Search

Upholding an equity-focused mission can be challenging for administrators, particularly in light of recently implemented policies that center funding based on student performance. Based on interviews with administrators across four universities in the same state, this work examines the ways in which performance-based funding (PBF) requirements are interacting with the public-serving mission of urban-serving research universities (USRUs) in the USA. Key findings highlight perceived tensions between PBF and USRUs, implications of these tensions of the understanding and enactment of the USRU mission, redefining of concepts of improvement, and implications of PBF on deepening stratification across a differentiated system.

Utilizing event history analysis and multilevel models, this study explored dropout risks for first-time nontraditional students who started at public 4-year commuter institutions across a U.S. Midwest state. The study revealed that (a) the dropout hazard rate remained relatively high across college years and differed by gender, race, and family income; (b) individual characteristics such as socioeconomic backgrounds, academic performance and financial need were significant predictors for dropout, and (c) the differences in dropout were largely attributable to institutional structural and resource differences. These findings have important implications for policies and practices aiming to promote nontraditional student persistence to graduation.

This manuscript describes an approach to critical qualitative data analysis that combines (1) Carspecken's critical qualitative methodological framework with (2) the conceptual resources of critical discourse analysis (CDA), as framed by Fairclough and colleagues. Carspecken's methodological theory illuminates the connection between sociopolitical power and culture by introducing the content of validity claims into analysis of discourse. In turn, CDA helps to support the analysis of validity claims in that these are often expressed or legitimated through implicit references, and through the rhetoric, shape, or tone of what is being said. After an introduction of key concepts, I outline the combined approach and present an example, illustrating steps from coding to reconstructive analyses to CDA memos. I conclude with a discussion of the kinds of findings that can be supported by this analytical method, and implications for further research.

Performance-based funding (PBF) for public colleges and universities is increasingly prevalent worldwide, as a part of a broader pattern of marketisation in public education. This study focused on developing an empirical view of how, and in what contexts, policy makers use the concepts of neoliberal economics to design and support PerformanceBased Funding (PBF) policies in higher education. We analysed 121 policy documents, white papers, evaluation reports, and news items related to PBF policies in four case jurisdictions: Tennessee, Washington, United Kingdom, and Italy. We employed critical discourse analysis methods as framed by Fairclough and colleagues and implemented this approach within the broader methodological guidance of Carspecken's critical qualitative research. Grounded in social theory, this study illuminates the role PBF policies play internationally in moving higher education institutions closer to markets. Moreover, it provides an empirical view of the mechanisms and networks built into PBF policy debates. Finally, it contributes to a theoretically and empirically grounded view on the discursive uses of neoliberalism in education policy

Faculty serve as a primary point of contact for students in college, playing vital roles in students' retention and attainment. The perceptions and beliefs held by these institutional actors are important for understanding the context that shapes students' experiences while they are in college and potentially, long after they leave. The purpose of this work is to examine faculty members' perceptions of nontraditional student experiences. Findings highlight faculty members' awareness of students' multiple roles and obligations; perceptions of student academic success, including barriers to succeeding; and the ways faculty connect with students and the types of connections they forge. The findings from this work highlight the need to consider more research on how the experiences of students who do not fit a "traditional" model are interpreted by those in positions of power at higher education institutions. As such, we add to calls for more work that considers these institutional actors explicitly and how they shape student success.

This study examines the effects of institutional financial aid on year-to-year persistence for a cohort of first-time, first-year students at three large, doctorate-granting public universities. Though billions of dollars are spent each year on institutional aid, much of the research to date on student persistence does not consider its effects on student departure. Using data from a statewide student unit record database, the effects of institutional aid on persistence were modeled using logistic regression. Findings suggest that institutional financial aid has a positive but modest effect on persisting. Interestingly, the effects of aid were greater for men than for women, all else being equal. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)

The use of merit criteria in awarding institutional aid has grown considerably and, some argue, is supplanting need as the central factor in awarding aid. Concurrently, the accountability movement in higher education has placed greater emphasis on retention and graduation as indicators of institutional success and quality. In this context, this study explores the relationship between institutional merit aid and student departure from a statewide system of higher education. We found that, once we account for self-selection to the extent possible, there was no significant relationship. By contrast, need-based aid was consistently related to decreased odds of departure.

Using literature and illustrations drawn from a pilot study, this article explores the theoretical and methodological challenges entailed in the study of student retention. We center the discussion around two important efforts to expand the theoretical base and scope for research in this area: Berger's (2000) concept of colleges and universities as optimizers of cultural capital and Bensimon's (2007) recent critique of the narrowness of the frames that predominate student retention research. By way of exploring these issues through a concrete example, the article presents an overview of processes and findings from a funded pilot study of institutional policies and practices surrounding student retention. This exploration--part essay, part research report--leads us ultimately to pose two central questions on which, we suggest, future research should build: "What are institutions doing to improve student retention?" and "How do institutions intervene in the workings of cultural capital in higher education?" (Contains 2 tables.)

In this article, the authors share what they have learned in two distinct but complementary research projects that focus on institutional efforts to enhance student persistence and graduation--one funded by the Lumina Foundation for Education and the second by the College Board. Together, these projects have helped them develop a fuller picture of how institutions organize themselves to enhance student persistence and the extent and effectiveness of those efforts. While the Lumina-funded project has been completed, the College Board project is a continuing effort to better understand the policy levers that institutions use to influence student persistence and graduation rates. By sharing their growing understanding of institutional practices and of which practices work, this article can contribute to the ongoing discussion among scholars and practitioners around the country about how to increase persistence and graduation and, by extension, improve student learning.

Utilizing event history analysis and multilevel models, this study explored dropout risks for first-time nontraditional students who started at public 4-year commuter institutions across a U.S. Midwest state. The study revealed that (a) the dropout hazard rate remained relatively high across college years and differed by gender, race, and family income; (b) individual characteristics such as socioeconomic backgrounds, academic performance and financial need were significant predictors for dropout, and (c) the differences in dropout were largely attributable to institutional structural and resource differences. These findings have important implications for policies and practices aiming to promote nontraditional student persistence to graduation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]