The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the academic and interpersonal lived experiences of Latino Delayed Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) students by analyzing their individual stories and personal accounts as community college students. This study focused on students who were undocumented but were able to attend community…

The COVID-19 pandemic led to an abrupt shift from in-person to virtual instruction in the spring of 2020. We use two complementary difference-in-differences frameworks: one that leverages within-instructor-by-course variation on whether students started their spring 2020 courses in person or online and another that incorporates student fixed…

This article explored prior research to understand how race and ethnicity impact community college students' developmental education course placement, and the lasting stigma associated with developmental course placement through the student academic journey. Further, the experiences of students of color in the developmental course classroom will…

This chapter reviews social and organizational theories that influence governance to contextualize new ways to think about the roles of boards of trustees. This chapter discusses how various organizational theories help define the roles of boards of trustees, the CEO, and other stakeholders with respect to governance. Using this backdrop, reforms…

Community college boards of trustees are not highly visible, but they play a vital role in college and student success through governance and oversight of the mission of open access higher education. The stakes are high as community colleges compete for scarce resources in state budgets making the local and state-level trustee/governing role as…

Objective: In this study, we were interested in investigating how Undocumented Student Resource Centers (USRCs) as counter-spaces were developed and sustained within community colleges. Method: We conceptualized USRCs as counter-spaces and conducted interviews with 19 staff and students coordinating the work of USRCs. Results: Three themes emerged…

More community college professors are replacing expensive commercial textbooks with no-cost open educational resources (OER) to help make college more affordable for their students. With students having no financial reason to delay or forgo textbook purchases, many instructors also expect OER adoption will lead to improvements in academic outcomes…

Children across the nation lack access to high-quality pre-K programs that can support their development and build foundational skills for elementary school. The pandemic set pre-K enrollment and funding back further, with an enrollment decline of nearly 300,000 children and state spending remaining relatively flat. As children and families return…

The U.S. faces increasing demand for STEM knowledge, contributing to enhanced products, improved health care, more efficient energy sources, a preserved environment, safeguarded national security, and economic growth. In addition, high-paying occupations increasingly require STEM knowledge, and in non-STEM occupations, workers increasingly need…

Do community colleges have formal mentoring for new faculty? Are these programs effective? A research study of mentors and mentees from one Midwestern community college rated its efficacy. These survey findings share their ratings of the program, suggestions for improvement, additional professional development needed to support the mentoring…

Incorporating instructor continuity into the first-year composition (FYC) sequence represents an opportunity for community colleges to make an informed scheduling and advising decision in order to assist in the goal to increase student success rates in FYC. Utilizing course completion data from a community college in northern Alabama, this study…

With nearly half the states having authorized community colleges to award baccalaureate degrees, the community college baccalaureate (CCB) has become an increasingly common feature of the landscape of American higher education. While there has been an expansion of research on the CCB in recent years, the research to date consists mainly of studies…

Data use in higher education continues to increase as college and university leaders aim to meet accreditor and governmental expectations to use data to improve student outcomes. However, the steady increase in data use over the past decades has not been accompanied by an increase in employee data literacy in order for employees to use the data…

This phenomenological study explores the shared experience of undecided community college students' indecision towards major and career choice using guided questions. The research explores the three categories of undecided student, while further dissecting the categories into subtypes or stages which displays the depth of the undecided student…

Before the pandemic, millions of college students eligible for the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) did not access the benefit. This gap between eligibility for SNAP benefits and the use of those benefits is often a result of confusion around federal eligibility requirements. Even when eligibility guidelines were temporarily…