For-profit institutions are more visible today among policymakers, researchers, and investors, due in large part to the sharp rise in the number of students attending them over the last decade. From 2000 to 2009, enrollment in the for-profit sector tripled while enrollment in the public and not-for-profit sectors increased by less than 25 percent.…

The overarching goal of the "Supporting Best Practices in Student Success Project" is to create, enhance, or expand successful programs that are replicable and can be scaled to greatly improve the percentage of underserved students who complete postsecondary education. In doing so, National College Access Network (NCAN) aimed to build…

The face of the American landscape is overwhelmingly metropolitan, making metro areas important spaces for philanthropy to explicitly consider when crafting postsecondary funding strategies. This is the case for two primary reasons. First, metropolitan areas are drivers of economic activity and innovation. Second, four out of every five…

More than 2.3 million low-income young adults began postsecondary education in 2008. Where these students initially enroll is of greater consequence than it is to their economically better-off peers because the likelihood of completing college for students from low-income backgrounds depends strongly on where they start their studies. This brief…

Situated in the broader context of academic administration and senior executive university leadership, this study examined variables correlated with self-reported satisfaction and performance among community college and four-year university presidents in four densely populated north American states. The results of our analysis suggest that…

In today's highly-skilled economy, rewarding career pathways are available to those who acquire technical skills by enrolling in certificate and associate degree programs in a community or technical college. Such programs are often more costly to offer than liberal arts and sciences programs that prepare students to transfer to four-year…

The California Community Colleges are vital to closing the projected shortfall of Californians with a postsecondary credential and sustaining the state's economic competitiveness. Increasing the number of students who pursue and earn certificates and associate degrees in career technical education (CTE) fields is an important component of the…

This fact sheet presents a snapshot of important facts from "Higher Education in Michigan: Overcoming Challenges to Expand Access," which examines access to postsecondary degrees and institutions in underserved regions of Michigan. [For the full report, see ED501512.]

The national college completion agenda is in full swing but the role of "community" colleges in that agenda is under-appreciated. With a large share of projected job openings requiring college education of less than a bachelor's degree and offering family-supporting wages, the nation's community colleges can make a huge contribution…

The Obama Administration has once again demonstrated the important role community colleges play in educating the nation's workforce and boosting the nation's economy with its recently proposed Community College to Career Fund. This $8 billion fund is aimed at forging partnerships between colleges and businesses to train workers for good-paying…

The Obama Administration has helped articulate the important role community colleges play in educating the nation's workforce and boosting the economy. With a large share of projected job openings requiring college education of less than a bachelor's degree and offering family-supporting wages, the nation's community colleges can make a huge…

The challenge of producing the systemic changes that are needed to boost educational attainment and economic competitiveness across the country falls heavily on entities that coordinate public postsecondary institutions. Coordination of postsecondary education, whether of a single system of institutions or across an entire state, requires…

This study compares the school-to-work transitions of recent male and female postsecondary graduates of various levels of schooling. Gender comparisons in earnings are also made between graduates of applied and technical fields with those of liberal arts fields. The results of this study suggest that the earnings of university graduates of all…

The California Community Colleges (CCC) are committed to increasing the rate at which entering students persist to completion of a certificate or degree or transfer to a university. Recent research suggests that efforts to increase student success in community colleges need to focus on helping new students choose and enter a program of study. Too…

The Career Technical Education (CTE) mission of California's community colleges is not well understood by policymakers in comparison to the transfer mission of the colleges. This exploratory study, to be followed by a more comprehensive research agenda, is motivated by the belief that CTE is a vital piece of the college completion agenda but is…