Institutional researchers are often tasked with assessing why college-wide initiatives succeed or fail. This can be a difficult task: researchers need to discriminate between multiple feasible explanations, work with limited data, and produce compelling narratives. Process tracing is a qualitative methodology that enables researchers to make valid…

Background: Prior studies suggest that Federal Work-Study (FWS) participation is positively associated with student learning, persistence, and academic achievement at four-year institutions. Limited research, however, has evaluated whether FWS participation improves academic success among students attending community colleges. Purpose and Research…

Individuals who are deaf have historically faced significant obstacles to equity in employment. This secondary analysis of data from the second National Longitudinal Transition Study (NLTS2) examined (a) intensive vocation-related courses taken by students who are deaf and (b) their impact on long-term employment outcomes. Deaf students in general…

This First Look report presents selected findings about student financial aid during the 2015-16 academic year. These findings are based on data from the 2015-16 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:16), a nationally representative sample survey of undergraduate and graduate students enrolled any time between July 1, 2015, and June 30,…

This report provides a detailed look at the sources and distribution of grants, loans, and other student aid for the most recent academic year and how this funding has changed over time. The federal government provided two-thirds of all student aid in 2016-17, but only one-third of the grant aid. In the context of uncertainty about the timing of…

The designation "low income" is often assigned to students who are Federal Pell Grant eligible; however, family incomes for these recipients range from $0 to as high as $60,000 (Baum & Payea, 2011). Over 93% of all zero expected family contribution (EFC) students have a family income of $30,000 or less and constituted 67.4% of all…

The Health Services Careers Program (HSCP) at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions (JHMI) in East Baltimore is a multi-purpose, inter-agency program designed to facilitate part-time employment, on-the-job training, and guidance in health occupations for economically disadvantaged high school students. Since 1966, HSCP has enrolled over 1300…

The Special Secondary Impact Program instituted in 14 California secondary schools provided counseling and part time jobs to migrant students to help them stay in school long enough to graduate. The study examined the program's effect on inter- and intra-state migrant secondary school students. Variables measured migrant enrollment, migrant…

This study examined the current role of part-time higher education at first degree and Higher National Certificate/Diploma levels in Scotland. It looked at patterns of participation and availability, and also assessed the advantages and disadvantages of part-time study from the perspective of students, institutions, and employers. The research…