“Democracy’s Unfinished Business”

The Truman Commission created the modern community college in 1947 to democratize our system of higher education in America. Before this moment, higher education was thoroughly segregated by race, class, and gender. The modern open-admissions two-year college cannot, therefore, be understood simply as a convenient, low-cost alternative to four-year colleges. It is—by mission and mandate—a social justice institution.

Reflecting on New Faculty Training

This chapter aims to describe the mandatory training program (Internationalized Learning Essentials) offered to the new faculty as part of the internationalization of the curriculum process at four-year colleges in the U.S. The chapter presents survey results regarding faculty perceptions on the training program. The results of this study suggest important implications for research in internationalization by providing further insights regarding faculty training about internationalized education.

Can Simplifying Financial Aid Offers Impact College Enrollment and Borrowing? Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Evidence

Recent policy and research efforts have focused on simplifying the college-going process, improving transparency around college costs, and helping students make informed decisions. In 2012, the Obama administration released the “shopping sheet,” a standardized financial aid offer that is intended to provide students with simplified information about costs, loan options, and college outcomes. This paper examines the impact of the shopping sheet (adopted by more than 400 four-year colleges in two years) using: (1) administrative data from a field experiment among admitted and already-enrolled students at a public university, and (2) college-level data from a quasi-experiment among four-year colleges. Findings provide some evidence that information in the shopping sheet relating a college's graduation rate to other colleges led to decreased borrowing at colleges with poor graduation outcomes. Additionally, the shopping sheet decreased borrowing at colleges that enroll high shares of students receiving federal student aid and underrepresented minority students. These findings indicate the shopping sheet may be particularly salient to students who traditionally face higher informational barriers during the college-going process.

A comparison of factors determining the transition to postsecondary education in Toronto and Chicago

We examine how race, sex and poverty contribute to the likelihood of attending two- and four-year colleges in Chicago and Toronto. In each city, we use longitudinal data on high school students and their postsecondary trajectories in order to explore how race and sex may impact differentially upon their educational pathways. Our analyses are informed by an intersectionality perspective, wherein we understand that life chances are shaped by the various traits and identities that individuals possess. In Toronto, Black males are less likely than all other groups to attend four-year colleges. We also find that two-year colleges appear to fulfill a different role in Toronto than they do in Chicago; that is, serving populations who may have been tracked into non-academic course selections in high school. We contextualize our findings within the very different political, cultural, and historical contexts of Ontario and Illinois.

Three essays on rural-nonrural disparities in postsecondary access and success

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] While a college degree is increasingly a crucial pathway to achieve success in the U.S labor market, recent estimates indicate that 20% of rural young adults have a college degree, as compared to 38% of their peers in nonrural areas. Despite the low college attainment rates in rural areas, however, existing research on barriers that inhibit rural students' college access and success is still limited. I extent the existing literature by exploring three different but interlinked topics. In the first essay, I use regression discontinuity to test whether rural students are more likely than their colleagues from non-rural backgrounds to respond negatively to being placed on academic probation and exit college before graduation. In the second essay, I examine the link between advanced math course taking and rural-nonrural gaps in enrollment rates in four-year colleges. Finally, in the third essay, I document the extent of the rural-nonrural gap in postsecondary engineering and computer science (ECS) degree attainment and major choice. These essays highlight that rural students, particularly those who come from remote areas, are less likely than their nonrural peers to take advanced courses, to enroll in four-year colleges, to earn an engineering degree, and to persist in college when placed on academic probation.