Objective: The purpose of this research is twofold: first, to investigate financially eligible Pell Grant community college students' perceptions of barriers and enablers to student success, and second, to critique the financial aid satisfactory academic progress (SAP) criteria through a cross-case comparison of students who are meeting and are…

Objective/Research Question: Surprisingly, little research explores the literacy practices specific to career technical education (CTE) courses at the postsecondary level, yet the number of students coming to college needing literacy support continues to increase. There is a need for focused research on what constitutes college-readiness. The…

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate how Latino men's conceptions of masculinities influenced their attitudes and behaviors during the transition from community colleges to 4-year institutions. Method: A phenomenological approach was used to explore the lived experiences of 34 Latino men across Texas, California, and Florida.…

Objective: Using data from "HEIghten"® Critical Thinking, a student learning outcomes assessment, the purpose of this study was to evaluate what variables are associated with higher critical thinking performance for students enrolled in various community college programs and to evaluate performance differences across demographic and…

Objective: Despite the popularity of the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE), this instrument has been criticized regarding its development, theoretical basis, validity, and connection to practice. In light of these concerns, this article reframes the survey by employing Chickering and Gamson's seven principles, one of the…

Objective: Early college high schools (ECHSs) allow high school students to accumulate credit toward an associate degree at little or no cost, often through partnerships with community colleges. The goal is to facilitate students' socialization into higher education, or the process of learning the skills, knowledge, and dispositions required for…

Background: Most community college students from low-income families have ambitious educational degree goals, but only a small fraction attains them. For many decades, sociologists have primarily attributed this problem to a cooling out process in which college practitioners diminish students' educational ambitions using academic reorientation…

Objective: This quantitative study constructed a statistical model to measure family social capital and college social capital among community college students. The authors also examined influences of these two types of social capital constructs on degree aspiration. Method: This study utilized the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and…

Objective: The process by which students decide to stay in college has been primarily based on models that are independent of geographic context. This article describes the local labor market in which community college students are situated and discusses the multiple and complex ways these labor markets impact student decisions to persist and…

Objective: In community colleges, achieving competence in math is critical to students' timely progression through coursework and eventual educational success; yet, it remains unclear when the optimal timing to complete required math courses is in order to maximize the chance of completing a credential on time. This study examines the timing of…

Objective: Traditional-age students attending a rural community college in Kentucky's Appalachian region were interviewed, along with faculty members and administrators, to identify phenomena serving as sources of encouragement or as barriers to retention from the point of entry to the point of transfer. Method: Students' perspectives were…

Objective: Despite the growing representation of Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) among community colleges, relatively little is known about student perceptions of the campus climate at these institutions. Although perceptions of campus climate may differ by race and adversely affect students of color, most research has been conducted at…

Objective: The purpose of this study was to understand how community college students assess the risks and rewards of using personal loans to achieve their higher education goals. Method: Interviews were conducted with 12 federal loan borrowers attending a large, urban community college in Texas during the Spring 2013 semester. Results: Findings…

This longitudinal, qualitative study explores developmental English students' experience of remediation in the context of a first-semester learning community (LC). Conducted at an urban community college in the Northeast, data were collected through semi-structured interviews conducted over a 3-year period with a cohort of 15 students who were…

Efforts to increase the number of women who pursue and complete advanced degrees in computer and information sciences (CIS) have been limited, in part, by a lack of research on pathways into and out of community college CIS classes. This longitudinal study tests three widely held beliefs about how to increase the number of CIS majors at 4-year…