Objective: This study examined how a set of theoretically derived factors predicted the educational attainment outcomes of Latina/o community college students. The guiding research question was, "What precollege and background characteristics, college experiences, and environmental pull factors uniquely predict persistence, certificate or…

Objective: Increasing rural community college degree attainment is very important to foster rural areas' economic and social well-being. Rural community colleges differ greatly from their suburban and urban counterparts in financial aid patterns and student bodies. However, existing literature is vacant with respect to student financial aid and…

Studies of community college finance often focus on revenue sources from the state and local government, private foundations, and tuition. While these resources are important, an often-neglected source of revenue is employer-sponsored educational assistance benefits for students. Given the dearth of literature on the benefits of this funding…

Background/Context: Sub-baccalaureate certificates can provide an accelerated pathway to gainful employment for the unemployed or underemployed. Certificates represented only 6% of postsecondary awards in 1980, but today they represent 22% of all credentials awarded and have superseded associate's and master's degrees as the second most common…

It is well established that students who begin post-secondary education at a community college are less likely to earn a bachelor's degree than otherwise similar undergraduates who begin at a 4-year school, but there is less consensus over the mechanisms generating this disparity. We explore these using national longitudinal transcript data and…

Transfer and bachelor's degree attainment rates of low-income community college beginners lag behind their middle- and high-income peers. As community college continues to be an affordable and accessible route to higher education, consideration should be given to how to close the gap in transfer and bachelor's degree attainment rates of low-income…

In 2007-2008, approximately 42% of community college students who were eligible to receive Pell grant funding did not file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Using data from the Beginning Postsecondary Student Study, this study examined the relationship between FAFSA filing status and persistence from the fall to spring…

The Federal Pell Grant Program is the nation's largest need-based grant program. While students' initial eligibility for the Pell is based on financial need, renewal of the award is contingent on their making satisfactory academic progress (SAP)--meeting minimum academic standards similar to those proposed in models of performance-based…

These Web Tables examine the demographic and postsecondary enrollment characteristics of undergraduates who attended for-profit institutions in 2007-08 and present the 6-year outcomes of undergraduates who first enrolled in for-profit postsecondary institutions in 2003-04. Data are presented for all for-profit students and separately for students…