This qualitative case study investigated how classroom interactions between instructors-students and students-students influenced Hispanic persistence in a Hispanic-serving community college in New Mexico. It was not known how Hispanic students perceived classroom interactions as well as how students perceived its influence on their persistence in…

With the large number of higher education and post-secondary options in the United States, the decision-making process for students is understandably complex. Numerous personal and institutional characteristics can influence the path a student decides to follow, and ultimately where they decide to attend. In a time where there is regional decline…

Most community college students in the U.S. must complete at least one developmental class, such as elementary algebra, before they can enroll in a college-level mathematics course. Increasingly common in such courses is the use of a web-based activity and testing system (WATS). This report presents initial results of a mixed-methods study of…

The notion of free college is appealing to students and families, particularly those who struggle to manage climbing college prices. The promise of "free" can encourage low-income or first-generation students to enroll in college when the fear of high prices may deter them otherwise. But what does "free" actually mean? Who…

The purpose of this study is to explore and capture the experiences of disability services providers (DSP) within the community college setting as it relates to facilitating and coordinating accommodations for students with disabilities, collaborating with faculty and staff in implementing and arranging accommodations for students with…

Institutions of higher education are in an era of extensive online course offerings, and the attrition rates for almost all online community college courses are high. This quantitative correlational study examined the relationship between a range of four types of student's quality of interactions (student-faculty, student-student, student-content,…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the effect of in-state resident tuition (ISRT) by the Maryland DREAM Act on student outcomes (awarded associate degrees, earned certificates, and retention) of undocumented immigrant students at a Maryland community college. Specifically, the study examined whether there were differences in…

Fall-to-fall retention and persistence are important early indicators for students working toward degrees and certificates. Data examined by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center indicated that the overall rate for students who began at a community college in fall 2016 and persisted the next fall (enrolled in the same college or…

Accounting students are under-performing at learning foundational principles from traditional instructional pedagogy. The purpose of this quasi-experimental quantitative study is to provide a better scholarly understanding of the effectiveness of cognitive load theory as applied to the accounting classroom by examining the relationship between the…

First-generation (FG) college students (students for whom neither parent has a 4-year degree) face a number of challenges as they attempt to obtain a post-secondary degree. They are more likely to come from working-class backgrounds or poverty (Reardon, 2011) and attend lower quality high schools (Warburton et al., 2001) while not benefiting from…

National data indicates that community colleges enroll the highest percentage of Black students in higher education. Prior research suggested that increased sense of belonging promoted positive student outcomes and increased persistence of students within two-year campuses. To better understand what contributes to their sense of belonging, the…

Black, Indigenous, and other students of color (BIPOC) are selecting to attend community colleges more than any other post-secondary school setting. However as the author argues, community colleges have, since their inception, served as exclusionary spaces for labor extraction that murders the spirits of BIPOC students. This article explores…

Community college faculty have always been more than classroom teachers, but during the pandemic their roles as counselors, navigators and sources of needed referrals perhaps have never been more paramount--or appreciated. Beyond the dizzying logistics and scrambled pedagogy involved in switching from in-person to online learning, faculty have…

In this article, I utilize a regression discontinuity design to estimate the effects of Tulsa Achieves--a prevalent and understudied type of tuition-free college program. In contrast to concerns regarding tuition-free community college suppressing bachelor's degree attainment, I find that Tulsa Achieves increased the likelihood of transferring to…

International students in the United States have been increasingly attracted to community colleges as a starting point to higher education. Recently, their enrollment has been dropping. Research highlights the importance of student engagement to international students. However, few studies investigate their engagement experiences in community…