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Based on combined data from Baccalaureate & Beyond (B&B:16/17), Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), and Barron's Profiles of American Colleges, this study utilizes zero-inflated beta regression methods and analyzes individual and institutional factors that predict debt burden by gender. Results show that women are less likely than men to have a zero debt burden one year after college graduation. Interaction effect tests show that the relationship between gender and zero debt burden differs by race/ethnicity. Additional analyses disaggregating the debt and earnings components indicate that women's salary is significantly lower than men's salary. The combined results of lower probability of zero debt and lower salary for women than for men are concerning and demonstrate gendered inequities within current systems. Policy attention is needed to address these issues.

This research brief uses publicly available data from the 2016/2017 Baccalaureate and Beyond survey to examine individual and institutional predictors of participation in paid and unpaid internships, especially family income. When controlling for other factors, results showed that low-income students were more likely to have unpaid internships than high-income students. Attending a highly selective institution was the strongest predictor of participating in a paid internship. Results inspire questions about the accessibility of paid internships, especially for students in non-STEM majors and other students from marginalized groups.

Given the need for Latinx/a/o health care providers in the United States, understanding how students choose these fields is critical to achieving more equitable systems. This study uses community cultural wealth to investigate how Latina first-generation college students choose and pursue health care careers. Findings show that women employed multiple sources of capital to learn about career options, challenge inequalities in health systems, and to give back to family, especially to honor past and future generations of women.

In 2018-2019, North Carolina implemented a loan forgiveness program to recruit talented postsecondary students into teaching majors in needed subject areas. This qualitative case study analyzes the influence of the North Carolina Teaching Fellows Program (NCTFP) on 10 student participants' college, major, and career plans in STEM education to understand how loan incentives shaped student interest in teaching careers in STEM subjects. Findings reveal that forgivable loan funding influenced college choice among those choosing institutions at the time of NCTFP acceptance. While the NCTFP was most appealing to participants who already planned to become STEM educators, there is also evidence that the program shaped some participants' academic and career goals towards STEM education. While the NCTFP also serves to promote graduates' entry into low-performing schools, this incentive may generate unintended consequences for students and schools alike.

Education-job match is often associated with enhanced well-being and career satisfaction, although existing research suggests that arts college graduates are less likely to experience education-job match than graduates of other disciplines. As research also increasingly suggests that student loan debt may influence college graduates' access to lower-paying industries and careers, this study uses a cross-sectional dataset from the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project to investigate how student loan debt predicts education-job match (entry into an arts position) among arts bachelor's graduates. Even when controlling for individual and institutional factors, results show that arts bachelor's graduates with over US$10,000 in undergraduate student loan debt are less likely to enter arts careers than those with no loans. Findings suggest that arts careers may be less accessible for college graduates who are most dependent on student loans, with important implications for diversity and equity within the arts.

Despite computer science (CS) students' widespread participation in internships, few studies have examined how internship experiences impact career decision-making. Because women are severely underrepresented within CS, understanding how internship experiences impact career decision-making can provide critical insight into women's career development processes and longevity in the field. Using the concept of career self-management within social cognitive career theory as a theoretical framework and standpoint feminism as a critical lens, we conducted interviews with 13 women CS majors to learn how internship experiences influenced their career decisions. Findings reveal three major career development process themes, including questioning technical competence, navigating gendered "microclimates," and reflecting on careers in CS. While internships largely affirmed women's career interests in CS, participants also navigated challenging gendered dynamics and often made career decisions directly influenced by these experiences. Findings inform how CS educators, career development practitioners, and employers may better develop inclusive internship cultures in computing.

This study examines campus graffiti within a designated space at a large, public university over a 30-day period. Using photographic data, we used content analysis to track graffiti themes and duration, finding artifacts ranging from prosocial to hostile to abstract. While topics such as race, gender, and politics comprised a small proportion of artifacts, we expect that these graffiti are most impactful to either promoting or inhibiting a safe and inclusive campus environment.

Background and Context: Women are severely underrepresented in computer science (CS). Understanding varied entry points into CS may promote women's participation in the field. Objective: This study identifies experiences that influenced women's matriculation into CS majors, and pathways into CS based on participants' enrollment in bachelor of arts (BA) or bachelor of science (BS) degree programs. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 women completing CS bachelor's degrees at a public institution in the U.S. Findings: Findings show different entry points into CS based on whether women matriculated into the site institution's College of Engineering (pursued a BS degree) or College of Arts and Sciences (BA degree). For most, introductory CS courses were critical to choosing a CS major. BS students entered college with existing STEM interests and received early exposure to CS via curricular requirements. BA students entered CS courses and majors comparatively later, often based on social encouragement. Implications: Degree program structures and curricula influence students' exposure to CS and their major choices. Since most BA participants did not consider a CS major until their second year, flexible curricula can provide critical access for students with limited computing experience.

This study explores the effect of developmental courses on labor market outcomes and baccalaureate degree attainment using data from the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:02; Ingels et al., 2014). Unlike previous research that only compares those needing developmental coursework to college peers who do not need coursework, this study is the first to examine outcomes of high school students who enroll in college through developmental classes and similar high school graduates who do not enroll in college. Employing inverse probability weighting, the findings of this study provide a counternarrative to current conversations about developmental courses. We offer some important evidence to suggest that developmental courses may have a more beneficial impact than many perceive.

The teaching profession is facing difficulty recruiting and retaining talent in the U.S., especially in STEM subjects. This study identifies the key experiences that shaped the academic paths and career plans of 10 pre-service teachers in STEM education who are participating in a loan forgiveness programme in North Carolina. Using life history methodology, category-centred analysis based on social cognitive career theory revealed six themes. Findings show the importance of early school experiences in inspiring interests in teaching, with participants also pursuing teaching-related roles to explore growing career interests. Participants tended to develop interests in STEM subjects separately from their interests in teaching, often as a result of academic success in STEM, especially when participants had good teachers in these subjects. However, participants were frequently dissuaded from pursuing teaching careers by family members and educators. The opportunity for loan forgiveness was a significant motivator for several participants to newly consider careers in STEM education, suggesting the salience of college costs and student debt in teacher recruitment efforts today.

In the interest of building a larger and more diverse science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workforce, many K-12 STEM programs have proliferated in recent years, yet the long-term effects of participation in these programs remain underexplored. This mixed methods study focuses on an established program, Science Olympiad, and uses administrative, survey, and focus group data to investigate characteristics of former Science Olympiad participants at one postsecondary institution and participants' perceived influence of the program on their postsecondary trajectories. Using social cognitive career theory, we identify themes in the ways in which Science Olympiad influenced academic and career decisions among participants, especially focusing on college and major choices. Among former participants who indicated that the program influenced their college decisions, participation in a state tournament hosted by the site institution was especially impactful. Half of the study participants indicated that the program influenced their major choice at this institution, largely through providing opportunities for exposure to and exploration of new subject areas with limited risk. Data suggest that Science Olympiad can influence participants' academic and career interests and trajectories, highlighting implications for K-12 STEM out-of-school programs and opportunities for enhanced partnerships between K-12 and postsecondary STEM educational settings.

This case study examines the ways in which employers recruit undergraduate students on U.S. college campuses for internship opportunities. More students today are completing internships than ever before, and career services offices on college campuses are increasingly partnering with employers to promote these opportunities. For students, internship experiences build career knowledge and skills and can lead directly to professional opportunities. For employers, internship programmes aid the recruitment and training of future employees. Given the potential relationship between internships and post-graduate opportunities for students, understanding the ways in which employers recruit student interns has important implications for higher education today. To provide a multi-dimensional understanding of the recruitment of college students for internship positions, data were collected from nine employers and 16 career services staff members who interact with internship recruiting processes on college campuses in North Carolina. Six major themes emerged: identifying target institutions and environments, campus connection points, establishing a brand, creeping recruitment timelines, targeting early students, and converting interns to full-time employees.

Recent trends in higher education financing have increased students' need to borrow to afford college. This brief examines how federal student loan borrowing has changed from 2000 to 2016 by student race/ethnicity using logistic regression analysis and data from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS). We find that the odds of borrowing have diverged over time across racial and ethnic subgroups even after controlling for institutional sector and students' financial circumstances. This divergence in student loan borrowing has important implications for policymakers and researchers interested in closing racial gaps in college access and success.

Motivated by ongoing gender disparities in engineering, the authors qualitatively examine how collegiate STEM student organizations serve as affirming spaces for women's engineering identity development, countering their exclusionary classroom environments. Drawing from interviews and written data with 24 undergraduate women, findings demonstrate how student organizations promote engineering identity through women recognizing themselves as engineers, viewing peers as possibility models, and being recognized by others as engineers. We conclude with practical implications for fostering inclusive engineering environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on women in STEM often silences the voices of minoritized populations, such as women of color, inpart because the most commonly used theoretical frameworks do not center or contextualize their experiences. This chapter highlights the importance of critical perspectives and methodologies such as intersectionality in research design. We conclude with implications for using critical approaches to disrupt the status quo and advance minoritized populations in STEM.

Given the need for Latinx/a/o health care providers in the United States, understanding how students choose these fields is critical to achieving more equitable systems. This study uses community cultural wealth to investigate how Latina first-generation college students choose and pursue health care careers. Findings show that women employed multiple sources of capital to learn about career options, challenge inequalities in health systems, and to give back to family, especially to honor past and future generations of women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education-job match is often associated with enhanced well-being and career satisfaction, although existing research suggests that arts college graduates are less likely to experience education-job match than graduates of other disciplines. As research also increasingly suggests that student loan debt may influence college graduates' access to lower-paying industries and careers, this study uses a cross-sectional dataset from the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project to investigate how student loan debt predicts education-job match (entry into an arts position) among arts bachelor's graduates. Even when controlling for individual and institutional factors, results show that arts bachelor's graduates with over US$10,000 in undergraduate student loan debt are less likely to enter arts careers than those with no loans. Findings suggest that arts careers may be less accessible for college graduates who are most dependent on student loans, with important implications for diversity and equity within the arts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines campus graffiti within a designated space at a large, public university over a 30-day period. Using photographic data, we used content analysis to track graffiti themes and duration, finding artifacts ranging from prosocial to hostile to abstract. While topics such as race, gender, and politics comprised a small proportion of artifacts, we expect that these graffiti are most impactful to either promoting or inhibiting a safe and inclusive campus environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite computer science (CS) students' widespread participation in internships, few studies have examined how internship experiences impact career decision-making. Because women are severely underrepresented within CS, understanding how internship experiences impact career decision-making can provide critical insight into women's career development processes and longevity in the field. Using the concept of career self-management within social cognitive career theory as a theoretical framework and standpoint feminism as a critical lens, we conducted interviews with 13 women CS majors to learn how internship experiences influenced their career decisions. Findings reveal three major career development process themes, including questioning technical competence, navigating gendered "microclimates," and reflecting on careers in CS. While internships largely affirmed women's career interests in CS, participants also navigated challenging gendered dynamics and often made career decisions directly influenced by these experiences. Findings inform how CS educators, career development practitioners, and employers may better develop inclusive internship cultures in computing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]