The use of merit criteria in awarding institutional aid has grown considerably and, some argue, is supplanting need as the central factor in awarding aid. Concurrently, the accountability movement in higher education has placed greater emphasis on retention and graduation as indicators of institutional success and quality. In this context, this…

Postsecondary institutions are witnessing an increase in the number and severity of student mental health problems, necessitating an understanding of the difficulties these students encounter in striving for higher education. The authors conducted a critical interpretive synthesis of 10 articles pertaining to difficulties experienced by students…

Tensions regarding gender emerged from interviews conducted with 20 women Ph.D. students. This article does not focus explicitly on the reasons for women's continued underrepresentation in engineering. Rather the students' explanations for underrepresentation serve as a case study with which to analyze their gendered experiences. They avoid freely…

Framed within the debate on African American "anti-intellectualism," this study examined a longitudinal sample of 460 African American students' intellectual self-concept and college grades (GPA) through regression analyses resulting from their college experiences. The findings showed that the college environment had a modest influence on African…

This paper examines an often-overlooked contributing factor to minority student collegiate attrition: students' limited knowledge of--and sometimes resistance to--the kinds of academic discursive practices they need to become "full participants" (Lave & Wenger, 1991) in the university setting. Adopting a Vygotskian view of sociolinguistics, we…

The concept of "student effort" is foundational to such commonly used assessments of institutional effectiveness as the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE). However, the current measure of student effort omits intercultural effort, which is particularly salient to the academic…

This study regressed undergraduate grades on background traits, pre-college variables, and measures of sociocultural capital for nationally representative samples of African American and Latino male undergraduates using data from the NCES's National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS:88/00). Results suggest that African American and Latino males…

The authors interviewed Black and Latino students from five high-poverty high schools as they attempted to make the transition into college. Their ability to exert individual agency with regard to their entrance exams and their college transition was circumscribed by the messages and behavioral norms that dominated their low-performing high school…

Using interview data from 34 admissions officers at 17 elite colleges, this paper compares two perspectives shaping admissions policy. Admissions officers apply a "merit" perspective that relies on indicators of student academic and nonacademic achievement. They also employ a "competition" perspective that evaluates student characteristics…

The term "success" in higher education has been used widely to describe multiple outcomes, practices, and variables. In doctoral education, in particular, the study of success is paramount as only 50% of those students who enter doctoral education actually complete the degree. The definition of success, however, remains elusive. This study…

Using a nationally representative sample of baccalaureate graduates from 1993 (B&B 93/97/03), I explore factors that contribute to the gender and racial gap in earnings among recent college graduate. Results indicate that college major remains the most significant factor in accounting for the gender gap in pay. Female graduates are still left…

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of the use of contingent faculty on undergraduate education. This study presents three research questions: (1) To what degree do contingent faculty members engage students in good practices less frequently than their tenured and tenure-track counterparts?; (2) What effect does the proportion of…

The research described in this paper creates a behaviorally based measure that defines theoretically distinct domains of classism, assesses base rates within a college context, and examines how social class, race, and gender are related to classism. Participants of the study were college students at Hilltop University. A web-based survey was used…

This study examines the influence of networks established among high schools and colleges. Focusing on the college choice process, the authors analyzed data from the 2006 admissions and financial aid records at eight private, four-year colleges representing nearly 18,000 students. Results show that high school feeder networks have an important…

This study addressed the extent to which social class position structures a sense of belonging at college, and the ways in which belonging informs adjustment to college. Among 322 liberal arts college students, social class background was significantly associated with a sense of belonging at college and was marginally related to academic…