This study sought to understand how and why Northampton Community College's Summer Bridge program--The Smart Start program--is highly successful at helping "at-risk" students transition to college-level work. For ten years, the Smart Start program has helped more than 150 incoming students acclimate to college, persist, and graduate…

Studies of transfer student success abound in higher education, yet few studies examine the role that academic libraries play in students' transitions. This study explores the academic library services offered to transfer students in Colorado through a survey of librarians. What are barriers to offering these services? How do library professionals…

Over the past four decades there has been a great amount of research on retention of students in higher education institutions (Tinto, 2006); however, few studies have examined the effect of what institutions provide for student support, regarding retention, specifically allied health program students. Retention of community college students in…

Over the years, a number of interventions aimed at increasing student engagement and performance have been implemented in higher education. Some of these, labeled high-impact practices (HIPs), when done well, have led to documented evidence of student success. Two approaches that have been identified as HIPs--first-year seminars and learning…

The purpose of this case study was to holistically investigate the environmental support needs of community college students as they transition into a research university. Both students and staff were interviewed to gain their perspective on the influences of the student transition process. Western University is a Carnegie classified Doctoral…

In December 2020, Complete College America (CCA), in partnership with the Jessie Ball duPont Fund, launched a rigorous 12- to 18-month project designed to increase student success and completion rates at small liberal arts institutions. The focus was on building and enhancing support systems for first-generation and Pell-eligible students, and…

Since Breneman and Haarlow (1998) first estimated the national cost of developmental education to be approximately $1 billion dollars, the developmental education landscape has shifted in numerous ways. This paper provides an update to their estimate in light of both these changes and improved data that disaggregates the cost to community colleges…

Research initiatives targeting Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) are beneficial to students, communities, and faculty, but they often struggle due to the young nature of the institutions and their research support offices. Moreover, larger federal institutions and 1862 land grant institutions are not aware of the history and operational…

The study of student transfer has been researched since the inception of the community college. It was not known how community college students interested in transfer and community college administrators perceive the transition into a four-year institution. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand how transfer-interested…

The highest degree awarded by the community college has generally been the associate in arts or the associate in science degree (Cohen & Brawer, 2008); however, an increasing number of community colleges have expanded their missions to award baccalaureate degrees (Levin, 2004; Russell, 2010; Walker, 2005). Although some community colleges have…

For 8 years Washington State has operated a performance funding policy, the Student Achievement Initiative (SAI). The policy allocates appropriations to the state's 34 community and technical colleges based on points earned through student achievement of college-readiness, retention, and completion milestones. Grounded in a conceptual framework of…

Burgeoning student debt and the ability of programs to adequately prepare students for jobs that will allow them to repay that debt comprise a topic of great interest in the current higher education policy environment. A key accountability measure used by the Department of Education for more than two decades has been the student loan cohort…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate outcomes of the service-learning requirement in the Associate of Science in Nursing (ASN) curriculum at the local college. The problem addressed in this study was that the local ASN program lacked formal evaluation of the service-learning requirement. Guided by Kolb's model of experiential learning, a…

In this study, the authors focus on the initiation and development of the Alamo Academies, aiming to illustrate an exemplary industry-driven model that addresses workforce development in local community. After a brief introduction of the context, the authors summarized major factors that contribute to the success of the collaboration model,…

A vast body of research exists on experiential learning and workforce preparedness of students at the high school level; however, there is a limited focus on the community college sector. Administrators, who recognize the need for studies that address the potential benefit experiential learning can provide students at two-year institutions, will…