President Obama's Blueprint for Keeping College Affordable and Within Reach for All Americans (2012), includes challenges to improve American higher education outcomes. One outcome that has drawn national concern is the low four- and six-year graduation rates of undergraduate students entering the nation's colleges and universities. The…

One route to increase the number of baccalaureate degree holders in the US is for educators to guide students through the open door of the community college to the point of transfer to a four-year institution. This qualitative study is comprised of three companion projects aligned to examine the decision-making process of traditional-age students…

The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) collects institution-level data from postsecondary institutions in the United States (50 states and the District of Columbia) and other U.S. jurisdictions (see appendix A for a list of other U.S. jurisdictions). This "First Look" presents findings from the preliminary data of the…

To ensure that students have access to the full range of financial aid they may need to succeed, colleges must be able to confidently and responsibly offer federal student loans. The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) and the California Community Colleges Student Financial Aid Administrators' Association (CCCSFAAA) support…

The role and function of developmental education at the American community college has been a source of controversy for many years. One primary source of conflict is the role that remedial education plays. One view supports the notion that developmental education promotes a meritocratic system of rewards, whereby even the most unprepared are…

Learning styles have been an area of interest in educational psychology for many decades. However, community college students have been overlooked in learning styles research. To enhance teacher efficacy and student success, it is important to continue to evaluate the relationship between learning styles and academic achievement. The purpose of…

The purpose of the following dissertation was to gain understanding of community college advisors' perceptions of the community college advising process. A constructivist approach was utilized to develop a general description and understanding of what influences advising perceptions from qualitative data collected through interviews with…

The author never thought he would succeed in college--and yet he is. This article presents the short story of who the author is, where he came from, his college experience, and the issues he encountered funding his college education. He is enrolled Northern Cheyenne. He graduated from Chief Dull Knife College (CDKC) in May 2011 with an associate's…

Notwithstanding variation in institutional missions, two-year colleges are the gateway to postsecondary education for the majority of college and university students in this country. As institutions of choice for many and institutions of necessity for others, two-year institutions are constantly challenged to meet the rapidly changing needs of…

The mighty heartland of the United States, the American Midwest, is certainly struggling economically. This region was the epicenter of America's industrial revolution, the arsenal of democracy in World War II, and the builder of the great blue-collar middle class that personified the American Dream. This important region made America a global…

Total associate degrees conferred by U.S. institutions increased by 11 percent between academic years 2009-10 and 2010-11 to a record high of close to 950,000. Among students of color, the percentage increase was even higher: 13 percent. Students of color received nearly 300,000 associate degrees or about one-third of the 2010-11 total. Among…

Objective: To develop a reliable and efficient method for assessing prevalence and strength of college/university tobacco-related policies. Participants: North Carolina (NC) public universities, community colleges, and private colleges/universities (N = 110). Methods: A census of policies using campus handbooks and Web sites was conducted in March…

We present an analysis of several characteristics of examples in 10 college algebra textbooks used in community colleges or 4-year institutions. We analyzed the examples along four dimensions: cognitive demand, the responses expected, the use of representations, and the strategies available for verifying the correctness of the solutions. We found…

Today a college degree is considered the ticket to a good job and the gateway to economic advancement. A student's chances of gaining admission to college, however, are often based more on parental wealth than the student's achievements. At the nation's most selective colleges, three percent of incoming freshmen come from families in the bottom…

This inquiry is an exploration of the educational trajectories of African American women community college students. We compare the persistence of African American women to African American men and to all women college students using the 1996/2001 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Survey and the 1993/2003 Baccalaureate and Beyond…