Concerns about rising college costs and uncertain economic returns have combined with a wave of populist backlash to reduce public trust in higher education, which plummeted to new lows in 2023. President Biden, who ran his 2020 campaign on a platform that included student loan forgiveness and free community college, has focused some of his recent…

State support for higher education has been volatile, prompting public universities to pursue alternative revenue sources to supplement state support. While dependence on alternative revenue sources has been raising, the relationship between these revenue sources and graduation rates has not been examined in depth. This study used panel data from…

Six-year college graduation rates for Hispanic and White students from 17 cohorts were analyzed using data from the U.S. Department of Education's IPED System. Results from regression analyses confirmed statistically significant positive linear trends for Hispanic and White students and statistically significant differences between the two…

Students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds, defined as both first-generation and low-income, represent a growing population attending 4-year universities with the hopes of social mobility and the economic benefits of a bachelor's degree. However, the graduation rates of these students are 43% lower than that of their more affluent peers, a gap…

This study uses the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health to examine the effect of childhood trauma experiences on college graduation rates. A longitudinal mediation path analysis with a binary logistic regression is performed using trauma as a mediator between race, gender, first-generation status and college completion. The…

African American male enrollment in degree-granting postsecondary institutions saw a small increase between 2010 and 2019, rising nine percent over that period. However, their representation only reached eight percent of total undergraduate students by fall 2019, down slightly from nine percent in 2010. Only 37% of African American men who started…

Dual credit instruction allows academically prepared high school students to simultaneously earn credits that count toward a high school diploma and a college degree. Dual credit instruction delivers a "win-win" arrangement for all parties: students gain access to challenging college-level coursework to make their junior and senior years…

The Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning serves as the governing board overseeing the eight public universities in Mississippi, including the University of Mississippi Medical Center located in Jackson. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools is the accrediting body for each of the public universities in Mississippi.…

The challenge of increasing the number of minority students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) degrees is a systemic problem. In the case of higher education, one of the main challenges also includes the retention of academically prepared minority students who are underrepresented in STEM degree programs. President Barack Obama…

The purpose of this study was to explore the factors that lead to the disproportionality of the graduation rates of African American and Latinx students at College X. This qualitative case study utilized interviews with faculty, staff, and administrators, document analysis, and site observations to study a small Midwestern college, College X.…

High school graduation represents a pivotal milestone with far-reaching implications for an individual's future in social, economic, professional, and personal spheres. Despite its significance, only approximately 85.5% of students in the United States successfully earn their diploma each year, with groups such as black, Hispanic, American…

While there is an increase in racial and ethnic diversity on college campuses, the rate of degree completion remains uneven and disproportionate to the population (Aud et al., 2012; Williams, 2013). For Black and Latinx students at both two- and four-year institutions, degree completion issues remain persistent and have widened over time (Taylor…

There is an underrepresentation of Filipino American and Asian American school administrators. The problem is that low Filipino American administrator-Filipino American student ethnicity match ratios and low Asian American administrator-Filipino American student race match ratios have negatively affected the graduation rates and chronic…

The purpose of this study was to assess differences in four-year persistence and graduation rates between students who participated in a research-based academic first-year seminar (n = 385) and a matched quasi-control group who did not (n = 385). Although research has consistently identified positive outcomes for students who participate in these…

Research has shown that undergraduate research experiences can have substantive effects on retaining students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). However, it is impossible to provide individual research experiences for every undergraduate student, especially at large universities. Course-based undergraduate research…