California has numerous niche programs stressing both academic rigor and career connections. These occur most successfully where business and elected officials support K-12 partnerships and provide job-shadowing opportunities, internships, and classroom instruction offered by business partners. A sidebar outlines school-to-work principles. (MLH)

States that disagreements over whom should be counted as a transfer student or potential transfer student render it almost impossible to determine a national rate of students transferring from community colleges to the four-year sector. Urges administrators to improve on tracking the various types of community college transfers in order to yield a…

Traces the history of TRIO Programs, highlighting their effectiveness in closing educational opportunity gaps in U.S. society. Examines participation criteria, focusing on evolving definitions of educational disadvantagement relative to TRIO eligibility. In examining TRIO's Upward Bound program, the article reviews over 30 years of research on and…

Analyzed one liberal arts college's transfer students' pre- and post-transfer GPAs, determining that no statistically significant decline was found between community college and four-year institution GPAs overall. Results did indicate, however, a statistically significant decline in GPA for math and science majors, but not for students majoring in…

Explores how the increasing number of potential college students, particularly minorities, presents a two-fold challenge: how to afford and allocate resources so that all who want a college education get one, and how to provide enough college-level human capital to meet the needs of individuals and employers in our new knowledge economy. (EV)

Program-level assessments at community colleges are particularly challenging because students often achieve their goals without completing a program, or they select an array of courses that suit their needs but do not fit within an officially recognized program of study.

Nonreturning students are comprised of several student subpopulations including drop-outs, stop-outs, opt-outs, and transfer-outs. All too often these student groups are not differentiated in retention studies. The current study profiles these student subpopulations, each with varied reasons for discontinuing their studies, and examines the…

The growing policy interest in community colleges as gateways to the baccalaureate degree naturally raises the question of how equitably transfer opportunities are distributed by student background and what factors may explain background differences that might be found. We analyze two nationally representative data sets to examine how the…

As the American economy becomes increasingly knowledge based, attaining a postsecondary education is more important than ever. Projections for the next decade suggest that the strongest job growth will be in occupations requiring postsecondary education. This article examines changes between 1987 and 2003 in the postsecondary education enrollment…

Actively pursuing important goals predicts positive affect and well-being (Emmons, 1986, "J. Pers. Soc. Psychol." 51: 1058-1068; Emmons and King, 1988, "J. Pers. Soc. Psychol." 54: 1040-1048; Salmela-Aro and Nurmi, 1997, "J. Adult Dev." 4: 179-188). College-bound high school graduates (n=943) completed the ULTRA Orientation Survey prior to…

What is known about freshman students, especially about their lived experience, is fragmentary and unsystematic. This study attempted to construct a comprehensive portrait of the daily experience of freshmen at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. A total of 24 students (20 women, 4 men) participated in the study during a 3-month period.…

The developing state political organizations and the public interest research groups have involved college students in a new political activism built on the idealism of the 60s but tempered by the pragmatic politics of the seventies. (Author/PG)

The distinction between the student as campus resident (if the residential relationship is viewed as one of contract) and the student as private citizen appears to be fair to both university and student. But, whether the university is considered primarily an academic institution or an instrument of government, the off campus/on campus distinction…

This report presents the background papers and evaluation of a workshop on college personnel services for the adult. Tests found particularly useful with adults are discussed in the following categories: (1) admissions, (2) placement, (3) remedial, (4) vocational-educational planning, and (5) creativity or innovation. A review of financial aid…