The purpose of this study was to determine the reasons why students did not enroll at Utah State in the fall quarter of 1978 when they had listed the university as their first choice among institutions to attend. An equally important purpose was to determine whether or not there were differences in the personal characteristics of the enrolled and nonenrolled groups. Both students who entered U.S.U. in the fall quarter of 1978 and those who failed at that time to enroll served as samples for the study. A random sample of 150 students per group, 300 students altogether, was employed toward a determination of the specific reasons why students did not enroll. Both enrolled and nonenrolled students were mailed an identical questionnaire requesting reasons for enrollment or nonenrollment, depending on the student's circumstance. A third purpose was to use the results to develop recommendations which may help increase the percentage of applicants who become U.S.U. students. This study discovered differences between students enrolled at Utah State University and those not enrolled with respect to factors which might have influenced their decision to attend/not attend Utah State University. Differences between the two groups were found for the variables "printed materials and letters from U.S.U.", "campus visit", "major field of study", "social environment", "rank in graduating class" and "item influencing most their decision to attend/not attend U.S.U.". Differences between the two groups were found, also for the variables "finances", "recommendations", and "proximity to home". Various suggestions with respect to Utah State's recruitment and enrollment policies have been offered. It would appear to be in Utah State's best interest to have prospective students visit the U.S.U. campus as well as have the student's parents involved in the college decision-making process. It is recommended that prospective U.S.U. students be informed of financial aid applications and procedures as well as hear the recommendations of individuals who have had previous contact with Utah State University. It is suggested that the housing office of U.S.U. develop pamphlets, brochures, and other such information to be distributed to prospective students who will be living away from home when attending college.

The purpose of this study is to determine how economic factors correlate with and have an effect on enrollment at community colleges and provide benchmark enrollment strategies for use by community colleges in the future. A cluster sampling of 22 branch campus locations at 9 community colleges in Mississippi and their respective counties was selected. The independent variables used were median household income, percentage of persons below the poverty level, and unemployment rates. A statistical correlation and regression was conducted to determine if economic factors (median household income, percentage of persons below the poverty level, and unemployment by county) had any correlation or an effect on the decrease or increase in enrollment at the respective community college campus. The correlation and statistical effect based on the regression model used demonstrated that median household income and poverty levels had the strongest correlation and the most statistically significant effect on community college enrollment in Mississippi. Unemployment had a very weak correlation and no statistically significant effect on the sample for community college enrollment for Mississippi during this period. There were some exceptions in which certain community college campuses and their respective county unemployment rates had a very high effect on enrollment for that specific campus and that specific period. There were 6 phone interviews conducted following the analysis of the datasets to determine any internal or external causes to enrollment decreases and increases during this period. 4 of the 6 colleges responded. Of the colleges that responded, 2 saw increases and 2 saw decreases. The predominant enrollment factor denoted by the interviewee was retention and cohesive interdepartmental focus toward recruitment, which resulted in increased enrollment. Of the colleges that saw decreases and were interviewed, it was noted that enrollment personnel were not prepared for the enrollment decrease and could have been. Target markets with higher income and lower poverty levels perform better during harsh periods of challenge for enrollment at community colleges. Increased retention and interdepartmental cohesion produces better preparation for challenging periods of declining enrollment.

This study considered the school effects of college going behavior for rural students. Of interest were the effects of location and college-going culture within a given school. The research questions asked, included: 1. What are the effects of rural school location and college-going culture on public high school graduation? 2. What are the effects of rural school location and college-going culture on college enrollment? 3. For the public high school graduates who enrolled in college, what are the effects of rural school location and college-going culture on the control structure of the college program enrolled? 4. For the public high school graduates who enrolled in college, what are the effects of rural school location and college-going culture on type of college program enrolled (two-year vs. four-year)?> 5. For the public high school graduates who enrolled in college, what are the effects of rural school location and college-going culture on full-time vs. part-time enrollment? The study used data from the HSLS:09 survey. The data was analyzed using Hierarchical Generalized Linear Modeling. This study found that the odds of attending college decreased 18.7% for rural students. There was also a 4.8% decrease in the odds of college enrollment by students from majority White high schools. School's with high mean GPA's were more likely to have students graduate from high school, enroll in college, and attend 4-year institutions. High rates of school problems negatively affected students and demonstrated decreased odds of high school graduation and college enrollment. The role of counselors had demonstrated effects on students. Schools with counseling offices that focused a high number of hours on college counseling increase the odds their students graduate would from high school and attend a 4-year institution. Students attending high schools with a college counselor dedicated to college applications were 4.30 times more likely to attend a not-for-profit institution than a for-profit institution. / Ph. D.

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Thesis advisor: Jacqueline Lerner / Americans are more educated than ever, and high educational attainment has long been associated with positive outcomes for individuals and society as a whole. However, one-third of high school students do not enroll in post-secondary education immediately after graduation, thereby reducing potential benefits. A thorough understanding of college enrollment patterns is needed to develop and enhance interventions that will effectively promote immediate college enrollment. Extant literature on college access focuses largely on contextual factors that influence college enrollment, such as families, schools, and classrooms. Given that context is only one component of development, additional research on the role of the individual may be especially useful for understanding more fully the transition from high school to college. For this dissertation, theoretical approaches from higher education and developmental psychology were combined to provide a new framework for exploring immediate college enrollment. The variables of interest included indicators of college readiness (e.g., academic preparedness and sources of college information) and three internal assets: self-regulation, school engagement, and expectations for academic success. College enrollment patterns were examined using data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, which surveyed students nationwide in 2002 (Grade 10), 2004 (Grade 12), 2006, and 2012. A series of multinomial regression equations revealed significant main effects and indirect effects of internal assets on college enrollment through college readiness variables, but no interaction effects between internal assets and college readiness variables. Analyses also provided support for previous findings related to racial/ethnic and socio-economic group differences, as well as school-level contextual factors. The findings from this study have valuable implications for college access programs: internal assets appear to be driving college readiness, not merely bolstering it, and should be a focus for interventional efforts. Additional research across applied settings for youth is needed to replicate and extend the findings from the current study, to evaluate applicable measurement standards, and to propose reform in practice and policy. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

Thesis advisor: Ana Martinez-Aleman / Abstract Black and Latino men have the lowest college enrollment rates among traditional college-aged students. Using a qualitative method, this study examined first-year students' perceptions of factors that influenced their plans to pursue a college education and actual enrollment. The factors this study explored were family support activities as defined by the Hossler college choice model and college aspirations factors. Currently, the experiences of first-year black and Latino men enrolled at four-year postsecondary institutions have been limited. These firsthand accounts will provide useful information to guidance counselors, school and university administrators, and policy makers interested in increasing the number of black and Latino men at four-year colleges and universities. The literature on college enrollment shows that black and Latino men have the lowest enrollment rates of all college-aged students. The college choice literature suggests that family support activities such as saving for college, visiting colleges, and attending a financial aid workshop all are influential in students' decision to enroll at a postsecondary institution. In addition, the literature on college aspirations shows that factors such as family encouragement, peers, and schools can either aid or hinder a student's plans to go to college. Yet, Hossler's college choice model and the college aspirations literature usually do not explain the college enrollment decisions of black and Latino men. In particular, a specific aim of this study is to investigate whether the college choice and college aspirations literatures' conclusions hold true for black and Latino men. In addition, this study explores whether participants' decisions to enroll are influenced by gender expectations. The results of this study were examined using a critical theory lens. The study's findings reveal that black and Latino men's college enrollment decisions are influenced in much the same ways as those of other high-school students. Parents provided the foundation along with early academic success that instilled ideas about the benefits of a college education and supported the attainment of that goal. Furthermore, participants rejected negative stereotypes associated with men of color and saw the pursuit of a postsecondary education as a challenge to these common beliefs. These findings show that men of color's college enrollment decisions are impacted by parents as well as multivariate factors that work to sustain their college enrollment goals. This information can provide school and college administrators as well as policymakers with strategies that could successfully address the problem of college transition and access for this population. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Administration and Higher Education.

Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), I investigate the influence of adolescent friendship network on the likelihood of college enrollment, and whether and how this influence is affected by stratification factors (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status). However, there is a challenge in evaluating this influence process since adolescents usually non-randomly select their friends. A selection process needs to be taken into consideration simultaneously with the influence process of adolescents’ friendship network on their likelihood of college enrollment. Previous research on peer effects has methodological issues and limitations. Traditional methods (e.g., multivariate regression, multilevel modeling, or propensity score matching) using limited data (e.g., cross-sectional) and measures of friendship network (e.g., one best friend) could not solve the problem of integrating selection process and influence process in one model. In addition, the dyadic and triadic (or even higher level) dependency among friends in the network makes it more difficult to estimate selection and influence processes using traditional methods. To address these concerns, I employ longitudinal network analysis with stochastic actor-based models (SABMs) to account for the influence of friendship network on adolescent college enrollment when simultaneously considering the selection of friendship. The co-evolution model of network dynamics (selection) and behavioral dynamics (influence) also addresses the problem of endogeneity between network change and behavioral change. However, the co-evolution model requires network data and behavioral data measured in multiple time points, so in the first stage of this research, I generate the predicted probability of college enrollment at three time points of Add Health using traditional logistic regression. Then in the second stage of this research, I use the transformed likelihood of college enrollment, a statistical artifact, as the behavior variable in the co-evolution model to examine how the likelihood of college enrollment affect the friendship selection and in turn friend’s average likelihood of college enrollment in the network influences an adolescent’s own likelihood of college enrollment. In the first stage, I find that there are some levels of gender, race/ethnicity, and SES inequalities in the college enrollment, even after controlling for previous academic achievement, other individual characteristics, family backgrounds, and school level variables. In the second stage, the results of dynamic network analysis indicate significant selection (partial deselection) and influence effects of adolescent friendship networks on the likelihood of college enrollment. In the selection process, adolescents have high tendency to select friends who are similar to them in the likelihood of college enrollment, or terminate friendships with other students of dissimilar likelihood of college enrollment. In the influence process, the average alter effect is found consistently significant and positive across all models and schools, which indicates that there is strong social influence of friendship network on adolescents’ likelihood of college enrollment. The higher the average friends’ likelihood of college enrollment, the more likely the adolescent will increase own likelihood of college enrollment. I also discuss the significance of results and many important policy and practical implications.

Many high school students who want to attend college never actually enroll. Multiple factors like barriers (e.g., financial, discrimination) and poor academic achievement prevent some high school students from matriculating to college. Researchers must form a nuanced understanding of multidimensional factors that predict college enrollment. The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the extent to which psychosocial academic behavioral skills (PABS) predict college enrollment in two and four year colleges. A cross-sectional, survey-based methodology was used to address the research questions. Data from operational research by ACT, Inc. using the Engage 10-12 instrument were used to analyze students’ psychosocial academic behavioral skills. Standardized test scores and high school GPA were used to measure academic achievement. College enrollment data were gathered from the National Student Clearinghouse. A large, diverse sample of over 4,100 high school students in 10th, 11th, and 12th grade was analyzed using logistic regression and hierarchical generalized linear models. Select psychosocial academic behavioral skills demonstrated positive relationships with four-year enrollment. Relationships between PABS and two-year college enrollment were smaller than the observed relationships between PABS and four-year college enrollment. Bootstrapping was used to determine if psychosocial academic behaviors predicted college enrollment or if this effect was mediated via academic achievement. Moderation and partial mediation effects were observed. By understanding student characteristics related to college enrollment, researchers and policymakers are better equipped to help young people matriculate to postsecondary institutions.

The ACT automated admissions system was adopted by the Colleges and Universities in the Utah system of higher education in 1974. The automated admission system was conceived at a time when College enrollment all over the United States was decreasing, and thus was viewed by its proponents as a positive step in alleviating some of the articulation problems between post secondary institutions, high school counselors and prospective students. Educators who developed the program felt that it would be an advantage to prospective students by providing an admissions decision shortly after the ACT was taken. Automated admissions appears to be an advantage to high school counselors because it eliminates the need for a high school transcript in the admissions process, and because it reduces the amount of time the counselor is involved in the mechanics of the admissions process. This study represents an effort to determine the impact of the Automated Admissions system on the high school counselor and on prospective college students. The results of this study indicate that a significant number of Utah high school counselors favor the Automated Admissions system as opposed to "traditional" admissions systems formerly in use, because of the reduction in clerical work required of the counselor.