This collection of best practices shares how 18 higher education institutions across the country have successfully evaluated and redesigned their student financial services programs to improve services to students and their parents and find cost savings for the institution. This volume illustrates how other institutions have successfully tackled…

This article discusses how federal and state governments can improve student access to private and public higher education institutions. Florida helps to achieve that with a common course-numbering system across community and four-year colleges, which permits students to easily transfer credits. Both the Senate and the House of Delegates in…

Americans both care about their schools and want them to improve. Though adults give the nation's public schools only mediocre grades, they are willing to invest more money in public education and they are reasonably confident that doing so will improve student learning. They are also open to a host of school reforms ranging from high-stakes…

Performance was examined for five cohorts of 1998-2002 Texas public high school graduates through their first year and 1998-2001 cohorts through their fourth year of Texas public higher education. Student performance on college outcomes included (a) first- and fourth-year grade point averages (GPAs), (b) first- and fourth-year credit hours earned,…

This proceedings contains the texts of 5 invited papers and 28 refereed papers. The following are among the papers included: "Consumer Interest in the 1990's and Beyond" (Turner); "Esther Peterson and the Consumer Movement" (Galbraith); "The Public's Right to Government Information" (English); "Partnerships in…

This report tracks federal spending from 1960 to 2006 and uses current policy and some assumptions to project activity through 2017. The report looks at more than 100 major programs that aim to improve children's lives through income security, health care, social services, food and nutritional aid, housing, education, training, and tax credits and…

The purpose of the study was to investigate the associations between first-time full-time freshmen's attributes and fall-to-fall retention at Northeast State Technical Community College. The 15 attributes included age, first-generation student status, gender, high school classification, race, the student's application date to the institution…

This essay discusses the concerns of college students and graduates regarding the teaching profession, and reviews the experiences of a former teacher who is now a university professor of education. The problem of credit transfer between community college and university programs is examined, along with the job market for new teachers. Prospective…

Nontraditional instruction is increasingly available through the Internet and other technology-based delivery systems. The telecommunication network now in place can distribute high quality educational materials to students. This briefing paper argues that the "virtual university" created by the technological delivery of instruction, while…

Since fall 1994, California's Rancho Santiago College (RSC) has regularly conducted studies to identify former continuing education (CE) students currently enrolled in credit courses and to determine their academic progress. The four sets of tables in this report provide data as of fall 1996 on former CE students' characteristics, persistence to…

Prepared as a resource for administrators and faculty at North Harris Montgomery Community College District (NHMCCD), in Texas, and for students at area school districts, this manual provides information on District processes and procedures for granting credit for competencies and skills attained outside the traditional college classroom.…

This Colorado statewide survey of student intentions was administered to 3,219 community college students in April 1996. The survey collected data on perceptions of goal attainment and compared shifts in intentions of students attending inner city, suburban and rural community colleges. Most respondents (79.2 percent) reported no change in their…

This course is designed to assist adults in documenting their prior experience, gaining an understanding of the policy and practices of recognition of prior learning (RPL), and then applying for RPL in either further education or employment. The 30-hour course is designed to be delivered over a series of weeks to allow time for students to reflect…

In winter 1994, a study was conducted at Miami-Dade Community College (M-DCC), in Florida, to determine credit students' perceptions of college services. Surveys were distributed to students in 200 credit courses requesting ratings for 21 college services with respect to the importance of the service for their "ideal" college and their…

This packet contains revisions of the following sections of the "Understanding Taxes" teacher's resource kit: complete revisions of lessons 3 and 4; updated student handouts for lessons 2, 9, and 11; new glossary; and revised software user's guide. Lesson 3, "From W-4 to 1040A," is designed to acquaint students with the basic…