This article studies state-developed courses in career and technical education (CTE) that offer students the opportunity to earn college credit during high school. Using a regression-discontinuity approach, we examine the effects of passing the end-of-course exam necessary to secure college credit on postsecondary enrollment and choice. We find…

Although students who have ever been identified as English learners (ever-ELs) during K-12 comprise a significant and growing share of the population, the transient nature of K-12 EL status and services makes it difficult for researchers to follow ever-ELs throughout their educational pipeline and into college. We use longitudinal state…

Students enter university programs with the hope of passing courses and eventually graduating with a degree. However, many students experience challenges transitioning into their program and the first year. Some of these challenges may be influenced by their pre-collegiate experiences, as certain students come from under-resourced communities…

High school outreach activities in the engineering context aim to attract high school students to join a university engineering programme. Oftentimes, high school outreach activities are organised and conducted by university representatives, for instance, teachers and students, who employ different engagement strategies during their interaction…

In her 2024 State of the State address, New York Governor Kathy Hochul introduced the Top 10% Promise, a policy offering New York students ranked in the top 10% of their high school class direct admission to the State University of New York (SUNY) system. "Access to higher education," she said, "has the potential to transform the…

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to analyse first-generation Chilean students' transition experiences from secondary school to university. Design/methodology/approach: This article presents the analysis results of 12 visual narratives of first-generation Chilean university students, who provided an account of their transition experience…

Colleges identify prospective students by purchasing "student lists." Student list products are selection devices that use search filters to select students. Drawing from the sociology of race, we conceptualize some filters as "racialized inputs," defined as inputs that are correlated with race because disadvantaged racial…

In 2015, Idaho adopted the nation's first direct admissions system and proactively admitted all high school graduates to a set of public institutions. This reimagination of the admissions process may reduce barriers to students' enrollment and improve access across geographic and socioeconomic contexts by removing many human capital,…

In 2015, Idaho adopted the nation's first direct admissions system and proactively admitted all high school graduates to a set of public institutions. This reimagination of the admissions process may reduce barriers to students' enrollment and improve access across geographic and socioeconomic contexts by removing many human capital,…

Scholarship on nonresident enrollment by public research universities has developed in isolation from scholarship on linkages between private high schools and selective private universities. We argue that these literatures are part of a broader story about the competition for students from affluent schools and communities. This manuscript analyzes…

This brief is part of the Affirming Equity, Ensuring Inclusion, and Empowering Action initiative. The brief describes the emerging practice of direct admissions, including how the practice has been designed, what outcomes it has produced, and considerations for policymakers debating the implementation of a direct admissions program in their state…

This study investigates the impact of readiness programs on Early Admission (EA) students at a 2-year public college. EA programs allow high school seniors students to enroll full-time in college courses while earning both high school and college credits. However, these students often face challenges in academic success, social-emotional support,…

Following a landmark court ruling in 2005, more than half of Germany's universities started charging tuition fees, which were subsequently abolished until 2015. We exploit the unusual lack of grandfathering in these policies to show that fees increase study effort and degree completion among incumbent students. However, fees also decrease…

Using ongoing interviews and focus groups, this longitudinal study examines perceptions of eight students entering a state-serving, public university about the role of social class in identifying symbolic boundaries in different layers of the environment (e.g., from small group to school-wide) in the transition from high school to college.…

Leveraging rich data on the universe of Texas high school graduates, we estimate how the relationship between geographic access to public two- and four-year postsecondary institutions and postsecondary outcomes varies across race-ethnicity and socioeconomic status. We find that students are sensitive to the distance they must travel to access…