The State of College Access and Completion

The State of College Access and Completion
Author :
Publisher : Routledge
Total Pages : 253
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781135106706
ISBN-13 : 1135106703
Rating : 4/5 (06 Downloads)

Synopsis The State of College Access and Completion by : Laura W. Perna

Despite decades of substantial investments by the federal government, state governments, colleges and universities, and private foundations, students from low-income families as well as racial and ethnic minority groups continue to have substantially lower levels of postsecondary educational attainment than individuals from other groups. The State of College Access and Completion draws together leading researchers nationwide to summarize the state of college access and success and to provide recommendations for how institutional leaders and policymakers can effectively improve the entire spectrum of college access and completion. Springboarding from a seminar series organized by the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, chapter authors explore what is known and not known from existing research about how to improve student success. This much-needed book calls explicit attention to the state of college access and success not only for traditional college-age students, but also for the substantial and growing number of "nontraditional" students. Describing trends in various outcomes along the pathway from college access to completion, this volume documents persisting gaps in outcomes based on students’ demographic characteristics and offers recommendations for strategies to raise student attainment. Graduate students, scholars, and researchers in higher education will find The State of College Access and Completion to be an important and timely resource.

Improving College Access and Completion for Low-income and First-generation Students :.

Improving College Access and Completion for Low-income and First-generation Students :.
Author :
Publisher :
Total Pages :
Release :
ISBN-10 : OCLC:1251958214
ISBN-13 :
Rating : 4/5 (14 Downloads)

Synopsis Improving College Access and Completion for Low-income and First-generation Students :. by : United States. Congress. House. Committee on Education and the Workforce. Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training

The Costs of Completion

The Costs of Completion
Author :
Publisher : JHU Press
Total Pages : 349
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781421442082
ISBN-13 : 1421442086
Rating : 4/5 (82 Downloads)

Synopsis The Costs of Completion by : Robin G. Isserles

To improve community college success, we need to consider the lived realities of students. Our nation's community colleges are facing a completion crisis. The college-going experience of too many students is interrupted, lengthening their time to completing a degree—or worse, causing many to drop out altogether. In The Costs of Completion, Robin G. Isserles contextualizes this crisis by placing blame on the neoliberal policies that have shaped public community colleges over the past thirty years. The disinvestment of state funding, she explains, has created austerity conditions, leading to an overreliance on contingent labor, excessive investments in advisement technologies, and a push to performance outcomes like retention and graduation rates for measuring student and institutional success. The prevailing theory at the root of the community college completion crisis—academic momentum—suggests that students need to build momentum in their first year by becoming academically integrated, thereby increasing their chances of graduating in a timely fashion. A host of what Isserles terms "innovative disruptions" have been implemented as a way to improve on community college completion, but because disruptions are primarily driven by degree attainment, Isserles argues that they place learning and developing as afterthoughts while ignoring the complex lives that define so many community college students. Drawing on more than twenty years of teaching, advising, and researching largely first-generation community college students as well as an analysis of five years of student enrollment patterns, college experiences, and life narratives, Isserles takes pains to center students and their experiences. She proposes initiatives created in accordance with a care ethic, which strive to not only get students through college—quantifying credit accumulation and the like—but also enable our most precarious students to flourish in a college environment. Ultimately, The Costs of Completion offers a deeper, more complex understanding of who community college students are, why and how they enroll, and what higher education institutions can do to better support them.

From College Access to Completion

From College Access to Completion
Author :
Publisher :
Total Pages : 12
Release :
ISBN-10 : OCLC:1062816608
ISBN-13 :
Rating : 4/5 (08 Downloads)

Synopsis From College Access to Completion by : Lisa Quay

The Warren Institute is a multidisciplinary, collaborative venture to produce research, research-based policy prescriptions, and curricular innovation on issues of racial and ethnic justice in California and the nation. The Civil Rights Research Roundtable on Education is an initiative of the Warren Institute that convenes an ongoing learning community composed of leading national civil rights organizations to discuss the latest educational research and evidence-based practices related to civil rights goals in education. This research brief focuses on the current state of postsecondary credential completion in America, with a particular emphasis on the crisis of attrition among traditionally underrepresented groups attending two- and four-year institutions: specifically, low-income students, students of color, and non-traditional students. These students are substantially less likely to enroll in higher education, and if they do matriculate, they are far less likely to emerge with a degree. The brief examines the causes of the current low rates of college completion and discusses some of the ways in which the federal government and the states are addressing the problem and the work that is yet to be done. (Contains 1 figure and 54 footnotes.).

Empty Promises

Empty Promises
Author :
Publisher :
Total Pages : 68
Release :
ISBN-10 : PURD:32754073709317
ISBN-13 :
Rating : 4/5 (17 Downloads)

Synopsis Empty Promises by :

The Attainment Agenda

The Attainment Agenda
Author :
Publisher : JHU Press
Total Pages : 324
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781421414072
ISBN-13 : 1421414074
Rating : 4/5 (72 Downloads)

Synopsis The Attainment Agenda by : Laura W. Perna

How state leadership determines effective higher education attainment. Although the federal government invests substantial resources into student financial aid, states have the primary responsibility for policies that raise overall higher educational attainment and improve equity across groups. The importance of understanding how states may accomplish these goals has never been greater, as educational attainment is increasingly required for economic and social well-being of individuals and society. Drawing on data collected from case studies of the relationship between public policy and higher education performance in five states—Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Texas, and Washington—The Attainment Agenda offers a framework for understanding how state public policy can effectively promote educational attainment. Laura W. Perna and Joni E. Finney argue that there is no silver bullet to improve higher education attainment. Instead, achieving the required levels of attainment demands a comprehensive approach. State leaders must consider how performance in one area (such as degree completion) is connected to performance in other areas (such as preparation or affordability), how particular policies interact to produce expected and unexpected outcomes, and how policy approaches must be adapted to reflect their particular context. The authors call for greater attention to the state role in providing policy leadership to advance a cohesive public agenda for higher education and adopting public policies that not only increase the demand for and supply of higher education but also level the playing field for higher educational opportunity. The insights offered in The Attainment Agenda have important implications for public policymakers, college and university leaders, and educational researchers interested in ensuring sustained higher education attainment.

Debt-Free Degree

Debt-Free Degree
Author :
Publisher : Ramsey Press
Total Pages : 224
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781942121121
ISBN-13 : 1942121121
Rating : 4/5 (21 Downloads)

Synopsis Debt-Free Degree by : Anthony ONeal

Every parent wants the best for their child. That’s why they send them to college! But most parents struggle to pay for school and end up turning to student loans. That’s why the majority of graduates walk away with $35,000 in student loan debt and no clue what that debt will really cost them.1 Student loan debt doesn’t open doors for young adults—it closes them. They postpone getting married and starting a family. That debt even takes away their freedom to pursue their dreams. But there is a different way. Going to college without student loans is possible! In Debt-Free Degree, Anthony ONeal teaches parents how to get their child through school without debt, even if they haven’t saved for it. He also shows parents: *How to prepare their child for college *Which classes to take in high school *How and when to take the ACT and SAT *The right way to do college visits *How to choose a major A college education is supposed to prepare a graduate for their future, not rob them of their paycheck and freedom for decades. Debt-Free Degree shows parents how to pay cash for college and set their child up to succeed for life.

The Role of State Policy in Promoting College Access and Success

The Role of State Policy in Promoting College Access and Success
Author :
Publisher : SAGE Publications, Incorporated
Total Pages : 0
Release :
ISBN-10 : 1483380033
ISBN-13 : 9781483380032
Rating : 4/5 (33 Downloads)

Synopsis The Role of State Policy in Promoting College Access and Success by : Michael K. McLendon

Today more than ever, higher education is profoundly important to the prosperity of U.S. society. It is increasingly required for jobs; produces higher earnings, which spurs economic growth; and encourages civic engagement, which strengthens the foundation of democracy. Although the benefits are clear, educational attainment in the United States has stalled. The United States trails its peers substantially, limiting its international competitiveness, and educational disparity exists across socioeconomic groups within the United States, furthering inequality of many kinds. The key to reversing this trend lies in policy innovations within higher education. This volume of The ANNALS offers theoretically grounded empirical analysis of the impact of public policy on higher education. The collection of articles examines the effects of state policy on student readiness for, participation in, and completion of college, in addition to college affordability. The authors also identify theoretical and methodological approaches for future research to help improve policies and higher education attainment in the states.

College Access, Initial College Choice and Degree Completion

College Access, Initial College Choice and Degree Completion
Author :
Publisher :
Total Pages : 60
Release :
ISBN-10 : OCLC:904348654
ISBN-13 :
Rating : 4/5 (54 Downloads)

Synopsis College Access, Initial College Choice and Degree Completion by : Joshua Goodman

The relatively low degree completion rate of U.S. college students has prompted debate over the extent to which the problem is attributable to the students or to their choice of colleges. Estimating the impact of initial college choice is confounded by the non-random nature of college selection. We solve this selection problem by studying the universe of SAT-takers in the state of Georgia, where minimum SAT scores required for admission to the four-year public college sector generate exogenous variation in initial college choice. Regression discontinuity estimates comparing the relatively low-skilled students just above and below this minimum threshold show that access to this sector increases enrollment in four-year colleges, largely by diverting students from two-year community colleges. Most importantly, access to four-year public colleges substantially increases bachelor's degree completion rates, particularly for low-income students. Conditional on a student's own academic skill, the institutional completion rate of his initial college explains a large fraction of his own probability of completion. Consistent with prior research on college quality and the two-year college penalty, these results may explain part of the labor market return to college quality.

The College Completion Agenda: Practical Approaches for Reaching the Big Goal

The College Completion Agenda: Practical Approaches for Reaching the Big Goal
Author :
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages : 98
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781118862247
ISBN-13 : 1118862244
Rating : 4/5 (47 Downloads)

Synopsis The College Completion Agenda: Practical Approaches for Reaching the Big Goal by : Brad C. Phillips

This volume provides practical ways colleges can focus on the College Completion Agenda. Originally begun as an economic workforce issue for the Obama administration, the College Completion Agenda has been adopted by myriad educational institutions, public and private funders, and others. The identified “Big Goal” is to increase the proportion of Americans with high quality college degrees and credentials from 39% of the population to 60% by 2025. To date, much advice has been offered to colleges about what the issues are and what needs to be done. However, there is considerable work being done at colleges around the country to address the identified issues. This volume introduces some of these policies and practices—the thinking behind them, research supporting them, roles to be fulfilled, and impact on the student experience This is the 164th volume of this Jossey-Bass higher education quarterly report series, an essential guide for presidents, vice presidents, deans, and other leaders in today's open-door institutions, this quarterly provides expert guidance in meeting the challenges of their distinctive and expanding educational mission.