Building on sociological studies regarding college choice and persistence, this qualitative study investigates the college and post college experiences of 15 current students with NFL aspirations and 13 former students who held NFL aspirations, all from Division I Football Bowl Series (FBS) programs. A phenomenological design is implemented to explore participants' lived experiences, and awareness of their educational and occupational options. Deil-Amen and Tevis' (2010) Circumscribed Agency frames this study and provides a lens for examining the college choice and departure process. The role of the student exerting agency as circumscribed by context, habitus, and self-efficacy is emphasized with self-perceptions being essential in the process of enacting individual behavior and decisions. Perna's (2006) conceptual college choice model is made up of four contextual layers and is used to further explain students' college choice behaviors. Findings are consistent with Bowen and Schulman (2001) in that students' college decisions are driven by their athletic pursuits. This study also addresses persistence for this group of students. Tinto's (1993) theory on departure is used as a platform from which to examine commitment and social integration. Traditionally, degree commitment has been measured as strong or which severely limits our understanding of persistence. Findings reveal degree commitment to be fluid and contingent upon perceived occupational options, health status, and year in college. The majority of current students express commitment to degree attainment as a priority. However, further investigation reveals degree commitment to exist without a specific time frame set by students. This adds a time dimension to our understanding of degree commitment. This study further extends Tinto's concept of commitment with evidence of two competing goal commitments: degree and occupational. Decisions to leave college early for the NFL are driven by participants' self-perception of their athletic abilities despite where they are on the team's talent roster. This decision is further shaped by their college community integration consisting of teammates, coaches, and the NFL. Former students who stopped out of college reveal unanticipated challenges with re-entry into college. However, in contemplating a return to complete their bachelor’s degree, stop outs articulate a renewed sense of energy and degree commitment given a change in their occupational trajectory and situated context.

In line with the national trend, Mississippi faces the same challenge that fewer students are completing college degrees. In response to the national call for more degrees, many states have implemented dual enrollment programs to try to decrease the transition anxiety between high school and college, which could possibly lead to more college degrees. This study will add to the very limited body of quantitative research relating to the relationship between students participating in dual enrollment and college degree completion at rural Mississippi community colleges. With an increased focus on a higher number of college graduates, this study could provide information for rural community colleges in Mississippi in regards to retention of dual enrollment participants through obtaining a degree. The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not there was a significant difference in the number of students completing an Associate’s degree when comparing students who participated in a dual enrollment program to students who did not participate in a dual enrollment program at a rural Mississippi community college. The sample was comprised of 320 students - 160 students who participated in dual enrollment and a comparative group of 160 students who did not participate in dual enrollment - from across the district of the target community college. Participants included students who were enrolled at the target community college in the fall and spring semesters of 2010 and 2011. A Chi-square test for independence was used for all four research questions to analyze the two categorical variables. Results of the study indicate that there is a significant relationship between the participation in dual enrollment and the completion of a degree, AA and AAS, at the target community college. Findings indicate that students who participate in the dual enrollment program are much less likely to complete their degree at the target community college. There is a need to further investigate dual enrollment as it pertains to completion of a degree at a rural Mississippi community college.

It is well established that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are linked to health and emotional outcomes. But less is known about the relationship between ACEs and educational attainment—a potentially important feature of educational stratification in America. Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), a nationally representative youth study of 7-12th grade students in the 1994-95 school year, I investigate whether ACEs is linked to post-secondary attainment and examine the role of health and socio-emotional factors as mediators. Results confirm that there is a graded relationship between ACEs and timely bachelor's degree attainment. I find that an additional ACE decreases the odds of timely bachelor's degree attainment by about 17%, even after accounting for other related factors.

The purpose of this dissertation was to explore African American community college transfer student experiences through baccalaureate degree completion. The current study used qualitative methods to examine the experiences and perceptions of eighteen African American community college transfer students who recently graduated or were within 30 credit hours of graduating from a four-year university in Texas. Ten female and eight male students, ranging in age from 21 to 56 years old, with an average age of 28, composed the sample. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews which were transcribed and analyzed based on an integrated conceptual model of Padilla’s (1999) Model of Minority Student Success and Yosso’s (2005) Community Cultural Wealth Model. Findings suggest that African American community college transfer student experiences are very similar to transfer student experiences revealed in current literature. However, findings indicate students perceive their experiences differ from student of other races/ethnicities when dealing with negative stereotypes, lack of role models, and racial bias. Findings also suggest African American community college transfer student persist by employing transfer student capital, familial, aspirational, and resistant capital to learn how the traverse transfer, transition, and persistence through baccalaureate degree attainment.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to investigate selected variables among community college transfer students with or without associate’s degrees and native students at a 4-year university to determine the impact of the articulation and transfer process on baccalaureate attainment. More specifically, the study examined the differences in demographic characteristics, academic preparation, and graduation rates among 15 community colleges and a rural land-grant university in the state of Mississippi. There were three groups reviewed: (a) community college transfer students with associate’s degrees and their graduation rate at a 4-year university, (b) community college transfer students without associate’s degrees (non-degrees) and their graduation rate at the 4-year university, and (c) native university students and their rate of graduation at the 4-year university. A comparison was made among the three groups to determine if significant differences exist in the demographic characteristics and academic preparation for baccalaureate attainment.This study utilized the causal-comparative research design. There were 5 research questions examined in this study utilizing descriptive statistics, chi-square statistical tests, and a logistic regression analysis for each of the 3 groups of students. The findings were for the demographics and academic preparation across the 3 groups that there was not a significant difference in gender or race. There was a slight tendency for all 3 groups’ programs of study to be in the College of Education, College of Arts & Sciences, or College of Business. The 2 groups of transfer students seemed to be older in age. Articulation among the Mississippi Public Community College System and the rural land-grant university is functioning because the transfer students are graduating at a higher rate. From this study, analysis shows that having an associate’s degree makes no difference in attaining a baccalaureate degree. As expected, the cumulative grade point average (GPA) and cumulative credit hours earned are higher for those who graduate than those who did not graduate among the three groups. The logistic regressions were statistically significant for all three groups with the strongest predictor being the cumulative overall GPA.

Despite increased diversity noted in undergraduate education in recent years (Antonio, 2003), students from non-majority groups continue to be underrepresented in graduate school. Many research studies (Perna, 2000, 2004; Perna & Titus, 2005; Rowan-Kenyon, 2007; Walpole, 2003, 2007b) have used measures of cultural and social capital to increase the explanatory power of the traditional econometric framework in college choice models, but have not used these sociological variables as a primary focus. The purpose of this correlational study was to explore the influence of cultural capital and social capital on the decision of bachelor’s degree completers to enter graduate school and ultimately to degree achievement. The study is an extension of Perna’s 2004 work, which examined similar relationships of cultural and social capital variables via use of the Baccalaureate & Beyond: 93/97 study. Based on Walpole’s findings (2003), variables related to socioeconomic status (SES) were also included in my analysis. The data used to answer the research questions were collected as part of a longitudinal study, the Baccalaureate & Beyond: 93/03. Participants in the Baccalaureate & Beyond: 93/03 study were students in the U.S. who earned a bachelor’s degree during the 1992-1993 academic year, representing a population of 1.2 million individuals (Choy, Bradburn, & Carroll, 2008). My findings revealed that measures of cultural and social capital have a significant influence on graduate school enrollment and degree completion. Among low SES students (as designated by family income) cultural and social capital variables substantially increased the likelihood of graduate degree attainment.

The purpose of this quantitative study was to see if there was a significant difference in the mean American College Test (ACT) scores and high school grade point average (HSGPA) between students who attained a bachelor’s degree within 6 years of starting college and those who did not attain a bachelor’s degree within 6 years of starting college. Data from 2005-2013 high school graduates from one high school with only academic course choices were used. A series of independent t-tests were used to compare the mean ACT scores and HSGPA of students from both groups. The goal was to find out whether high school educators can use existing high school data to know whether students who intend to continue their postsecondary studies at degree granting postsecondary institutions have the necessary preparation not just to be admitted to a postsecondary institution, but to attain a bachelor’s degree. The results showed that for this group of participants, the mean ACT scores and HSGPA were significantly different between students who attained a bachelor’s degree within 6 years and those who did not. Using Cohen’s d to calculate the effect size for the results, ACT Composite, ACT English, ACT Science, and HSGPA were found to have a large effect size, and ACT Math and ACT Reading were found to have a medium effect size. HSGPA had the largest effect size. The implications from the results are that high school personnel at all high schools should examine available data to see if it can be used as indicators of bachelor’s degree attainment with the purpose of providing additional support to students who intend to pursue a bachelor’s degree, but whose data indicate that they may not have the necessary preparation to successfully complete a degree.

No description available.

No description available.