The North Carolina Promise (NC Promise) is an education subsidy program that sets in-state tuition at $500 per semester and out-of-state tuition at $2500 per semester for all undergraduates at four campuses of the University of North Carolina (UNC) System campuses applies to all undergraduate students beginning with the Fall 2018 semester. A goal…

In the United States, postsecondary educational attainment positively correlates to the probability of a person being employed and the amount of money they earn (U.S. Department of Labor, 2018). Financial aid programs attempt to help students afford, remain in, and finish their postsecondary pursuits, but Levin (1989) asserted some forms of…

This research study attempted to understand the implications of a last-dollar, free community college program, otherwise known as a College Promise Program, and its ability to provide educational access, academic success, and degree attainment for the neediest of students. Three research questions focused on the relationship between eligibility…

Parenting is a complicated journey that never ends for those who raise children with special needs. Families need to make several difficult decisions about life after high school, and they are often left alone to navigate those choices. Decisions on life after high school are one of several choices families are left to navigate. This qualitative…

As the looming enrollment cliff approaches and more adult learners return to higher education, understanding the factors that affect their persistence and retention is vital for higher education institutions. Previous studies have shown that external factors influence post-traditional learners' pursuit of higher education. This program evaluation…

Higher education administrators face challenges related to declining net tuition revenues. Net tuition revenues are sustaining decreases related to tuition discounting and declining enrollments. College and university leaders were interviewed in this qualitative study to determine why it is challenging to reverse narrowing net tuition revenues and…

Impacts to postsecondary institutions' enrollment and financial positions that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic were examined in this study. Taking a quantitative observational approach, enrollment trends as they relate to changes in tuition and fee revenue, unrestricted cash on hand, and unrestricted investments held are analyzed to determine…

This study was designed to explore the lived experiences of the free tuition movement from the standpoint of community college administrators. To accomplish this objective, a qualitative phenomenological approach was chosen. The sampling used in this study was purposive sampling which included nine colleges and eleven semi-structured telephone…

This study seeks to understand the effectiveness of impact mitigation strategies developed to assist college students displaced by institutional closure following a natural disaster. A case-study approach focuses on a subset of students displaced by Hurricane Katrina, who enrolled at Syracuse University for the Fall 2005 semester. The study found…

The COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted enrollment, a continuation of the decline ongoing since 2010. Two-year colleges are highly dependent on tuition revenue. Consequently, the pandemic exacerbated the postsecondary economic crisis, as 2-year institutions faced financial hardship amidst enrollment uncertainties. In response to the pandemic,…

The California Community Colleges (CCC) is the largest system of higher education in the United States. In the past two decades, CCC has effectively shut hundreds of thousands of students out of higher education by increasing the cost of tuition. The drop in student enrollment resulted in fewer students meeting their educational goals within a…

This program evaluation focused on the Palcare Literacy Innovation Project. The general research problem was to see if the enhanced preschool literacy project would show an improvement in the preschool classroom literacy environment, overall parent participation and a deeper connection to the community over a three-year period. The specific gap in…

College enrollment and completion rates among low-income and historically underserved students are lower than those of their middle- and upper-income counterparts. "Promise scholarships," also known as "last dollar" scholarships, are becoming an increasingly popular way for states throughout the U.S. to incentivize…

Consolidation has been practiced in governments, school districts, and business for many years and in higher education since the early 1900s with the primary focus on the efficiency and financial savings found in the process. The nine consolidations in the University System of Georgia (USG) were driven by six principles which sought to achieve…

This study examines the root causes of student success and struggle in the first semester of a community college tuition-free promise program. The research is set within the context of the Gateway2NKU River Cities Promise Program (RCPP), a partnership between Gateway Community and Technical College (Gateway) and Northern Kentucky University (NKU)…