A Psychosociocultural View of Hispanic First-Generation College Students’ Graduation Rates

First-generation college students (FGCS), nearly 50% of which identify as Hispanic, are an underserved population. The psychosociocultural theoretical framework posits that individual, environmental, and cultural factors contribute to the academic success of Hispanic students. This study examined the relationship between these factors (i.e., demographics, academic self-efficacy, meeting with professors, and attending cultural programming) to 6-year bachelor’s degree attainment and time to bachelor’s degree attainment among Hispanic students at a Hispanic Serving Institution ( n = 358). Being better prepared academically, being female, and having greater academic self-efficacy were positively related to bachelor’s degree attainment; FGCS status was negatively related. Among students who graduated ( n = 208), entering college being better prepared academically, and having greater academic self-efficacy were related to quicker bachelor’s degree attainment; FGCS status was not significantly related. Practitioners may pay more attention to Hispanic students’ academic self-efficacy and the success of Hispanic male students.

Socioeconomic Segregation, Campus Social Context, and Disparities in Bachelor's Degree Attainment

It is well established that students from different socioeconomic backgrounds attend different colleges, net of their academic preparation. An unintended consequence of these disparities is that in the aggregate, they enhance socioeconomic segregation across institutions of higher education, cultivating separate and distinct social environments that can influence students' outcomes. Using information on the academic careers of a nationally representative sample of U.S. high school students who entered college in the mid-2000s, matched with external information on the social context of each college, this study evaluates the extent of socioeconomic segregation by social context in higher education and its implications for socioeconomic inequality in bachelor's degree attainment. Results confirm that social context is highly consequential for inequality in student outcomes. First, disparities in social context are extensive, even after differences in demographics, skills, attitudes, and college characteristics are accounted for. Second, the social context of campus, as shaped by segregation, is a robust predictor of students' likelihood of obtaining a bachelor's degree. Finally, the degree attainment rates of all students are positively associated with higher concentrations of economic advantages on campus. Combined, these results imply that socioeconomic segregation across colleges exacerbates disparities in degree attainment by placing disadvantaged students in social environments that are least conducive to their academic success.

Can Free Community College Close Racial Disparities in Postsecondary Attainment? How Tulsa Achieves Affects Racially Minoritized Student Outcomes

Promise programs, or place-based tuition-free college policies, have become increasingly popular among policymakers looking to expand postsecondary attainment. In this article, we examine Tulsa Achieves, a widespread, albeit understudied type of promise program that covers the balance of students’ tuition and fees after other aid is exhausted at a single community college. Utilizing a difference-in-differences and event-study design, we investigate the role Tulsa Achieves eligibility plays in promoting or hindering vertical transfer and bachelor's degree attainment across racial/ethnic groups. We find that Tulsa Achieves eligibility is associated with increases in bachelor's degree attainment within 5 years among Native American and Hispanic students and an increased likelihood of transfer within 4 years for Hispanic students.

Improving Graduation Rates in the Two-to-Four Pathway to Bachelor's Degrees

In the US, transferring from a two-year program to a four-year program has become an increasingly important route towards a bachelor's degree. However, the pathway has an extremely high attrition rate. Utilizing two recent institutional reforms in the University System of Georgia, I show that allowing community colleges to offer bachelor's degrees and consolidating institutions increase two-year students’ bachelor's degree attainment by around 3 percentage points, which represents a 20% improvement. Both reforms increased two-to-four transfer rate, and institutional consolidations also increased bachelor's degree attainment, conditional on transferring. Moreover, I find evidence that reduced loss of credits during transfer is the driving force of the improvements. In particular, the reforms reduced credits lost during transfer by around 36%.

Off the Beaten Path: Can Statewide Articulation Support Students Transferring in Nonlinear Directions?

Students who transfer between colleges risk losing credits and decreasing their chances of degree completion. Despite emerging evidence regarding the effectiveness of articulation agreements to address this challenge, it is unclear if these policies support nonlinear transfer pathways—including lateral transfer between 4-year colleges or reverse transfer to 2-year colleges. I use propensity score weighting to examine a statewide articulation agreement in Ohio that established universal credit acceptance for coursework affecting all transfers. Comparing students who completed universally transferrable courses with those who did not, I find no measurable difference in degree attainment among reverse transfers. But there is a positive association with bachelor's degree attainment among lateral transfers, which the findings suggest is related to academic major persistence.

Does Free Community College Improve Student Outcomes? Evidence From a Regression Discontinuity Design

In this article, I utilize a regression discontinuity design to estimate the effects of Tulsa Achieves—a prevalent and understudied type of tuition-free college program. In contrast to concerns regarding tuition-free community college suppressing bachelor’s degree attainment, I find that Tulsa Achieves increased the likelihood of transferring to 4-year colleges by 13 to 14 percentage points and increased bachelor’s degree attainment by approximately 2 percentage points. The estimates for shorter outcomes are underpowered to detect policy relevant effects, but suggest Tulsa Achieves increased college GPA and had a null impact on credit accumulation, retention, and graduation from Tulsa Community College.

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Timely Bachelor’s Degree Attainment

It is well established that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are linked to health and emotional outcomes. However, less is known about the relationship between ACEs and educational attainment—a potentially important feature of educational stratification in America. Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), a nationally representative study following 7–12th grade students in the 1994–95 school year, I investigate the link between ACEs and these students’ timely post-secondary attainment. I also explore the role of health and socio-emotional factors as mediators. Results confirm that there is a graded relationship between ACEs and timely bachelor’s degree attainment—an additional ACE decreases the odds of timely bachelor’s degree attainment by about 17%, even after accounting for other related factors. In addition, the findings suggest that general health partially mediates this link.