Postsecondary undermatch occurs when students fail to enroll at a college or university that possesses a level of selectivity their academic credentials would permit them to attend. Given the demonstrated link between selective college attendance and postsecondary and professional attainment, recent studies have attempted to examine which factors…

In an effort to improve developmental education students' outcomes, community colleges have been experimenting with acceleration strategies. Models of acceleration allow students to complete their developmental requirements in a shorter amount of time. However, there has been limited empirical research on the effects of accelerating…

This article examines debt burden among college graduates and contributes to previous research by incorporating institutional and state characteristics. Utilizing a combination of national datasets and zero-one inflated beta regression, we find several major themes. First, family income and college experiences are strongly associated with the…

Using a multi-institutional sample of undergraduate students, this study found that the relationships between engaging in high impact/good practices and liberal arts outcomes differ based on students' precollege and background characteristics. Findings suggest that high impact/good practices are not a panacea and require a greater degree of…

Degree attainment at the undergraduate level for women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) continues to be an issue of national concern, particularly when trying to explain disparaging gender differences in persistence. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine factors that influence degree attainment for students in…

This article reports on a study that explored whether diversity experiences influence students' attitudes toward literary activities during the first year of college. Interactional diversity and attending a diversity workshop had a positive net influence on the outcome measure. Exposure to curricular diversity, however, had only a chance…

This study analyzed longitudinal data from 19 institutions to determine if the net effects of diversity experiences on orientation toward social/political activism and political views are discernible as early as the first year of postsecondary education. Statistically controlling for other influences, including precollege measures of each outcome,…

This study advances the understanding of college persistence by examining five dimensions of student learning in relation to second-year persistence. Two of the five dimensions of learning were found to be significant predictors of persistence, and each was moderated by social integration. (Contains 5 tables and 1 figure.)

Women's advantage in college graduation is evident at all socioeconomic levels and for most racial and ethnic groups. This study examines whether college experiences critical to persistence to graduation, including college major, attendance patterns, social integration, and academic performance, contribute to this gender gap in graduation.…

This study examined factors associated with the upward transfer of baccalaureate aspirants beginning at community colleges. Based on data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 and the Postsecondary Education Transcript Study, a sequential logistic regression analysis was conducted to predict bachelor's degree-seeking community…

The interest in undergraduate research as a "touchstone" for the integration of research and education has led to a large number of programs and models supported by a variety of public and private sources. Assessments have examined students' progress toward advanced degrees, clarification of career path decisions, understanding of…

How do interactions with diverse peers affect moral reasoning development? Results from a longitudinal study of 171 students enrolled in an Intergroup Dialogue or Introduction to Sociology course indicate that students who experience more negative interactions with diverse peers report lower developmental gains in moral reasoning, although the…

This study focuses on the differences in college student dropout behavior among racial/ethnic groups. We employ event history methods and data from the Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS) and National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) surveys to investigate how financial aid may differentially influence dropout risks among these student…

Most of the internal and public scrutiny of college sports involves high profile athletes in sports such as football and men's basketball; yet, recent research on the impact of sport participation on student learning and development has largely focused on comparing all athletes to their non-athlete peers across institutional types. There is a need…

Using an expanded econometric model, this study sought to estimate more precisely the net effect of independent variables (i.e., attending an HBCU) on three measures of labor market outcomes for African American college graduates. Findings reveal a statistically significant, albeit moderate, relationship between measures of background, human and…