Having an effective segmentation strategy is key to the viability of any organization. This is particularly true for colleges, universities, and other nonprofit organizations--who have seen sharp declines in private contributions, endowment income, and government grants in the past few years, and face fierce competition for donor dollars…

The purpose of this study is to revisit the widely held assumption that the impact of socioeconomic background declines steadily across educational transitions, particularly at the postsecondary level. Sequential logit modeling, a staple methodological approach for estimating the relative impact of SES across educational stages, is applied to a…

This paper explores the role that state spending on higher education capital outlays plays in state budgets by considering the functional form of the relationship between state spending on higher education capital outlays and four types of state expenditures. Three possible functional forms are tested: a linear model, a quadratic model, and the…

Although used frequently in related fields such as K-12 education research, educational psychology, sociology, and social survey research, latent class analysis (LCA) has been infrequently used in higher education. This article provides higher education researchers with a pedagogical application of LCA to classify entering freshmen based on their…

To enhance student success, many colleges and universities have expanded academic support services and programmatic interventions. One popular measure that has been recognized as critical to student success is academic advising. Many institutions have expanded advising by creating centralized units staffed with professional advisors who serve…

In 2004, Colorado introduced the nation's first voucher model for financing public higher education. With state appropriations now allocated to students, rather than institutions, state officials expect this model to create cost efficiencies while also expanding college access. Using difference-in-difference regression analysis, we find…

Executive evaluation and compensation are central to organizational accountability and governance. Driven by increasing public demand on justifications and accountability for substantial salary increases for public university presidents, this paper is intended to shed light on the linkage between performance and executive compensation in public…

While the literature on postsecondary student success identifies important academic and social factors associated with student outcomes, one question that persists concerns the influence of financial aid. We use the National Student Clearinghouse's StudentTracker service to develop a more complete model of student success that accommodates…

The current study examined the effects of stress and campus climate perceptions on the persistence decisions of students of color and White students using Bean and Eaton's (2000) Psychological Model of College Student Retention. A sample of first-year students (N = 1,491) at a predominantly White research university were survey enduring their…

The purpose of this study was to explore academic and social integration and other outcomes for community college transfer students. The study used Tinto's ("Leaving college: Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition," 1993) "Longitudinal Model of Institutional Departure" and Deil-Amen's ("J Higher…

This study employs the 2007-2008 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study and the National Research Center's survey data, "A Data-Based Assessment of Research-Doctorate Programs in the United States," to investigate the (1) the effects of debt in relation to tuition and fees paid and (2) the effects of teaching assistantships,…

This paper aims at appraising the cost efficiency and technology of institutions of higher technological and vocational education. Differing from conventional literature, it considers the potential influence of inherent discrepancies in output quality and characteristics of school systems for institutes of technology (ITs) and universities of…

This study developed and tested two models that examined the decision-making processes of adolescents relating to entry into university, in terms of the extent to which they may be amotivated and undecided. The models incorporated variables derived from self-determination theory, expectancy-value theory, and research on occupational indecision. A…

This multi-level, longitudinal study investigated the ecumenical worldview development of 13,932 students enrolled in one of 126 institutions. Results indicated that the final hierarchical linear model, consisting of institution-and-student-level predictors as well as slopes explaining the relationships among some of these predictors, explained…

Using data for 638 assistant professors who joined graduate sociology departments between 1975 and 1992, I examine the claim that when the labor market for new doctorates is weak, assistant professors experience less favorable employment outcomes than when that labor market is strong. Surprisingly, I find that those hired during the weak…