The purpose of the study was to investigate how promoting participation in KEY Careers, a career intervention program available to all incoming matriculates, influenced 1-year retention and 4-year graduation rates compared to nonparticipants at a singular institution. Archival data of 14,099 matriculates from the 2011-2014 freshman fall cohorts…

Food insecurity is a growing concern at universities across the country. Data from a large (n = 6,823) cross-sectional, single-campus survey were analyzed to understand the coping strategies college students employ to avoid, manage, or alleviate food insecurity. Findings from quantitative and qualitative data suggest that students engage in and…

Students of color remain underrepresented in social work education programs. According to the Council on Social Work Education (2016), only 37.4% of the 19,596 BSW degrees awarded during the 2014-2015 academic year were awarded to students from historically underrepresented groups. Through the lens of empowerment theory, this article presents a…

The U.S. doctoral education system ranks as one of the best in the world (National Science Foundation, 2018). Yet, doctoral attrition rates have averaged approximately 50% for decades (Church, 2009; Gardner, 2008; Lovitts, 2001). Research on the education doctorate (Ed.D.) is limited and often overshadowed by the larger body of Ph.D. studies or…

The unique tension caused by the interdependent relationship between access, affordability, and sustainability adds an additional level of complexity for administrators in balancing societal educational needs, economic realities, and institutional success. Trends suggest postsecondary six-year degree completion remains stagnant despite most full…

As a number of states have created Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)-focused options for students, and more states will make them available in the future, several important policy considerations merit analysis. These include the ways states have designed their STEM graduation options, with a focus on comparing the…

The volume of articles, books, and studies about increasing the retention, persistence, and graduation of undergraduate college students is nothing short of prolific (Seidman, 2005). However, only modest gains in undergraduate graduation rates have been made nationally (Chen, 2012; Seidman, 2005). Six-year graduation rates at all four-year…

Miami-Dade County Public Schools had 23,062 graduates in the 2018-2019 academic year. Most students, 90%, achieved a standard diploma (24 credits). Some students chose an alternative curriculum where 506 (2%) achieved an Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) diploma and 368 (2%) achieved an International Baccalaureate (IB). An…

The Campaign for Emergency Student Aid (CESA) is a unique United Negro College Fund (UNCF) scholarship program that provides "just-in-time" financial aid to historically black college and university (HBCU) students poised to graduate, but short of funding. In 2018, the Kresge Foundation provided UNCF with funding to better understand how…

Higher education institutions have prioritized supporting undecided students with their major and career decisions for decades. This study used a U.S. public research-focused university's large-scale institutional data set and undecided student's retention and graduation rate predictors to demonstrate how to couple student and institutional data…

Background: In this paper, we investigate the predictors for enrollment and success in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) programs in higher education. We develop a sequential logit model in which students enroll in STEM education, may drop out from STEM higher education, or continue studying until they graduate in an STEM…

This report is an updated version of a report published in 2021 (ED623525). It examines whether levels of state funding for higher education are associated with college graduation rates, particularly among underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. The assessment is based on an analysis of state appropriations and the six-year graduation rates of…

Recent studies of charter school effectiveness have questioned whether charter school networks can produce a lasting impact on students' long-term outcomes. Our study is the first to examine this issue at the network of Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) schools, which primarily serve disadvantaged students of color and constitute the nation's…

Placement policies are intended to match students with appropriate courses in order to improve student success, but how do you evaluate these policies? In this article, we evaluate four placement policies at Towson University by considering three categories of outcomes: long-term outcomes such as graduation and retention rates, short-term or…

Internationally, there is a gap in high-school completion rates for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. In Australia, gap estimates are commonly based on lag indicators, precluding examination of underlying mechanisms. Using two longitudinal representative samples of Australian youth, we explored differences in high-school completion between…