In 2015, the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) collected responses from more than 315,000 first-year and senior students attending 585 bachelor's degree-granting colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. This report presents selected NSSE results from students at 541 U.S. institutions or subsets of that group where…

This dissertation explored the four-year college experience of first-generation and continuing-generation students at a small private institution. Using Astin's I-E-O model (1970), the following variables in the student experience were considered: precollege student characteristics (input); engagement in academic experiences, cocurricular…

This study explores the relationship between graduate students' communication practices and their perceived sense of program-level community within a graduate program. The program under study consists of both traditional on-campus students, as well as students who take classes via a distributed-learning model. This particular program has made a…

Although students who live off-campus comprise over 85% of today's college enrollments (Horn & Nevill, 2006), the body of research on this group is far smaller than that on residential students. Researchers regularly treat commuter students as a homogenous group and largely ignore the significant within-group differences that characterize the…

This study examined Hocking College female students who were enrolled engineering majors from 2001-2007, and comparatively examined female students who were enrolled in different programs within other majors. Specifically examined were student persistence two quarters postengineering studies, student persistence to graduation, student persistence…

A 1998 amendment to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act was clear in permitting colleges and universities to notify parents of students under age 21 when they have been found responsible for "a disciplinary violation with respect to such use or possession" of alcohol or any controlled substance (FERPA, 20 U.S.C. section 1232g,…

This white paper continues the Commission's examination of how rising college costs are affecting California families. An earlier paper looked at the costs for students living on campus at the University of California (UC) and the California State University (CSU). Rising costs for UC and CSU have been particularly hard on middle- and lower-income…

In a study of new friendships and adjustment among 1st-year university students, students at six Canadian universities completed questionnaires that assessed the quality of new friendships and adjustment during their first academic year. In-depth, face-to-face interviews about students' new friendships were conducted with a subsample of these…

This report is the tenth in a series published annually by Universities UK, with the support of GuildHE, updating and expanding a rich variety of data which help us to understand higher education in the UK. Since its first report in 2001, the "Patterns" series has examined the trends in UK higher education at both the sector and…

The purpose of this study was to examine what types of initiatives exist to increase access to and affordability of postsecondary education, especially in community college programs that lead to occupational advancement. We reviewed community college agency and state legislative Web sites to discover what initiatives or policies are currently…

A quasi-experiment using quantitative methods was conducted to examine the effects on academic student outcomes when a cohort of employed low-SES community college commuter students (the treatment group, N=198) participated in a comprehensive support and access intervention program, compared with similar students (the matched comparison group,…

Based on Tinto's (1993) model of academic persistence, this study investigated the relationship of loneliness, social support, and living arrangements with academic persistence decisions of 401 college freshmen. Participants completed a series of standardized instruments during class time. Social support was negatively related to loneliness and…

This chapter explores how community colleges internationalize curricula by examining both on- and off-campus strategies.

This qualitative study explores the nature of undergraduate commuter students' social involvement with peers during the transitional first six months of their university experience. Focus group interviews with 46 participants provided a student perspective of the role of social interactions in students' transition to university life. Findings…

The new student center at Trenton State College is situated on the walkway between the central campus and the commuter parking areas. The location brings resident and commuter students together. (Author/MLF)