Document Category: Research Study

Supporting Community College Completion with a Culture of Caring: A Case Study of Amarillo College (2018)

This report is an in-depth case study of the No Excuses Poverty Initiative at Amarillo College (AC), a midsize community college in the Texas Panhandle. Nearly a decade ago, AC’s leadership initiated a reflective and intentional series of steps to help alleviate the conditions of poverty affecting their students and promote the chances those students complete their degrees. The college has received widespread press and recognition for its work. This case study is the first intensive, evidence-based examination of that initiative, its key components, and its impact on student success.

Market Rhetoric versus Reality in Policy and Practice: The Workforce Investment Act andAccess to Community College Education and Training (2003)

This article examines the impact of the Workforce
Investment Act (WIA) of 1998 on access to community
college education and training. The market-oriented,
customer-focused rhetoric of WIA is compared to the
realities of WIA implementation in three states: Rhode
Island, Illinois, and Florida. The authors first discuss the
emergence of WIA in the context of recent marketdriven
pressures on community colleges. Next, they provide
an overview of the relevant components of WIA.
Finally, they examine how the implementation and practice
of WIA affects the ability of low-income populations
to obtain postsecondary education. They find that WIA’s
rhetoric, intended to promote educational quality and
increase customer choice, is not reflected in either formal
policy or implementation. Important policy elements
such as accountability measures and the focus on
multiple customers have undercut the rhetoric of free
choice. Thus, in practice, WIA has actually limited
access to education and training at community colleges.

Following Their Every Move: An Investigation of Social-Class Differences in College Pathways (2006)

As more Americans enter college than ever before, their pathways through the broadly differentiated
higher education system are changing. Movement in, out, and among institutions now
characterizes students’ attendance patterns—half of all undergraduates who begin at a four-year
institution go on to attend at least one other college, and over one-third take some time off from
college after their initial enrollment. This study investigated whether there is social-class variation
in these patterns, with advantaged and disadvantaged students responding to new postsecondary
choices by engaging in different pathways. National longitudinal data from postsecondary
transcripts were used to follow students across schools and to examine the importance
of family background and high school preparation in predicting forms of college attendance. The
results demonstrate that students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are more likely than
are economically advantaged students (net of prior academic preparation) to follow pathways
that are characterized by interrupted movement. Such pathways appear to be less effective
routes to the timely completion of degrees. Thus, differences in how students attend college represent
an additional layer of stratification in higher education.

Racial and Ethnic Differences in the Impact of Work-First Policies on College Access (2005)

The college participation rates of African Americans and Latinos continue to lag behind those of other
racial and ethnic groups in the United States, despite the efforts of financial aid and affirmative action
policies. Two recent federal policies that are “work-first” in nature threaten to further exacerbate
racial and ethnic disparities in college access. This article examines the complex ways in which
the 1996 welfare reform and the 1998 Workforce Investment Act differentially affect opportunitiesf or
college enrollment among disadvantaged adults. Utilizing national and state-level data, the authors
argue that both policies restrict access to postsecondary education through the implementation of
their guiding philosophy, “work-first,” which emphasizes rapid job placement as the strategy of
choice in achieving stable employment and moving out of poverty. These policies have reduced the
size of the clientele receiving welfare and restricted access to education and training for those who
remain on the rolls. Moreover, this reduction in access is particularly acute among African Americans
and Latinos. Thus, the findings indicate that these work-first federal policies serve to limit higher
education opportunities available to these already disadvantaged populations

Managing to Make It: The College Trajectories of Traditional-age Students with Children (2011)

Students with children are a growing presence in higher education, but apart from being labeled “nontraditional” their prospects for degree completion are poorly understood. How does parenting while in college make students vulnerable? How does it make them stronger? To address these questions this exploratory study draws on a panel study of young, low-income Wisconsin college students that includes administrative, survey, and interview data. Findings suggest that while parenting students have divergent college pathways compared to their peers, those pathways do not always indicate disadvantage. At the same time, it is also clear that they would benefit from additional supports.

Putting College First: How Social and Financial Capital Impact Labor Market Participation Among Low‐Income Undergraduates (2011)

Most undergraduates work despite evidence that working while in college is associated with lower
rates of degree completion. Prior research indicates that the propensity to work varies by both family
income and education, suggesting that both financial and social capital operate to reduce work and
preserve educational advantage. We test that hypothesis with a sample of 3,000 low‐income
Wisconsin undergraduates enrolled in the state’s 42 public two‐year and four‐year colleges and
universities. Leveraging an experiment that distributes financial aid via lottery, we identify effects of
financial capital on labor force participation that are comparable in magnitude to the positive benefits
of social capital obtained through parental education. Specifically, the allocation of additional financial
aid reduces the hours worked by low‐income students with high school‐educated parents to the point
that it nearly fully offsets the socioeconomic advantage (in terms of fewer hours worked) that accrues
to students from college‐educated families. Need‐based financial aid, it appears, may be an equalizer
that promises to reduce labor force participation and enhance college attainment.

Work-First or Work-Only: Welfare Reform, State Policy, and Access to Postsecondary Education (2003)

As a result of the 1996 welfare reform-Temporary Aid
to Needy Families (TANF)-the number of welfare
recipients enrolled in postsecondary education has
decreased dramatically.T he new welfare law also gives
states significant discretion to support and even promote
postsecondary education for low-income adults; consequently,
state policies regarding access vary widely. This
study uses qualitative data from three states to examine
the sources and consequences of state variation in access
to postsecondary education for disadvantaged individuals.
Our cross-state comparison shows that competing
ideas about welfare, work and the role of education in
the lives of welfare recipients help structure and shape
political debates, and policy outcomes, in the each of the
states. Ideas influenced policies via four key channels:
the state human service agency; advocacy organizations;
the persistence of the “work-first”id ea within implementationp
rocesses; and the power of policy “signals”to
drive state welfare reform