Across the country, students are unwittingly leaving postsecondary credentials on the table without institutions awarding the associate degrees they have earned. A disproportionate number of those students are from populations that have been historically excluded from or overlooked in higher education, including Black, Latinx, Indigenous students,…

"The best, hidden jewel of Benson County" is how many have described Cankdeska Cikana Community College (CCCC), the tribal college of the Spirit Lake Nation. Recent interviews with CCCC students, along with an American Indian College Fund/Gallup research study, show the positive impact that tribal colleges have on students. CCCC prides…

The three-manuscript dissertation is based on perceptions and personal strategies of successful third-semester nursing students about retention interventions at Holmes Community College Associate Degree Nursing Program on the Grenada Campus. Retention and attrition of nursing students is a current area of concern at Holmes Community College in the…

Community college completion rates are low, especially among low-income students. The existing policy and research attention has primarily focused on academic and financial challenges, but there is ample reason to think that non-academic obstacles might be key drivers of dropout rates for low-income students. This study focuses on the role of…

Established in 2013, American Honors (AH) is a program operated in partnership between the for-profit company Quad Learning and a growing number of public two-year colleges. It is designed to provide an honors curriculum and intensive wraparound advising for high-achieving, low-income domestic students, as well as for international students who…

This What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) report, part of the WWC's Supporting Postsecondary Success topic area, explores the effects of "Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP)" on enrollment, credit accumulation, and graduation rates. The WWC identified 11 studies of "ASAP," and two studies meet WWC standards. The evidence…

In this pre-registered study, we analyze the effects of need-based financial aid grant offers on the educational outcomes of low-income college students based on a large-scale randomized experiment (n=48,804). We find evidence that the grant offers increase two-year persistence by 1.7 percentage points among four-year college students. The…

This is the third data note on the project "Scaling Community College Baccalaureate Degrees: The Equity Imperative." The goal of this research is to examine degree-granting policies, institutional adoption, and program implementation related to community college baccalaureate (CCB) degrees in the United States. Given the changing policy…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the effect of in-state resident tuition (ISRT) by the Maryland DREAM Act on student outcomes (awarded associate degrees, earned certificates, and retention) of undocumented immigrant students at a Maryland community college. Specifically, the study examined whether there were differences in…

The concept of the associate degree is new to the Hong Kong tertiary education system. Public discussion and research have focused much on the policy and operational aspects of this tier, but empirical efforts to examine associate degree students' learning experiences and how it relates to the policy are relatively sparse. The present study…

Enrolling in college and completing a degree or certificate is one of the primary pathways to economic success. In 2017, median weekly earnings of full-time workers with an associate degree was 17 percent higher than full-time workers with a high school diploma only. Despite the economic advantages of educational attainment, only 32 percent of…

This What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) report, part of the WWC's Supporting Postsecondary Success topic area, explores the effects of "Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP)" on enrollment, credit accumulation, and graduation rates. The WWC identified 11 studies of "ASAP," two of which met WWC standards. The evidence…

The purpose of this study was to identify the obstacles faced and strategies used to overcome those obstacles by undergraduate teacher education majors who began their coursework at a community college and completed an Associate of Arts in Teaching (AAT) degree in teacher education. In this study, the questions asked of the participants touched on…

In response to the educational equity gaps for students of African descent on California Community College campuses, the Umoja Community Education Foundation (Umoja Community) seeks "to transform, enrich and advance the lives of students by infusing culturally-relevant pedagogy and practices." The Research and Planning Group for…

In line with the national trend, Mississippi faces the same challenge that fewer students are completing college degrees. In response to the national call for more degrees, many states have implemented dual enrollment programs to try to decrease the transition anxiety between high school and college, which could possibly lead to more college…