Education Commons^™

Factors Influencing Accessibility To American Public Higher Education, Angela Leanne Bryan

Dissertations

Since their inception in the early 1900s, community colleges have been about making higher education accessible. While their initial purpose was to overcome the geography barrier to higher education, the mission of community colleges and higher education on the whole has expanded over time to mitigate other barriers to higher education to include gender, race, religion, and socioeconomic barriers. As public support for higher education has changed over time, institutions have had to change their tuition and fee structure to make up the budget shortfall created by the decreases in public funding. How have these changes impacted accessibility to public …

Advancing Evaluation In Community Colleges: A Mixed Methods Case Study Of Outcomes-Based Assessment Training In Student Affairs, Tammy L. Russell

Dissertations

Many student affairs departments struggle to contribute to an institution’s evidence base of student learning. In part, this results from student affairs personnel not having adequate training in how to assess learning outside the classroom. This is a particular challenge for small community colleges, in which individual units (e.g., admissions or financial aid) may have only one or two employees. Failure to assess co-curricular learning poses challenges to institutions in meeting accreditation standards, placing them at risk for increased scrutiny and loss of state funding under a performance-based system. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to use a …

Delivering Disability Accommodations At A Community College: A Case Study, Caolfionn B. Yenney, Janie Sacco Ii

College Student Affairs Leadership

This case study explores the Office of Disability Support Services (DSS) at Northern Midwestern Community College (NMCC). Like many state institutions of higher education, NMCC has undergone continued budgetary cuts, some of which have impacted their services. Additionally, NMCC faces limited support from administration and resistance from instructors to provide accommodations. Taking the position of the accommodations coordinator, this case study challenges readers to consider a student concern from an institutional, collaborative, student response, and strategic perspective.

An Opportunity For Community: Building A Community College Center For Community Engagement In A “Distressed” Suburb, Jeffrey L. Wagnitz

Ed.D. Dissertations in Practice

Over the past several decades, poverty rates in the United States have been rising more rapidly in the suburbs than anywhere else. Today, in fact, more poor people live in U.S. suburbs than in its cities. While poverty is painful in any setting, a suburb in decline can present its residents with particularly difficult obstacles, including deteriorating public infrastructure, under-funded schools, fragmented social services, time-consuming travel to distant jobs, and a lack of coherent political influence to address those liabilities. For the community colleges that serve such regions, the rise of suburban poverty challenges the institution’s traditional mission of community …

Strategic Importance Of Recruiting International Students For Community Colleges Framed In The Context Of An Institution's Fiscal Health, Tobias Bruhn

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand the strategic role international students play in the overall fiscal health of select community colleges located in a Middle Atlantic state in the United States, as well as to explore the marketing and recruitment strategies used to interact with international students and their effectiveness. Community college professionals in senior management positions responsible for the institution’s strategic direction and fiscal health, as well as those working directly with international students or those engaged in strategic enrollment management, participated in this study.

Framed by the research setting, problem and purpose, the following questions guided …

Perceptions Of Career And Technical Education Held By High School Career Counselors, Marlon Thornburg

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Current enrollment in Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs in the United States and in the state of Kansas is lagging behind the future demand for skilled workers. With millions of skilled labor positions unfilled and the pending retirement of the baby boomer generation, the United States is at a critical juncture to compete in the global marketplace. High school career counselors are the primary resource for CTE program recruitment. The purpose of this study was to examine whether high school career counselors' educational backgrounds, knowledge levels of CTE initiatives and programs in Kansas, and available counseling time were associated …

Adult Learner Perceptions And Experiences In A Community College Engaged In Intensive Student Success Reforms, Susan J. Barcinas, Tracy A. Kachur, Duane Akroyd, Heidi N. Mccann, Yaxin Zheng

Adult Education Research Conference

This qualitative study is based upon 200 hours of observation and 30 participant interviews aiming to deeply describe and analyze adult learner perceptions of community college intensive student success reform initiatives.