The rising price of a year in college looms large on the American political landscape. Calls to make college free, or at least debt free, will figure prominently in policy and political debates going forward. To make sense of this debate, an understanding of the forces that have been driving the price of a year in postsecondary education upward…

This qualitative study explored how female college students in a community in Ghana undertook their online learning activities during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. To achieve the objectives of the study, criterion sampling, and an open-ended online questionnaire were used to collect data from 24 female students from the Presbyterian…

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…

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, schools from elementary to post-secondary suddenly shifted to remote learning, placing a heavy burden on parents and caregivers. Likewise, social work practicum placements pivoted to remote learning, compounding existing difficulties securing practicum opportunities. This article describes a response to these…

This paper draws upon a case study of a campus-community partnership program in Ontario that delivers tuition-free college courses to low-income adult learners in community hub locations. By co-locating college classrooms in existing neighbourhood gathering places (i.e., a community centre and a public library), our research explores whether…

W.S. 21-18-202 (h)(iii) mandates that the Wyoming Community College Commission (WCCC) develop performance benchmarks, outcome measures and other performance indicators which serve as the basis for annual reporting to the Wyoming Legislature and the Governor. The annual reporting must include, but is not limited to, the following measures: (1)…

To counter tuition and textbook costs for degree-seeking students, a specific pathway to a bachelor's degree in Leadership was developed. The pathway, comprised of partnerships with the high school Leadership Academy at a public high school, community college, and Old Dominion University (ODU), reduced tuition and textbook costs, allowing the…

Institutions of higher education have recently been embroiled in a series of controversies concerning two related, though hotly contested ideas: the creation of safe space and the preservation of free speech. On one hand, there is a demand for institutional safe spaces--literal refuges or broad university norms that create a sense of inclusion for…

Higher education and America stand at a perilous moment brought about by economic and social inequality, racism, and the fracture of civic cohesion and structures. From its origins, the mission of American higher education was to promote democratic governance and a free, fair, and orderly society through the education of responsible citizens. Just…

This memo estimates the cost of two possible program designs for a statewide college scholarship program for the State of Illinois. These assumptions and associated cost estimates, once approved or revised, will form the basis for the next stage of this project, which is assessing the economic impact of tuition-free college in Illinois. [This…

Objective/Research Question: Community college "Promise" programs have proliferated recently, particularly in areas with many low-income, academically struggling students. Many Promise programs restrict eligibility by high school performance but set eligibility thresholds quite low. As such they function as "low-bar" merit…

The 2019 "Education Next" Poll found 60% of Americans endorse the idea of making public four-year colleges free, and 69% want free public two-year colleges. There are also critics of free college schemes. They include some families who had to scrimp and save for their children to earn degrees. The "New England Journal of Higher…

The price of college is increasingly out of reach for many Americans. Although community colleges are affordable compared to other institutional sectors, many community college students have unmet need. Free college and promise programs are emerging around the country as a solution to make college more affordable. This article examines the Salt…

The community colleges in many countries contribute enormously to skills development and job creation among the youth. In order to achieve these objectives, many governments play an active role in the establishment of community colleges. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the extent to which the Community Education and Training College…

Single Stop U.S.A.'s Community College Initiative was designed to improve the well-being of low-income communities by connecting individuals to public benefits and other institutional and community resources to address nonacademic barriers to college completion. Through offices located on community college campuses, Single Stop provides students…