Higher Education for Whom? Higher Education for What?

2017 ◽  
pp. 104-134
Author(s):  
Brooke Midkiff
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Educational Experiences ◽  
The United States ◽  
College Completion ◽  
Access To Higher Education ◽  
Completion Rates ◽  
Post Secondary ◽  
College Completion Rates ◽  
Quantitative Examination ◽  
First Offers

This chapter provides a critical quantitative examination of issues related to increasing access to higher education in the United States. The chapter first offers insights into the utility of using empirical evidence within a critical, theoretical framework to unpack underlying issues of expanding accessibility. Specifically, critical theory is used to excavate the limits of liberal approaches to expanding higher education through increasing access, coupled with empirical analysis of disparities in college completion rates. That is, while increasing access is important, access is hardly enough to decrease social and economic gaps. Issues of hegemony within higher education are examined through an examination of which students, despite increased access to higher education broadly, have access to specific types of post-secondary educational experiences.

scholarly journals Empirical Analysis of a Model for Student Success using a Case Study Approach

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (7) ◽  
pp. 100-112
Author(s):  
Zakiya S Wilson ◽  
Margaret I. Kanipes ◽  
Goldie S. Byrd
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
The United States ◽  
Black Colleges ◽  
College Completion ◽  
Access To Higher Education ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Completion Agenda ◽  
Diverse Backgrounds

Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) play a critical role in the national college completion agenda within the United States of America (U.S.). With high enrolments of minority, first-generation, and economically disadvantaged students, HBCUs serve as essential access points to higher education and the American dream. Given the high needs student population of HBCUs, these institutions can serve as national and international models for improving college completion and demonstrating efficacy in promoting access to higher education among students from diverse backgrounds.

scholarly journals The policy filtering process: Understanding distinctive state responses to the National College Completion Agenda in the United States

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul G. Rubin ◽  
James C. Hearn
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
United States ◽  
South Carolina ◽  
Postsecondary Education ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
College Completion ◽  
Completion Rates ◽  
Completion Agenda ◽  
State Responses

The United States has faced stagnant postsecondary education degree completion rates for over a decade. When coupled with improved educational outcomes in other nations, the one-time world leader in higher education attainment has precipitously declined in standing internationally. Coupling this reality with the need for a more educated workforce domestically led President Barack Obama to proclaim improving higher education completion rates a national imperative in 2009. Despite input from the federal government, due to the decentralized nature of American postsecondary education, individual states maintain primary responsibility for governance and policy decisions. Consequently, there has been a range of state responses to improving college completion. Through a comparative case analysis, this study considers a putatively homogenous region to investigate state-level factors that “filtered” the national college completion agenda to distinct responses in Georgia, South Carolina, and Texas.

From Scarcity to Abundance: Achieving Quality-Assured Mass Higher Education

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter P. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Knowledge Economy ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
Secondary System ◽  
Mass Higher Education ◽  
Post Secondary ◽  
One Year ◽  
The One

The United States is in a bind. On the one hand, we need millions of additional citizens with at least one year of successful post-secondary experience to adapt to the knowledge economy. Both the Gates and Lumina Foundations, and our President, have championed this goal in different ways. On the other hand, we have a post-secondary system that is trapped between rising costs and stagnant effectiveness, seemingly unable to respond effectively to this challenge. This paper analyzes several aspects of this problem, describes changes in the society that create the basis for solutions, and offers several examples from Kaplan University of emerging practice that suggests what good practice might look like in a world where quality-assured mass higher education is the norm.

Promoting divergent leadership philosophies to improve student success outcomes for black and brown students in higher education

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Petty ◽  
Dakota King-White ◽  
Tachelle Banks
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
United States ◽  
Student Success ◽  
Baccalaureate Degree ◽  
The United States ◽  
Retention Rates ◽  
Completion Rates ◽  
Marginalized Groups ◽  
Support Students

Abstract Throughout the United States there are millions of Black and Brown students starting the process of attending college. However, research indicates that students from traditionally marginalized groups are less likely than their counterparts to complete the process and graduate college (Shapiro et al., 2017). While retention rates for students from traditionally marginalized backgrounds continue to decline, universities are beginning to pay attention to the needs of this population in search of ways of better supporting them. The examination of these factors may also inform programmatic adjustments, leadership philosophies, and future practices to help retain students and lead to eventual completion of a baccalaureate degree. In this article, the authors review the literature to explore factors that can affect Black and Brown students’ completion rates in higher education. By reviewing the literature and the factors impacting Black and Brown students, the authors share with readers initiatives at one university that are being used to support students from a strengths-based approach.

scholarly journals “In Today’s Society, It’s a Necessity”: Latino/a Postsecondary Plans in the College-for-all Era

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Ovink
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
College Completion ◽  
Socioeconomic Mobility ◽  
Bay Area ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
East Bay ◽  
College Completion Rates

Latino/a enrollments at U.S. colleges are rapidly increasing. However, Latinos/as remain underrepresented at four-year universities, and college completion rates and household earnings lag other groups’. Yet, little theoretical attention has been paid to the processes that drive these trends, or to what happens when students not traditionally expected to attend college begin to enroll in large numbers. Longitudinal interviews with 50 Latino/a college aspirants in the San Francisco East Bay Area reveal near-universal college enrollment among these mostly low-income youth, despite significant barriers. East Bay Latino/a youth draw on a set of interrelated logics (economic, regional, family/group, college-for-all) supporting their enrollment, because they conclude that higher education is necessary for socioeconomic mobility. In contrast to the predictions of status attainment and rational choice models, these rationally optimistic college aspirants largely ignore known risks, instead focusing on anticipated gains. Given a postrecession environment featuring increasing costs and uncertain employment, this approach led many to enroll in low-cost, less supportive two-year institutions, resulting in long and winding pathways for some. Results suggest that without structural supports, access to college fails to meaningfully redress stratification processes in higher education and the postrecession economy that significantly shape possibilities for mobility.

scholarly journals The G.I. Bill: A Case Study in Behavioral Economics

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 42-54
Author(s):  
Amanda (Swanson) Goff
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Economics ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
College Completion ◽  
Completion Rates ◽  
Educational Benefits ◽  
Us Military ◽  
College Completion Rates ◽  
Effective Policy ◽  
Desirable Behavior

In pursuit of public welfare, the federal government supports a range of programs designed to encourage desirable behavior. Though for centuries lawmakers have strived to account for irrational actors and ultimately produce effective policy, behavioral economics has only entered the discussion recently as a means to accomplish these ends. The G.I. Bill provides a unique opportunity to examine behavioral economic principles as they relate to a long-standing, well-developed program. Introduced in 1944, the G.I. Bill provides tuition assistance and other educational benefits to support US military veterans pursuing a postsecondary credential. Benefit usage rates remain high and relatively stable in the decades since the legislation’s enactment, suggesting that educational incentives may serve as powerful motivators for veterans continuing their education. However, low college completion rates amongst veterans that choose to use G.I. Bill benefits limit the program’s true effectiveness. This case illustrates both the benefits and the limitations of applying behavioral economics concepts in policy design, particularly as demands on the G.I. Bill program continue to evolve.

Distance Education

2011 ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane A. Matthews
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Distance Education ◽  
Classroom Environment ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
The United States ◽  
Department Of Education ◽  
Learning Systems ◽  
Post Secondary ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Virtual Universities

Technology-based distance education is emerging as an increasingly visible feature of post-secondary education in the United States (U.S. Department of Education, 1999). Educators have the opportunity to define, design, and manage effective and robust teaching and learning systems, programs, and courses. As distance learning becomes a serious alternative to the standard classroom environment, enormous opportunities and dilemmas present themselves for the players. This chapter examines the technology used in distance education; the type of student utilizing distance education; advantages and disadvantages for the student, the instructor, and the institution in the use of distance education; and the players involved—including higher education institutions, virtual universities, states, and consortia.

scholarly journals Mining of Completion Rate of Higher Education Based on Fuzzy Feature Selection Model and Machine Learning Techniques

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tahseen A. Wotaifi
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Fuzzy Logic ◽  
Feature Selection ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ratio Method ◽  
Support Vector ◽  
Completion Rates ◽  
Academic Degree ◽  
Attribute Evaluation ◽  
Fuzzy Logic Technique

In the context of the great change in the labor market and the higher education sector, great attention is given to individuals with an academic degree or the so-called graduates class. However, each educational institution has a different approach towards students who wish to complete their university degree. This study aims at (1) identifying the most important factors that directly affect the completion, and (2) predicting the completion rates of students for university degrees according to the system of higher education in the United States. Unlike previous studies, this project contributes to the use of the fuzzy logic technique on three methods for feature selection, namely the Correlation Attribute Evaluation, Relief Attribute Evaluation, and Gain Ratio Method. Since these three methods give different weight to the same attribute, the fuzzy logic technique has been used to get one weight for the attribute. A great challenge faced throughout this study is the curse of dimensionality, because the college scorecard dataset launched by the US Department of Education contains approximately (8000) educational institutions and (1825) features. Applying the method used in this study to identify important features lead to their reduction to only (79). Accordingly, two models have been used to predict the completion rates of students for their university studies which are the Random Forest and the Support Vector Regression with a Mean Absolute Error (MAE) value of (0.068) and (0.097) respectively.

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