The Pell Grant is targeted to students with the greatest financial need, and many policymakers find the Pell Grant a useful policy lever for promoting access and success for students from lower- and moderate-income backgrounds. There are several examples where policymakers use Pell eligibility to allocate resources and hold colleges accountable…

This study presents a systematic review of the literature on the predicting student retention in higher education through machine learning algorithms based on measures such as dropout risk, attrition risk, and completion risk. A systematic review methodology was employed comprised of review protocol, requirements for study selection, and analysis…

Students, families, colleges, and lawmakers need clearer information on postsecondary outcomes to make informed decisions. By leveraging data available at institutions and federal agencies, a nationwide student-level data network (SLDN) would close information gaps that persist in our higher education landscape to answer critical questions about…

There is an increasing requirement in higher education (HE) worldwide to deliver excellence. Benchmarking is widely used for this purpose, but methodological approaches to the creation of benchmark metrics vary greatly. Approaches require selection of factors for inclusion and subsequent calculation of benchmarks for comparison. We describe an…

The rise of accountability standards has pressed higher education organizations to oversee the production and publication of data on student outcomes more closely than in the past. However, the most common measure of student outcomes, average bachelor's degree completion rates, potentially provides little information about the direct impacts of…

The goal of this study is to evaluate the effect of crime and discipline on graduation rates in higher education. Using national data on more than 1250 public and private non-profit institutions that were drawn from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, the results reveal that more violence on and around campus is associated with…

This country note presents the results of an analysis of Slovenia undertaken within the Labour Market Relevance and Outcomes of Higher Education Partnership Initiative project. The project was implemented by the OECD with the support of the European Commission with the aim of helping policy makers and higher education institutions enhance the…

Phillip Henry is a semi-retired former U.K. Registrar and Secretary with almost 40 years' experience in higher education. He has been active in staff development in the United Kingdom (Association of University Administrators, Academic Registrars Council, and Association of Heads of University Administration), in the United States (AACRAO and a…

The study used earliest available student data from a flagship university in the southeast United States to build data mining models like logistic regression with different variable selection methods, decision trees, and neural networks to explore important student characteristics associated with retention leading to graduation. The decision tree…

Increased federal attention to student completion metrics and uncertain financial forecasts have heightened the tenor of student retention conversations. Improved institutional retention rates will lead to higher completion rates and relieve some funding concerns. To accomplish these improvements, institutions have invested in analytics to better…

Prior learning assessment (PLA) is the process of evaluating learning, regardless of when or where the learning occurred, and, if the learning is at the college level, awarding college credit to the possessor of that learning. This article provides an overview of the PLA program at a large public U.S. institution and presents the findings of the…

Each year, the Rennie Center collects state-level indicators in our Data Dashboard to provide context on the condition of education in the Commonwealth. This data is collected from the MA Department of Early Education and Care; MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education; MA Department of Higher Education; U.S Census Bureau; and U.S.…

Background/Context: Community colleges are central to the United States' college completion goals. A popular strategy pushed by a number of influential policy organizations and foundations is a policy of tying state funding to community college completions, otherwise known simply as performance funding. This is happening despite little to no…

Nationally, state funding to higher education has significantly decreased. Ironically, the trend of state divestment in higher education coincides with federal and state policies geared toward increasing degree completion rates. Through an analysis of qualitative data gathered at California higher education institutions, this paper highlights how…

Issues concerning higher education today (e.g., rising costs, declining public trust, changing state economics) have created new demands for postsecondary institutions to demonstrate their productivity. We examine whether differences in states' political cultures (i.e., underlying traditions, values, and public policy choices) are reflected…