This study was designed to compare the college choice decisions of first-year students in the fall of 1993 attending selected private Christian institutions of higher learning with a national sample of colleges. The data for the study were collected using the Entering Student Survey (ESS), published by the American College Testing program (ACT).

This study explored why academically qualified African American students, those eligible to attend four-year institutions, choose to attend community colleges and are, thereby, undermatched. This qualitative study investigated how these students navigated the college choice process, what influenced their decision to attend a community college, what their experience at a community college was like, and their aspirations to obtain a baccalaureate degree. Purposeful sampling was used to gather a sample of 19 African American students attending community college in Dallas, Texas. The sample included 14 females and five males. Data were collected through 40-60 minute semi-structured interviews and a brief demographic survey. The conceptual frameworks for this study included Kassie Freeman’s predetermination model that includes cultural considerations in college choice and the Somers et al. model that addresses factors that increase the likelihood of a student choosing to attend a community college. This integrated framework captures the role that family and culture play in African American community college choice. Findings suggest that the community college choice influences for academically eligible African American students vary from traditional college choice models. Whereas factors such as cost, location, and the role of peers played somewhat of a role in their choice, participants were also heavily influenced by sports, self-perceptions of maturity, and the perceptions of their families. Another key finding was that the effects of undermatching vary. All of the participants in this study felt that attending a community college fostered transfer preparedness, supported personal development, and promoted their academic success. However, some of the participants also felt that attending a community college hindered their sense of autonomy and limited their social engagement. This variation leads to the conclusion that undermatching effects vary and are dependent upon a variety of contextual factors. Policy and practice recommendations are provided for parents, teachers, counselors, and higher education professionals.

This study identified and described the experiences of twelve African American men that influenced the choice to participate in postsecondary education. This qualitative study used a phenomenology framework to determine 1) the formation of predisposition in the college choice process, 2) the messages received about college from influential people, and 3) perception and interpretation of the importance of a college degree. The overall theme arising from the data is that the college choice process was complicated and inconsistent; however, ten of the twelve participants completed some type of postsecondary training. Deficient messages about postsecondary education manifested as low parental support for college attendance, low academic expectations, withholding of important information from school officials and little or no exposure to postsecondary institution campuses or students. Influential people for the participants ranged from parents to themselves, and from a combination of characteristics from different people, to peers, to no one. The informants did not consistently identify their role model as the one who influenced them to attend college. The perception of the value of a college degree varied among the participants. Some described the degree as a requirement for success; others felt that strengthening family and achieving financial independence was more important.

Understanding how prospective students make their final choices of colleges or universities is important to students, their parents, and to the institutions. When it comes to academically advanced students, or Honors students, there is a question as to whether the same factors are influential to their higher education decisions. The purpose of this study was to compare the responses of Virginia Tech Honors students with current literature to determine the influences associated with college or university selection between the two data sets. The methodology used in this study included qualitative focus-group interviews of Virginia Tech Honors freshmen who had been admitted into the Program for the fall semester of 1992 and had remained Honors eligible for the spring semester of 1993. six interview sessions were arranged for 50 students. An interview protocol was designed to ask six questions to the participants, focusing on how they made their final decisions to attend virginia Tech. Thirty-six students actually participated in the interviews. Six conceptual categories emerged from the interviews. These categories included: (1) Academic Programs; (2) Campus Atmosphere/Life; (3) Influential People; (4) Location; (5) Money; and (6) Recruitment. Seven conceptual categories were discovered in the literature. These categories were discovered included: (1) High School Grade Point Average; (2) Tuition; (3) Geographic Location; (4) Parental, Peer, and Alumni Influence; (5) Academic Reputation; (6) Job Placement; and (7) Campus Visit. The results from the study indicated that most students, regardless of their status, consider similar factors in their choices of colleges. Most important among the factors included the cost, campus visit, and reputation. / Master of Arts

The growing Haitian population in the United States is directly affecting all institutions of higher education As institutions continue to diversify across the country, HBCUs are also responding to this trend According to Ricard and Brown (2008), HBCUs are changing in order to keep up with the growing demand of institutional diversity, and they recognize that having a diversified student body will make the institutions more competitive Although their historic mission focuses on educating Black students, there remains a gap in the literature on HBCUs on one of the largest Black groups in the United States: the Haitian immigrant In the literature, the Haitian population constitutes approximately 15% of the total US foreign-born population, and 15% of the total Black immigrant population in the US, behind Jamaicans at 18%, respectively Moreover, Haitians make up the fourth largest immigrant population from the Caribbean behind Cubans, Dominicans, and Jamaicans (Anderson, 2015) However, these numbers do not include the hundreds of thousands of Haitians who fled the Country after the devastating earthquake of 2010 nor the thousands of undocumented Haitian immigrants currently living in the US This qualitative phenomenological study sought to explore the college choice process of ten Haitian students who chose to attend a highly selective HBCU located in the Northeast region of the United States Moreover, this study sought to explore how these ten Haitian students developed a sense of belonging to the HBCU campus The primary methods for data collection included semi-structured one-on-one interviews, a demographic questionnaire, and artifact analysis Using the theoretical frameworks of Chapman’s (1981) Model of College Choice and Sense of Belonging, this study discovered the factors that influence Haitian students’ decision to attend a highly selective HBCU centers around family Moreover, this study discovered that Haitian students at a highly selective HBCU described their sense of belonging through various forms of relationships / Includes bibliography / Dissertation (PhD)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016 / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

When students are academically qualified to attend a four-year college or university but instead enroll at a community college, they are considered academically undermatched. Research suggests that Latinx students are more likely to academically undermatch than their peers yet they remain the least likely to complete an upward transfer to a university and earn a baccalaureate degree. The purpose of this study was to explore the enrollment decisions of, and familial influences on, Latinx students who were admitted to a university but who initially enrolled at a community college. Using community cultural wealth and funds of knowledge as theoretical frameworks, I examined the narratives of 13 Latinx students and the parents of five of those students. Nine student participants were female and four were male, ranging from 19 to 31 years old. Parent participants were four females and two males, ranging from 43 to 52 years old. Findings from this study are divided into two parts. Student findings revealed navigating the pathway to college was fraught with limited information, even though students acknowledged they had access to resources and their high school counselors and teachers helped in the college search process. However, students still did not feel that crucial information they wanted or needed was available. Parent findings uncovered how parental aspirations and perceptions of opportunities in the United States served as a foundation for helping students aspire to attend college. Based on these findings, higher education practitioners would do well to use inclusive frameworks, such as community cultural wealth, to create programs that address Latinx students and their families, including providing materials in Spanish. Through use of inclusive frameworks, research on Latinx student college choice continues to elevate the complexities and realities these students encounter. Additionally, policymakers should continue to reevaluate the shifting burden of costs for higher education from taxpayers to students as this impacts college choice and academic undermatch.

The purpose of the project was to develop a rubric to assess whether a selected group of college websites, chosen to represent most of what is available to students, meet the requirements necessary for students to make an informed college choice. The project was undertaken as a way to determine if these sites, individually or as a whole, present enough information for students to make a choice that correctly aligns with their college aspirations.