Education Commons^™

Can Free College Programs Level The Playing Field? An Exploratory Study Of Understanding Non-Economic Persistence Barriers For Low-Income Students, Alan Byrd

Dissertations

The rising cost of higher education has created substantial access and persistence barriers for low-income students. Consequently, gaps in educational attainment between low-income students and their middle- and high-income peers have continued to widen over the last few decades. Colleges and universities have taken notice of these growing disparities, and several institutions have responded by developing need-based financial aid programs to close unmet need gaps for Pell Grant recipients. These last-dollar financial aid programs have opened doors for more low-income students to attend selective institutions, but it is unclear how these programs will influence their persistence and completion rates. The …

Influence Of Career Services On Time To Undergraduate Degree Completion, Courtney Taylor

Dissertations

A national concern exists surrounding the value and quality of American higher education, as well as the extended time required to complete an undergraduate degree. Extending the time-to-degree completion costs students in tuition, room, board, and most importantly, missed career opportunities. More than 60% of students fail to graduate within four years, delaying entry to the labor market and increasing costs associated with a college degree (Bound, Lovenheim, & Turner, 2012; National Center for Education Statistics, 2017).

Numerous studies highlight college student persistence and retention efforts (Goodman, Hurwitz, & Smith, 2017; Hull-Blanks et al., 2005; Tinto, 1987, 2017), a few …

Different And The Same: A Comparison Of Vertical And Lateral Transfer Students., Joshua Harris Mckee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As more students evaluate their choice for higher education, the rate of transfer students continues to grow. The transfer population is often addressed broadly in research studies, and few examine differences among the population. This study was designed to analyze the differences in transfer shock and retention rates between students who transferred from a community college to a four-year institution (vertical) versus those who transferred from one four-year institution to another (lateral). Participants of this study consisted of 1,032 students who transferred to the University of Louisville during the fall 2014, 2015, and 2016 semesters. Results indicated, when controlling for …

An Examination Of The Use Of Reading Fluency Indicators To Predict Act Sub-Scores Of First-Year College Students, Elizabeth Cassady

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

Using Tinto’s student departure theory (Tinto, 1975, 1993, 2012) and the simple view of reading (Hoover & Gough, 1990), this study explores the relationship between reading fluency indicators and achievement on the ACT reading sub-test and the ACT composite score. The study utilizes reading samples obtained from first-year college students attending a small, private university in the southeastern United States. A non-random sample of students (n = 95) was recorded while reading a college-level, informational passage measured at the 1470 Lexile level. Results of using hierarchical linear regression revealed that word reading accuracy as measured by reading miscues predicted …