Financial constraints, political events, and an explosion in the college-age population have put tremendous pressure on higher education in Africa. These pressures threaten education and the future of the continent. Governments and universities must make difficult choices to address these challenges. (SLD)

A surprising upturn in fall 1998 college enrollments is attributed largely to increases in the number of high school graduates but also to some state policies concerning admission to state institutions. While campus officials are pleased at the trend, many are struggling to find housing for the students. (MSE)

One of the reasons that the college participation rate is so low for young blacks is the very large high school dropout rate among black students. Compares black high school graduations by state, black and white high school graduation rates by state, and high school graduation rates in selected cities. (SM)

Reviews data on student transfers between colleges, especially transfers from community colleges to baccalaureate-granting institutions. Considers the overall transfer picture, community college transfer rates, and complicating factors such as varying times students spend at community colleges before transferring and the increasing incidence of…

Discusses findings from this special issue on adolescent transition to university. Focuses primarily on how findings highlight the importance of context in youth development. Concludes that articles point to the importance of studying developmental processes in college-bound students while they are in secondary school. (Author/KB)

A number of states are requiring public two-year colleges to raise academic standards so graduates can compete in four-year institutions, even linking student performance to funding. Some say the change will result in better-prepared graduates; others say struggling students will be discouraged and drop out. (MSE)

Accounting for only 1 percent of the total U.S. population, American Indians have a 60 percent to 70 percent high school dropout rate, the highest among all minority groups. At the same time, however, more American Indian students than ever are graduating from high school and leaving their home communities behind in pursuit of a higher education.…

Fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, the percentage of African American students who receive PhDs in natural science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) fields remains disappointingly low. A multifaceted, strengths-based approach to intervention and research that holds great promise for increasing the number of African…

In this paper the authors describe the ways poststructuralist discourses assisted us to reading and reflection on data collected as part of a traditional survey-style research study. The study--generated in response to widespread concern about falling male enrolment rates at the authors' regional university--focused upon factors affecting rural…

This article explores the complex, hierarchical relation among school characteristics, individual differences in academic achievement, extracurricular activities, and socioeconomic background on performance on the verbal and mathematics Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). Using multilevel structural equation models (SEMs) with latent means, we…

Transfer students represent an increasingly important group in four-year schools. To date, only limited information on the research abilities and library needs of this group has been reported. A survey of information needs and skills of incoming transfer students at Western Washington University (WWU) showed that while many reported some…

The purpose of this article is to gain practical knowledge about a population of students that is vital and necessary to any university community. The history of transfer students lends itself to the assumption that there is no targeted marketing, specific recruitment materials, equity in events or outreach activities, or equal data gathered in…

According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project (2002), "The Internet Goes to College", all college students began using a computer between the ages of 16-18 and 85% of those college students owned their own computer and had gone online. The Internet had become "a staple of college students' educational experience…a…

What skills and competencies do high school students need to master for future success? And what can high schools do to develop these skills? Research on skills has tended to focus either on college readiness or on workplace readiness, often in isolation and frequently without reference to what the broader field of youth development tells us…

This publication contains a sample of the indicators in "The Condition of Education 2009." The indicators include: (1) Enrollment Trends by Age; (2) Reading Performance and Achievement Gaps; (3) Mathematics Performance and Achievement Gaps; (4) Reading and Mathematics Score Trends; (5) Annual Earnings of Young Adults; (6) Public High…