments at 19 colleges of advanced education. Results suggest that a part-time enrollment costs less than a full-time enrollment, but that the appropriate weight exceeds .5. (Author/IRT)

We develop a model derived from human capital theory that explicitly recognizes the role of opportunity costs, particularly employment opportunities, in determining full-time/part-time enrollment patterns for college students. Using national data from the 1990/1994 Beginning Post-secondary Survey, we test this model by comparing those initially…

Over the last decade, policymakers, educators, and researchers have increasingly sought to understand community college policies and practices that promote students' success. This effort has been partly driven by an increased emphasis on outcome accountability, but it has also promoted a productive discussion about improving institutional…

Marginal costs are estimated for part- and full-time students at public two-year colleges and are compared across several expenditure categories, including instruction and student services. Results indicate that part-time students typically demand fewer institutional resources. (Author/MLW)