Parents in the United States frequently supplement the student loans available to their children by cosigning on a loan, borrowing against their home equity, or with unsecured debt in their own names. This paper investigates whether some students are constrained from attending and completing college by their parents' lack of access to credit…

This study examines how private colleges and universities choose to spend versus reinvest resources in endowment funds that have suffered investment losses. The analysis takes advantage of a market downturn and public policy shift, which together revealed how colleges define prudent spending. Investment losses during the financial crisis of 2008…

This study examined the effect of attending Pre-K 4 SA on students' educational achievement in third and fourth grades. Pre-K 4 SA is a high-quality pre-kindergarten (pre-K) program in San Antonio that meets all quality standards defined by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER). The results showed that distance to Pre-K 4 SA…

The California Teacher Residency Grant Program provided essential, one-time funding to jump-start new and to expand existing teacher residencies, which are pathways into the teaching profession that integrate a residents' coursework with a yearlong placement in the classroom of an expert teacher. In spring of 2021, WestEd collected data through…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify which student groups Black students perceive as needing food assistance, to explore how Black students' perceptions of students in need impacts their decision to utilize the on-campus food pantry at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), and to identify the circumstances that…

This research applies the community cultural wealth model to explore how Black and Latinx students experience financial barriers in college from an appreciative lens. The purpose of this study was to increase understanding of how Black and Latinx students use aspirational, familial, social, navigational, resistant, and linguistic capital to…

This study examined the relationship between family wealth and school dropout among vocational education students (n = 1,231; mean age=17.81). It investigated whether (1) family affluence and adolescents' own perceptions and experiences of their family wealth (i.e., perceived family wealth, financial scarcity) predict dropout, (2) adolescents'…

As part of its broader Student Parent Success Initiative, Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) conducted original research focusing specifically on Black single mother students. This report summarizes findings from 25 interviews IWPR conducted with Black single mother community college students, consisting of both students who were…

Chinese students represent the largest group of international students in the United States and have been reported to experience various challenges and stressors including transitional stress, academic stress, language barriers, financial difficulties, perceived discrimination, loss of social support, and homesickness. This study drew from…

The U.S. Department of Education has projected enrollment declines over the next decade, leading to budget cuts for school districts, which will be particularly impactful in urban and rural areas serving vulnerable students. As federal COVID-19 funds expire, districts will face challenges in cutting costs, potentially leading to layoffs or school…

Through this research I explored the challenges faced by first-generation and low-income students during their transition to higher education, focusing on the role of pre-college programs like TRIO. The study aims to identify barriers to college accessibility and success for these underrepresented students and assess the effectiveness of TRIO…

At a time when universities internationally participate in continual processes of restructuring, repositioning and reprioritising, calls for 'voluntary' redundancy among teaching and learning staff become frequent events. Australian and New Zealand academics, whose stories inform this study, have, particularly, been made subject to severance,…

This study investigates the reasons for students, who have reached the final stages of their associate degree at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, to postpone or abandon their academic work. Further, this study also investigates what remedial actions could have helped them complete their degree. Using a mixed methods design,…

This article aims to examine alternative explanations of social disadvantage on the university-to-work transition experiences of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) students. 'Becoming employable' during the university-to-work transition is reflected in three ways: students' cognition/patterns of thinking (i.e. perceived…

In this report we explore how and why undergraduate students' career and education plans changed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that when students changed their plans, they were more likely to pursue employment instead of graduate education. Students reported that their plans changed due to not being accepted into graduate school,…