To explore the extent at which the published student affairs research in top-tier journals is conducted primarily at four-year institutions at the exclusion of literature on community colleges, we conducted a content analysis to examine the number and type of journal articles related to community colleges published in the Journal of College…

Objective/Research Question: Many localities have implemented promise programs, which cover tuition for students to attend college based on residency criteria. These "free college" programs have been shown to increase student enrollment, creating the need for additional institutional resources to support student graduation. We analyzed…

Though 92% of California's community colleges are federally recognized Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs), Hispanic/Latinx students have disproportionately low success rates statewide. HSIs have been slow to center their Latinx students, opting instead for race-neutral policies and practices. Such approaches prevent educators from addressing the…

This qualitative study will investigate the unintended consequences of implementing structural change in a rural community college in the mid-South region of the United States. Specifically, this study will examine the unanticipated outcomes of merging student affairs and academic affairs into one division. Scant empirical evidence exists about…

This hermeneutic phenomenological study examined how Latiné/x classified student services staff experience cultural taxation in a predominantly White work setting within a rural Northern California Community College. There is a lack of research on how Latiné/x classified student services staff experience cultural taxation in a higher education…

The purpose of this content analysis study was to describe the way international student populations were conceptualized on the websites of 2-year public colleges in Texas. This inquiry replicated the Ford and Cate (2020) study, "The Discursive Construction of International Students in the USA: Prestige, Diversity, and Economic Gain."…

Guided Pathways is a systemic reform movement focused on increasing community college completion rates and student achievement (Bailey et al., 2015b). Within the California community college (CCC) System, every college is implementing Guided Pathways, and the California Community College Chancellor's Office (CCCCO) continues to use this framework…

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to synthesize the literature around Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), community colleges, and Latina/o/x community college students to propose practices specifically for community colleges that are officially designated HSIs or want to be more Latinx-serving. Argument: Utilizing the conceptual framework…

Trans community college students are facing increasingly hostile campus environments across the United States in the form of Transphobic language, gendered administrative forms and processes, and inaccessible restrooms (Lange et al., 2021; Rankin, 2003). Using an Appreciative Inquiry (AI) framework, the goal in this qualitative study was to engage…

Professional development in higher education is increasingly shifting to online formats. However, online professional development often does not lend itself well to fostering meaningful human interconnection. Taking a constructivist approach, we share findings from a qualitative research study that explored what participants found meaningful in a…

The COVID-19 pandemic was a unique phenomenon that significantly impacted higher education. Programmatic grants were an important source of funding at community colleges during this unusual time, helping to provide vital resources and support services to institutions and their students. This study is one of the first of its kind to explore the…

This article reflects on how financial operations, especially at community colleges and regional public institutions, were adversely affected by the pandemic and considers what institutions could do moving forward and for the future.

Current research shows that students have the most investment in reaching their educational objectives but have no influence or voice in how their education is provided. This research study explored the lived experiences and lifted the voices of TRIO Student Support Services (SSS) recent community college graduates who reached their academic goals…

The researcher in this study used qualitative grounded theory methodology to explore the perceptions of higher education professionals in both academic affairs and student affairs units on the subject of a cultural divide between the two areas in the community college sector. The researcher also aimed to gain insight from the study participants on…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the experiences and perceptions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) students as they engage in services offered at a Maryland community college and the effect of participation and engagement in those services on their overall success while enrolled at the community…