The benefits of postsecondary degrees are striking for populations who have experienced incarceration, yet little is understood about how this population succeeds with educational attainment upon release from incarceration. This qualitative collective case study examined to what extent and how six formerly incarcerated individuals who started…

Students returning from suspension remain a focus for institutions that aim to improve retention and persistence rates and graduate all admitted students. Institutions need more precise mechanisms to identify students who will be academically successful upon return from suspension and to know what support those students will need. Previous…

This study explores the role of student support services in fostering persistence among Some College, No Credential (SCNC) students re-entering higher education, with a specific focus on community colleges in Southern California. As the number of SCNC students continues to rise, understanding the challenges and support systems available to this…

Returning to education to complete Grade 12 or improve high school grades after a period away can be an overwhelming and or anxiety inducing event for many students. Upon their return to education, many factors contribute to student persistence relating to completion in Adult Basic Education (ABE). It is essential to understand these factors to…

This qualitative study provided a compilation of Latinx student stories and experiences at a medium-sized community college located on the west coast of Central Florida to further understand student challenges with persisting to degree or certificate of completion and motivational factors contributing to re-enrollment after a stop out period.…

This qualitative phenomenological research study used narrative inquiry to examine the perceptions of recent high school graduate SLIFE (Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education) regarding secondary school support systems. The study aimed to discover factors that support acculturation of SLIFE and impact their persistence through to…

American colleges play a substantial role in promoting learning-equity for all students who enter their institutions. However, most programs in higher education institutions are fashioned by cultural diversity, but very few institutional programs offer integrated services to help returning nontraditional students persist in program completion.…

One of online distance learning's positive attributes is its flexibility. However, the possibility of engaging in periods of non-enrollment (breaks) usually ends in students dropping out. In this paper, the intention to continue of those students who have not enrolled in the second semester is analyzed, adopting a long-term program perspective.…

This study explored educational persistence in the narratives of students re-engaging in secondary school, specifically relating to the messages they received from their families motivating them to succeed in school. Framed in Yosso's (2005) theory of community cultural wealth, students described the methods their families used to support them…

This exploratory, descriptive study examined trends associated with Kalamazoo Promise (KPromise) student stop out, reenrollment, and persistence to a credential upon reenrollment. For the 2006-2017 cohorts, 78% were retained from first to second year. Inferential models suggested that first-year stop out was mainly correlated to students' high…

This report for Success Boston, The Boston Foundation and the Boston Opportunity Agenda explores the many reasons why students at two institutions, Bunker Hill Community College and UMass-Boston, "stopped out" of their learning without a degree, and the reasons they did (or did not) return. The report also discusses ways in which other…

This qualitative study explored the external and internal reasons involved in students' decisions to return to college after an extended absence. Specifically, it sought to explore the role of students' concepts of who they might be (or want to avoid becoming) in the college and career domains of their lives, their possible selves. Analysis of…

Leaving school without graduating presents a significant challenge for young people and for society as a whole. One way communities and school systems are responding to this challenge is with coordinated efforts to re-engage young people in ways that make it more likely for them to earn a diploma. Re-engagement efforts vary across the country but…

Nearly all young people in the United States aspire to a college degree, but many fail to complete college in a timely manner. Does this lack of attainment reflect abandoned college plans? I analyze mixed-methods data from a five-year study of 700 low-income mothers at two Louisiana community colleges. Hurricane Katrina displaced respondents and…

This report provides an analysis of trends over a twenty year period in the attitudes and experiences of first year students in Australian universities. It is based on the national survey of first year students undertaken by the Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education at five-yearly intervals since 1994. Dramatic changes have taken…