Mandatory community college student fees have risen steadily over the past 20 years, outpacing the growth of tuition by a substantial margin. To date, research on postsecondary fees has been limited to public four-year colleges and universities, even as community college fees are growing faster and affecting students who are likely more price…

As student debt continues to climb, outstripping all other forms of personal debt and topping off at $1.7 trillion nationally, previous research has shown that the amount of anticipated debt has an impact on graduate student career choices. However, there is a dearth of information that shows if student debt is impacting student's choices before…

This study addresses the critical issue of low-income student success at Tri-County Community College (TCCC), with a specific focus on reducing the financial barriers posed by commercial textbooks. Recognizing the disproportionate impact of these costs on low-income students, the study implements an improvement initiative leveraging Open…

A college education is becoming increasingly expensive, and the burden of this cost is often felt disproportionately by marginalized students. One aspect of rising college costs are textbook prices, which have increased at a rate that far surpasses inflation. Open educational resources (OER; free, openly-licensed course materials) or Affordable…

Financial pressures on public doctoral universities are forcing them to seek more new student enrollments to grow net tuition revenues. This study evaluated public doctoral university net tuition revenue and its relationship with tuition discount rates and state appropriations. It focused on public doctoral universities with institutional…

According to the Pew Research Center (2022), Hispanic students are lagging in enrollment at four-year institutions. Additionally, Hispanic students are more likely to attend a community college as a part time student than enroll full time to earn a bachelor's degree (Fry & Taylor, 2013). The purpose of the research study was to identify the…

The ever-increasing costs and debt incurred by US college students is a hotly contested issue. In March 2022, The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) released a refreshed strategic plan for the state's higher education: Building a Talent Strong Texas. The refreshed plan concentrated on access for minority populations, enhanced…

The discourse on cost of attendance (COA) at American colleges and universities is ambiguous and complex. The literature around COA labels it as the 'sticker price' to attend college but categorization in this manner often negates the true application and meaning of this term. COA also accounts for living allowances (or indirect costs) to help…

Over several decades, a greater share of the expense of earning a college degree has shifted to students and their families as appropriations to public institutions of higher education have declined as a percentage of the overall cost to educate a student. Tuition has greatly outpaced inflation during this period, while inflation-adjusted…

With tuition increasing at a faster rate than inflation, many college students depend on grants to access education. The largest of these, the federally funded Pell Grant, subsidizes over 30 billion a year worth of tuition for eligible students (Cardona, 2023) yet no longer meets its goal of covering 75% percent of tuition costs. While the…

The primary purpose of the current study was to predict the likelihood of enrollment in Graduate School based on three independent variables: cost, time-to-completion, and return on investment. To achieve this purpose, a Z-test for the hypothesis of two proportions was utilized to create a predictive model. The model aimed to help institutional…

The purpose of this quantitative correlational-predictive study was to determine to what extent, if any, instructional costs and student services costs together and separately predict retention rates in the state of Texas in private postsecondary institutions. Based on Tinto's theory of institutional departure, the predictor variables were…

The number of Nontraditional-age students has been on the rise in higher education over time, and although this population has been increasing nationwide, there has been a continued decline in nontraditional-age students at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU). This quantitative study focused on the background characteristics, academic…

This study shows the connection of open educational resources (OERs) as a tool for student retention and a mechanism for faculty professional development. The implementation of OERs in lieu of traditional textbooks helps alleviate student costs (Lantrip & Ray, 2021). Cost has been indicated as a reason faculty choose course material (Seaman…

In a time of proliferated school choice, how do families choose a K-12 setting for their child(ren) in the state of Missouri? For many families the decision may be easy, but for others, they had to experience one educational setting before choosing another to know what they value and prioritize in their child(ren)'s education. This qualitative…