Although Latina/os are the largest minority group in California and enrolling in higher education in record-breaking numbers (Zarate & Burciaga, 2010), the graduation rate of this group is very low (Kewal-Ramani, Gilbertson, Fox, & Provasnik, 2007). A phenomenological approach was used in this study to explore the lived experiences of Latina/o students at a for-profit college in the Inland Empire. Students from different major fields of study described how they explored and sought college information, how they experienced both community and for-profit colleges, and described their levels of sense of belonging in both community and for-profit colleges. Students shared their experiences reflective of the serpentine pathway of college-conocimiento (Acevedo-Gil, 2017) and the influence of a sense of belonging (Hurtado & Carter, 1997; Hurtado & Ponjuan, 2005; Maestas, Vaquera, & Zehr, 2007) on their persistence in higher education. Findings indicate that Latina/o students have limited college choices, weigh criteria to choose a for-profit college after departing from community colleges to “transfer across,” and feel that they belong in the for-profit institution for reasons that included either feeling cultural congruity with other students, or simply experienced college community support from faculty/ staff. Recommendations include: instructors be assigned as mentors who are personable and exhibit genuine caring; for-profit colleges should be as financially accessible as community colleges for all students; and the personalization available in for-profit colleges should be implemented into the community colleges.

Research attention on word of mouth (WOM) communication is growing in necessity and popularity as recent studies continue to confirm that WOM has a significant effect on consumer and organisational decision-making and buying behaviour. Much of the theory generated from this field of communications research has been based on product purchase situations that take place in the United States. More recent developments in the stream of research have begun to address WOM in service contexts and also driven a need to test the reliability of previous works in other countries and cultures. The research problem of this thesis emerged from such needs to further develop WOM theory and is defined by two key statements: (i) How does perceived source credibility and the content (message) of personal communication shape and determine the nature of a WOM system? (ii) What likely influence does culture have on a WOM system? The WOM system conceptualised within this thesis refers to a network of actors in which, personal, verbal, face to face communication occurs. It also refers to the nature of the information exchanged and how these messages determine which actors within the system participate. Addressing the need for further research into service-based contexts, the industry of export education was identified as an ideal environment in which to investigate the problem. In particular, international students (current and potential) were interviewed and surveyed on how WOM is used to gather information to make a decision on where to study. A predictive model of referral source selection is developed as the significant contribution to theory resulting from the qualitative and quantitative research employed in the methodology. The qualitative research was exploratory in nature and designed to understand the decision-making process international students went through before making a choice on their study destination. In depth interviews confirmed that WOM was used frequently throughout this process and identified the important pieces of information sought after by students and which sources the students consulted to obtain the information. International students are concerned about the international recognition of a university, teaching styles, tuition fees, graduate prospects and how compatible the lifestyle of the host country is for them amongst many issues. They consult a variety of personal sources including family, friends, alumni, university agents and even their school teachers. The main quantitative study in this thesis surveyed 420 university students from China and Malaysia and was designed to provide theory verification for the WOM system and explore potential impacts of culture on this system. Firstly, four common WOM themes were identified from all of the content exchanged through WOM between students and their referral sources. These themes are grouped as; informational messages, comparative messages, personal perspectives and guidance messages. The WOM system was then depicted as a predictive model of referral source selection based on which WOM themes are exchanged between actors. As consumers progress through a structured decision-making process, their information requirements (WOM themes) change and so do the sources selected to deliver the information. Secondly, important differences in WOM behaviour emerged between the Chinese and Malaysian samples. Although students from both countries are equally influenced by personal sources of communication, Malaysians considered alumni friends and parent/family sources to be more influential than the Chinese. Whereas the Chinese preferred talking with school teachers and close friends to help in their decisions. These findings added credible evidence of national culture effects to the predictive model of source selection. The thesis concludes by addressing limitations in the research - largely, that the study failed to produce evidence of cultural value dimensions impacting on the WOM system. The Chinese cultural value framework employed was well justified as an appropriate measure however, there were no equivalent measurements of Malaysian cultural values and the study was conducted on a limited convenience sample, making results difficult to generalise through Chinese and Malaysian populations. Further research was then suggested to address these limitations.

This study examined the use of information sources in college choice processing of historically-under-represented students from four different types of colleges who traditionally have not been studied in previous research. Historically under-represented types of students included students who were older than 24 years of age, African-Americans, Latinos, and low SES. The four types of colleges included a traditional public university, public community college, proprietary university, and proprietary college. Students from similar college programs of study were surveyed regarding their demographics to determine their categorization as historically under-represented and their use of information sources. Administrators from the selected colleges were interviewed and surveyed. Five students from each college were then interviewed. While most college choice processing research and the development of models are based on traditional college students, this study demonstrated that historically under-represented students generally utilize information sources and perform their college choice processing differently from traditional college students. These differences question the applicability of college choice processing models, such as Hossler and Gallagher's three stage model, without revisions. These revisions include redefinition of the stages and how they are executed in order to embrace the lack of college choices of historically under-represented students due to their lack of college informational motivators. The use of alternate information sources by historically-under-represented students and their motivational impact that differ from those utilized by traditional college students demonstrated the need to employ these sources within traditional colleges in order to increase college access for historically-under-represented students. This includes the utilization of non-traditional college informational motivators, such as the media, spouses, employers, and children, access to college informational motivators for students and their parents at all levels of schooling, and greater college access for older adults/parents. This study provided evidence that historically-underrepresented students still experience deficiencies in their access to college due to their lack of access to traditional information sources and their resulting compensation by utilizing alternative sources which were motivational as well as informational.

The workforce in society today has rapidly growing fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Females are largely underrepresented in these fields in colleges and also careers. Previous research cites multiple reasons that could cause this disparity between the genders, and this study adds to that. Females in their developmental years are equal to or outperform males in STEM fields in school, and the number of females who are beginning to choose these areas in college is on the rise. This study sought to determine if females choose colleges and careers based on their family’s emotional or financial influence. Utilizing data from the United States Department of Education National Center for Education Statistics’ (NCES) High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 with a follow-up study in 2012, answers to the research questions were sought. Analysis using t-tests determined that while a family’s financial situation does have an effect on college choice, females are supported by their families as they choose math and science fields of study. Future research could seek to determine more specifically why females continue to choose careers in fields of education and healthcare to provide community colleges better information to help direct females into the expanding fields of STEM.