Objective: Black librarians account for just 5.4% of academic librarians in the U.S. in a period in which enrollments for Black students steadily increases. While national programs aimed at recruitment exist, too little attention is focused on the environments and cultures that influence the attrition of racially minoritized groups. This study…

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: Some have hypothesized that community college programs are not sufficiently structured to support student success and that students would benefit from more highly structured programs. This study examines the specific ways that structure is expressed in policy and practice at representative community colleges. Method: Using data obtained…

Objective: This study probes the reasons for high attrition rates and sense of community among students enrolled at a technical institution serving low-income students in Bogotá, Colombia. Although sense of community on campus is the strongest predictor of a student's thriving, scholars in higher education have studied mainly minority students'…

Objective: Ideally, community colleges both democratize opportunity and develop in students the civic skills necessary to meaningfully participate in a democratic society. This national pilot study examines the individual and institutional factors associated with greater civic agency, capacity, behavior, and knowledge among students after at least…

This study explored whether community college websites are a useful medium for providing knowledge relevant to degree completion. Ten community students used one of three community college websites to answer 10 questions about occupational degree programs. A facilitator asked participants to think aloud while using the website to answer these…

Using data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, this study explored factors that predict stability of educational expectations among baccalaureate aspirants beginning at community colleges. Based on a nationally representative sample of baccalaureate-aspiring high school seniors of 2004 who entered community colleges as their first…

While new community colleges proliferated across the nation during the 1950s and 1960s, Indiana's postsecondary educational leaders pursued an alternative route to expanding educational opportunity during the postwar years through extension campuses. The study reported in this article draws on archival documents to gain an understanding of the…