Empirical evidence unambiguously asserts that a college education provides robust benefits to both individuals and societies. However, disparities in college enrollment and completion persist and limit opportunities for marginalized students to enjoy the advantages a college education affords, impeding progress toward equitable outcomes for all.…

The number of jobs across the United States requiring postsecondary education continues to grow. Concerns expressed by business leaders, policymakers, and the public include too few students enrolling in higher education, the affordability of college, and decreasing levels of college completion. One solution to address these issues has been to…

This paper documents the emerging role of education in the well-known decline in US male working hours. An insignificant hours difference between high school and college graduates becomes a significant 2 hours/week advantage for college graduates within a generation. This growing "college hours premium" is confirmed in alternate data.…

Using data from the 2009 High School Longitudinal Study, this article examines how family factors contribute to the rural/non-rural differences in college expectations in the early 2010s. Prior studies have found that rural students have disadvantages in family economic and cultural capital and advantages in social capital when pursuing higher…

There is a significant gap in the literature about Indiana Latino students' struggles to access post-secondary options. This study uses focus groups and interviews to explore parents', students', and teachers' perceptions about barriers and opportunities Latino high school students have to transition into education options after high school.…

This study illuminates how common holistic admissions practices at so-called "elite" colleges and universities favor high-SES, high wealth applicants through the ways they define and consider "exceptional" performance in extracurricular activities. While many studies have established advantages to high-income applicants based…

Preparing students for the 21st century learning standards has become paramount. Calls for reform in education and an emphasis on college and career readiness in the 21st century have been prescribed as key to providing proper instruction. The implementation of these skills often require changes to the traditional high school schedule. One…

Norco College, in Riverside County, California, developed the Summer Advantage program in 2012. This program is designed to reduce the number of students placed into precollegiate-level courses and increase first-year retention through participation in academic workshops, intrusive advisement, and college orientation. After four years, the Summer…

This report is a compendium of college access-related data that is intended to provide a detailed overview of Baltimore City Schools (City Schools) students' experiences preparing for, enrolling in, and completing postsecondary education. Although constrained in its scope, this report is offered in light of the fact that, more and more,…

To challenge the common narrative around rural students, the author unpacks the ideas of rural advantage and disadvantage as they relate to higher education while keeping in mind the complexity of rural students' intersecting identities and backgrounds. The author approaches this topic by analyzing the beneficial and detrimental impacts of three…

Currently, during the pandemic, the forced transition to distance learning carries a number of problems. These problems affect various aspects of education, including the study of students' attitudes to distance learning. The purpose of this research is to study the features of the subjective attitude of schoolchildren and students to distance…

This ethnographic study of an urban Catholic high school examines its college culture, particular in regard to the Catholic School Advantage (CSA). We collected and critically analyzed multiple forms of data (archival, interviews, observations) at St. Peters High School (SPH) and its adjoining parish. We found a caring and holistic approach to…

Using a multimethod approach, we investigate whether gender gaps in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) major declaration in college are explained by differences in the grades that students earn in STEM versus non-STEM subjects. With quantitative data, we find that relative advantages in college academic performance in STEM…

Colleges and universities have become increasingly concerned that requiring standardized test scores for admission is an impediment to campus diversity, and these objections have grown with the recent focus on societal inequities. In addition, the pandemic led to the cancellation of test administrations, which, in turn, caused many institutions to…

This study examines a new profession in China and those who inhabit it--admissions counselors who advise Chinese students on how to apply to colleges in the United States. This study was conducted in the international divisions of eight Chinese public high schools in five cities in China and aims to fill the void in our knowledge of the vital role…