Few college experiences elicit as much controversy as racial/ethnic student organizations. Critics argue that these student groups promote racial division and segregation, whereas supporters counter these claims and suggest instead that they facilitate college adjustment, learning, and growth. Clearly, some students are quite predisposed to…

According to prevailing theory and anecdotal evidence, the congruence between institutional attributes and students' needs, interests, and preferences plays a key role in promoting college satisfaction and retention. However, this assertion has received little direct empirical attention, and the few available studies appear to have some key…

Recent legal challenges to race-conscious college admissions processes have called into question what constitutes a sufficient level of diversity on college campuses. Previous research on the educational benefits of diversity has examined the linear relationship between diversity interactions and student outcomes, but multiple theoretical…

Quantitative meta-analysis is a very useful, yet underutilized, technique for synthesizing research findings in higher education. Meta-analytic inquiry can be more challenging in higher education than in other fields of study as a result of (a) concerns about the use of regression coefficients as a metric for comparing the magnitude of effects…

The educational and societal benefits of promoting meaningful interracial interactions during college are well-established. While most previous studies have examined the relationship between interracial interactions and college student outcomes among all students, much less is known about the extent to which these effects depend upon student…

Higher education administrators believe that revenues are linked to college rankings and act accordingly, particularly those at research universities. Although rankings are clearly influential for many schools and colleges, this fundamental assumption has yet to be tested empirically. Drawing on data from multiple resource providers in higher…

College student spiritual development constitutes an important, yet understudied topic in higher education research. In particular, very little is known about whether and how this development varies among students from diverse religious backgrounds. Using a longitudinal sample of 14,527 students from 136 institutions, the current study explored…

Recent studies have suggested that a causal link exists between college rankings and subsequent admissions indicators. However, it is unclear how these effects vary across institutional type (i.e., national universities vs. liberal arts colleges) or whether these effects persist when controlling for other factors that affect admissions outcomes.…