The study expands the conceptual and methodological precepts of social capital by examining how international students receive social capital from their friends and how students provide social capital to their friends in a North American university setting. The author examines the degree of emotional support that the participants provide ("Investing" social capital) and the support they receive from their friends ("Vesting" social capital), and the relationships between the two social capital variables. In addition, the study examines the influence of demographics and social interaction on social capital, and the influence of social capital on satisfaction. The study suggests that vesting and investing in social capital are correlated, and that giving and receiving social capital are influenced by social interactions with friends. However, social capital offered no significant contribution to satisfaction.

The nature of this study is exploratory. It aims to explore the financial situation and the resources which students can use to cope with their problems. The primary purpose is to obtain a clearer picture of the situations of certain Chinese foreign students, to help those who intend to study abroad with their budgeting and planning. A secondary aim is to draw the attention of authorities concerned to improve or expand services to foreign students who already have overwhelming adjustment problems and who still have to carry the additional burden of pressure from restrictive regulations.

An examination of sociology student satisfaction levels is performed and an attempt is made to explain variations in degree program satisfaction. A comparison is made between current student and alumni regarding the coursework and experiences they feel should be offered in the undergraduate degree program in sociology at Portland State University (PSU). The study population consists of all PSU students who have obtained an undergraduate degree in sociology since the program's inception and all students currently attending PSU and majoring in sociology. The typical respondent is female (the ratio of females to males being higher for current students than for alumni) and is 39 years old. Close to half of the respondents have at least one parent with a college degree. Most current students work while attending school. Current students earn less than alumni (they are also more likely to work part-time). Around half of the alumni respondents stop their educational career with their undergraduate degree. The majority of those who continued beyond the undergraduate level do so in a field outside of sociology. Alumni are predominantly employed in white collar jobs involving computers and writing -- skills they rank as important attributes of a good department. The majority of current students are full-time seniors who transferred from another institution, and chose to attend college to gain personal knowledge and to prepare for employment. When asked about their goals, the majority of current students intend to find employment in the six months after graduation. Current students are more satisfied with the degree program than alumni respondents. Age is not related to a stronger vocational orientation. The level of financial hardship incurred by alumni to attend college is positively correlated with a vocational orientation. This was not the case for current students who show no relationship between the two variables. Degree program satisfaction is positively correlated with job satisfaction, but the relationship is weak. The more vocationally oriented students and alumni are more satisfied with the degree program. Finally, the more useful the student feels sociology is in their present job, the more satisfied they are with the program.

The purpose of this study was to identify critical childcare resources that student parents utilize that allow them to access higher education at varying levels, but also to make assumptions about parents unable to enroll due to barriers and/or lack of resources. This study sought to answer the following questions: 1) To what extent does subsidized childcare facilitate student parents' access to higher education? Is subsidized childcare a more important resource for some groups of students than for others?, and 2) Are student parents making childcare-enrollment trade-offs in order to pursue higher education? Are certain groups of students more vulnerable to making trade-offs?