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Bridging the Gaps to Success — Promising Practices for Promoting Transfer Among Low-Income and First-Generation Students

September 11, 2011 Comments off

Bridging the Gaps to Success — Promising Practices for Promoting Transfer Among Low-Income and First-Generation Students (PDF)
Source: Pell Institute

This study, funded by TG, examines successful transfer strategies implemented at six Texas community colleges that continue to help low-income and first-generation students obtain their baccalaureate degrees. The study highlights what is working to increase transfer rates for low-income and first-generation students at each institution while gleaning a set of promising practices common to each of the schools that can inform other community colleges on how to establish successful transfer cultures. The report identifies the following three common themes—each consisting of institutional programs and policies—that contribute to higher than expected transfer rates: 1. A Structured Academic Pathway; 2. A Student-Centered Culture; and 3. A Culturally-Sensitive Leadership. The study makes specific recommendations for replicating the three common core practices to create a culture of transfer, including tactics such as collaborative campus programming, structuring administrative offices as support and service centers, making data-driven decisions, rewarding staff and faculty who value students, and developing a performance and accountability culture.

Categories: education, Pell Institute, postsecondary, social and cultural issues

Promising Practices Supporting Low-Income, First-Generation Students at DeVry University

June 4, 2011 Comments off

Promising Practices Supporting Low-Income, First-Generation Students at DeVry University (PDF)
Source: Pell Institute

Citing a lack of independent research on for-profit education institutions, The Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Education conducted a comprehensive review and analysis of DeVry University’s academic and support services for low-income, first-generation college students. The study’s findings show nontraditional students at DeVry University receive high levels of personal and academic support , which similar institutions could look to replicate.

The goal of this study, Promising Practices Supporting Low-Income, First-Generation Students at DeVry University, was to catalogue the academic and social support services offered at one of the nation’s largest proprietary universities, and benchmark them against similar programs designed to support individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds. According to The Pell Institute’s previous research in other sectors, effective support services can have a positive impact on low-income, first-generation college students, helping them to persist in their studies and graduate.

Categories: business and economics, education, Pell Institute, postsecondary, social and cultural issues
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