During the last few decades, national, state, and institutional-level initiatives have been implemented to build and expand the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce by recruiting and retaining groups of individuals that have been traditionally underrepresented in STEM in higher education. The underlying theory of…

The "Study of Deeper Learning: Opportunities and Outcomes"--funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation--aimed to determine whether students attending high schools with a mature and at least moderately well implemented approach to promoting deeper learning actually experienced greater deeper learning opportunities and outcomes…

Pennsylvania has historically operated one of the nation's least equitable state school finance systems, and within that system exist some of the nation's most fiscally disadvantaged public school districts. The persistent inequalities of Pennsylvania's school finance system are not entirely a result of simple lack of effort, as…

In this report, the authors investigate the relationship between levels of financial aid and student success in Louisiana community colleges, with a focus on Pell Grant recipients. They measure success by whether a student earned a certificate or an associate's degree within three years of enrolling as a first-time full-time student or transferred…

President Obama has set an ambitious goal for the nation: By the year 2020, the United States will have the highest proportion of adults with college degrees in the world. The Obama administration sees the successful completion of postsecondary education as essential to American competitiveness. Governors likewise see the economic future of their…

Given the importance of a college education to entering and staying in the middle class and the high cost of obtaining a bachelor's degree, "Who Wins? and Who Pays?" are questions being asked today at kitchen tables and in the halls of government throughout the nation. Using publicly available data, the authors look at who wins and who pays…

The Obama administration is calling for the United States to regain its status as the nation with the highest concentration of college-educated adults in the world. In response to this challenge, the president, governors, foundations, individual campuses, and many others are pursuing a "college completion agenda" that aims to get more students…

The Early College High School Initiative (ECHSI) launched in 2002 with the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The ECHSI provides funds for the development of Early College Schools (ECSs) that serve students who traditionally are underrepresented in postsecondary education and offers them the opportunity to simultaneously pursue a high…

Athletics are big business on many college campuses, but does this come with a price tag? This issue brief looks at academic and athletic spending in NCAA Division I public universities between 2005 and 2010. Among a host of findings, this brief shows that the athletic departments of most public colleges and universities competing in NCAA Division…

High-end amenities like rock climbing walls on college campuses have become an easy target for those attempting to explain rising tuitions. This Delta Perspective looks beyond the media attention surrounding these "frills" to examine more serious questions about spending on campus facilities, college spending in general, and the real drivers of…

Two years after the onset of the Great Recession, nonprofit colleges and universities found themselves struggling with their finances. Average per-student spending on academics declined in fiscal year (FY) 2010, and despite per-student spending cuts to prerecession levels at four-year institutions, students shouldered a larger share of the cost…

This brief summarizes Internet-based research into other industries that may offer useful analogies for thinking about student attrition in higher education, in particular for setting realistic benchmarks for reductions in attrition. Reducing attrition to zero or close to zero is not a realistic possibility in higher education. Students are…

The collision between funding realities and the paramount goal of increasing educational attainment has brought new attention to ways to reduce postsecondary attrition and get more students who enroll in college to complete a degree or credential. Reductions in attrition are both educationally effective and cost effective. Students reach…

This instruction manual explains in detail how to use the Attrition Cost Model program, which estimates the cost of student attrition for a state's higher education system. Programmed with SAS, this model allows users to instantly calculate the cost of attrition and the cumulative attrition rate that is based on the most recent retention and…

Previous research on attrition has focused on the economic consequences of low graduation rates in terms of costs to students and families (from tuition and fees that do not culminate in a credential), lost time, and income and tax losses from low educational attainment in the workforce. However, no systematic attention has been given to another…