An obvious goal of adult learners is to find their own voice, to be heard in rational discourse with their peers, and to gain control over the day-to-day decisions that affect their lives. This chapter asks how doctoral students can be partners with faculty in charting the direction of their academic pursuits.

Undergraduate research (UR) is a high-impact practice associated with many positive student outcomes. However, extending UR opportunities to all students is not practical for all psychology programs. Classroom-based UR experiences (CUREs) provide a scalable solution to this problem, but there is a paucity of empirically validated, authentic CUREs…

Drawing on 48 in-depth interviews with Black immigrant and second-generation boys at Bridgewood secondary school in New York City, this article points out how the high educational aspirations expressed by Black African and Caribbean boys are strategically deployed as features of an ethnic project to counter anti-immigrant sentiments and anti-Black…

Based on Nancy Schlossberg and her colleagues' extensive interviews with 100 retired adults, Susan Komives describes six predominate pathways retirees took to make meaning of this new transition in their lives. These pathways identified people as continuers, adventurers, easy gliders, involved spectators, searchers, and retreaters. Using the…

Although there is much interest in pursuing a STEM career, many students choose not to or drop out prior to completing their STEM degrees for numerous reasons. In this research study, the focus is on supports that may increase overall STEM retention as well as underrepresented minority (URM) retention in STEM degrees consequently leading to a more…

This study examined student perceptions towards testing mandates. The specific purpose was to gain an understanding into the perceptions students have towards testing mandates and determine their perceived value in the areas of (1) Improvement, (2) External Attribution, (3) Affective Benefits, and (4) Irrelevance. In analyzing the perceptions of…

The increasing importance of a college degree has led policymakers and educators to focus on strengthening the path to college beyond college entry. In this research brief the authors review four factors key to educational attainment: (1) aspirations and beliefs, (2) academic preparation, (3) knowledge and information, and (4) fortitude and…

The present paper discusses the potential of the capability approach in conceptualizing and understanding lifelong learning as an agency process, and explores its capacity to guide empirical studies on lifelong learning. It uses data for 20 countries from the Adult Education Survey (2007; 2011) and focuses on aspirations for lifelong learning. The…

Public discourse often frames the value of undergraduate education in financial terms--credentialing and increased earning power. Students must prepare to be self-supporting, but are financial prospects their only important goals? We asked 1,500 students from 11 U.S. colleges to write about their goals, the reasons their goals were important, and…

We examined university students' experiences of remote teaching and learning, how the experiences are associated with well-being, and whether those associations differ according to motivation. Using latent variable modelling, we classified Finnish university students (N = 2686) based on their expectancy-value-cost profiles, compared latent means,…

Objective: Few community college students who aspire to transfer ever do so. Prior research suggests that relationships with advisors, faculty, and administrators may play an important role in promoting successful transfer outcomes, particularly for traditionally underserved students. This study examines how students identified and weighed…

This study aims to understand trust and affect that are developed during young people's educational migration from West Kalimantan to Yogyakarta, Indonesia. It further questions to what extent trust encourages migration and young migrants' adaptation at the place of destination. In-depth interview and participant observation are utilised for…

Latina/o/x students aspire to earn a college degree but given that they likely attend urban high schools with inadequate educational opportunities and high-discipline environments, more research is needed to examine the influence of institutional racism on aspirations. This case study was guided by the frameworks of New Juan Crow in Education and…

This qualitative study analyzes interviews with 17 first-generation Latina/o/x students. This study bridges funds of knowledge and social reproduction theory to examine the bi-directional exchange of familial funds of knowledge and capital relevant to higher education in Latina/o/x families. Students' familial funds of knowledge assisted them as…

This paper presents findings from a qualitative study of Irish Traveller parents' experiences of their own schooling, and their views on education. An indigenous minority ethnic group, Irish Travellers, historically and contemporaneously, have experienced disadvantage and exclusion in many domains, including education, health, housing, and…