This study sought to identify pre- and post-matriculation characteristics of undergraduate Hispanic students at the University of North Texas (UNT). The study also examined demographic trends among this population. Eleven purposes guided the study: 1) to determine geographic origins of the undergraduate Hispanic students at UNT in terms of location of educational institution attended prior to matriculation; 2) to establish whether students entered UNT as true freshmen or transfer students; 3) to ascertain the gender composition of undergraduate Hispanic students at UNT; 4) to report the highest level of education achieved by parents of undergraduate Hispanic students at UNT; 5) to explore patterns in major selection of undergraduate Hispanic students at UNT and who or what influenced that choice of major; 6) to ascertain the percentage of undergraduate Hispanic students at UNT who plan to use financial aid during their enrollment; 7) to examine the graduation rates among undergraduate Hispanic students at UNT; 8) to determine who is most influential in the academic decisions made by Hispanic undergraduate students at UNT; 9) to discover what type of emotional support is given to Hispanic students pertaining to their college enrollment and success; 10) to establish why Hispanic undergraduate students elect to attend UNT; and 11) to discover what factors prohibit new undergraduate Hispanic students at UNT from graduating. Data were collected from undergraduate Hispanic students attending spring 2003 orientation using a new-student survey instrument. Additional data were collected using UNT student information system reports. Chi-square statistics were performed to identify significant results. Results of the study indicated both characteristics substantiated in previous research and characteristics unique to this sample existed among the undergraduate Hispanic students at UNT. The results, particularly as concerned with the parental influence exerted on students in the study, departed from the finding of past research. Additional research on this population was warranted and suggested.

This study explores the relationship between diversity within executive decision-making teams at institutions of higher education and their propensity for strategic change. Previous research in the areas of strategic change, group decision making, and higher education was drawn from in this study. Statistically significant relationships were discovered the demographic background of executive decision-making teams at public colleges and universities, as measured by both the pursuit of new degree and certificate program offerings and multiple measures of student retention. The results also indicated the presence of an insufficiently diverse pool of potential executives for colleges and universities to draw from.

The charter school movement is considered one of the fastest growing education reform efforts in the United States today, serving over 1 million children nationwide. The demand to improve the quality of education in the United States has been paramount over the last twenty years.In December 2001, Congress approved a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and renamed it the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), P.L. 107-ll0, H.R. 1. Although ESEA was enacted in 1964 by President Lyndon Johnson to supplement state and local efforts to provide all children with high-quality education, NCLB has a broader and more ambitious scope than previous school reforms in that it focuses on student test results. It is believed that this legislation is a conduit for charter schools becoming the likely alternative to public education. This study will advance the discussion of the key factors of four States charter school movements and how charter school legislation varies from state to state. Additionally, the study will examine how NCLB was conceived and determine if there now exists a relationship between NCLB and the status of charter schools in the nation.Public school systems in the United States have operated as educational monopolies, creating barriers to other forms of elementary and secondary education, such as magnet schools. In crafting the NCLB, some policymakers viewed passage of legislation supporting NCLB as an opportunity to make dramatic changes in the delivery of education in this country.

Thesis advisor: Donald Hafner / There is perhaps no issue more controversial in the so-called American culture war than that of gay marriage. In the last five years, four states have legalized same-sex marriages and several more appear poised to follow suit. This paper creates an analytical framework with which to evaluate the chances of successful gay marriage initiatives in any given state. Demographics, political institutions, and state-specific variables make up the three parts of the framework, which is then applied to three case studies in which gay marriage has already been addressed: Massachusetts, Vermont, and California. A fourth case, Maine, serves as a prediction state to test the validity of the framework. The paper’s conclusions indicate that, in the current political and cultural domain, there is a set of factors that tend to promote the legalization of gay marriage. The demographics of a population need to be such that they qualify as a “tolerant citizenry,” people who are hesitatingly accepting of gay marriage and can be persuaded to support that legalization. On the political side, a positive evaluation of gay marriage by the state supreme court that then passes on responsibility to the state legislature is the most conducive to legalization. The court provides the constitutional and legal grounds for gay marriage, while the legislature acts as an intermediary between the justices and the wider population. Finally, states in which the constitutions are difficult to amend, and which amendment procedures are controlled by the legislature, are the most likely to legalize gay marriage. The application of the framework to the three case studies illustrates this complex process. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Political Science Honors Program. / Discipline: Political Science.

This diploma thehis is focused on the financing of public services in municipalities in the Czech Republic related to demographic changes, which take place in the Czech Republic. As is generally known, population in the Czech Republic ages. But the aging is only one of the factors influencing the demographics. The goal is to assess the impact of demographic changes on municipal expenditures associated mainly with municipal waste management, but also to the overall municipal relationship to the environment. The thesis is divided into two parts, theoretical and practical. The theoretical part deals with the public municipal services and demographics in the Czech Republic in time and also deals with the system of financing these services, whether the municipality's own resources, e. g. the property taxes, or other funds from the state budget or from the EU funds. The second, practical part, is formed as a case study including specific data from specific municipality. It contains detailed information about municipality's waste management and about population growth in Karvina city during the specific time period.

Since 2011, drastic declines in tuition revenue for many rural community colleges have hindered institutional budgets and have been the primary driver for the financial strategy decisions made by college leaders. Recent declines in revenue for rural community colleges have created a constrained fiscal environment causing college leaders to increase focus on internal operations. The aim of this research was to expand the understanding of how management decisions influence tuition revenue when demand fluctuates. Data from multiple archival sources including several national and state statistical databases were used. This study used a multiple regression analysis to investigate the relationships between tuition revenue and (a) tuition rate setting strategy, (b) the management of institutional funds, (c) local economic conditions, and (d) age demographics. It was found that tuition rate setting strategy had the largest influence on tuition revenue among the internally controlled factors. Age demographics and economic conditions were found to be significant external factors that influence the tuition revenue at rural community colleges. This study promotes positive social change by providing financial leaders at community colleges greater insight into budgeting strategies that may help protect the financial viability of rural community colleges. The financial strength of community colleges is important for positive social change in rural communities because it assures that these institutions can continue to offer and expand solutions that meet the educational needs of the local communities they serve at a price affordable by all.

The demographics of community colleges are rapidly changing. The culture composition of the student population in community colleges has expanded, and includes larger percentages of African Americans, Asian/Pacific Islanders, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans than are found in other higher education institutions. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the lived experiences of 10 community college leaders, consisting of 4 administrators, 5 faculty members, and 1 faculty/administrator, in their attempt to adapt to the changing demographics of the student population. Multicultural lens, the conceptual framework for the study, helped guide leaders in assessing their levels of multicultural sensitivity and competence in relation to the culturally diverse student population. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews; these data were then sorted, coded, and analyzed for central themes. The emergent themes'factors in leaders adapting to the changing student demographics'included leaders' educational, personal, work, and leadership experiences. The leaders' lived experiences contributed to them identifying with and understanding the various educational, family, financial, and cultural challenges these students encounter. The results of the study might help administrators, faculty, staff, and trustee boards continue valuing and promoting an environment of inclusion by improving the policies and practices related to student diversity and student success.

In 2012, more than 25 million U.S. employees voluntarily terminated their employment with their respective organizations. Demographic characteristics of age, education, gender, income, and length of tenure are significant factors in employee turnover intentions. The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship existed between age, education, gender, income, length of tenure, and employee turnover intention among full-time employees in Texas. The population consisted of Survey Monkey-® Audience members who were full-time employees, residents of Texas, over the age of 18, not self-employed, and not limited to a specific employment industry. For this study, a sample of 187 Survey Monkey-® Audience members completed the electronic survey. Through the proximal similarity model, the results of this study are generalizable to the United States. The human capital theory was the theoretical framework. The results of the multiple regression analysis indicated a significant relationship between age, income, and turnover intentions; however, the relationship between education, gender, and length of tenure was not statistically significant. As the Baby Boomer cohort prepares to transition into retirement, organizational leaders must develop retention strategies to retain Millennial employees. To reduce turnover intentions, organizational leaders should use pay-for-performance initiatives to reward top performers with additional pay and incentives. The social implications of these findings may reduce turnover, which may reduce employee stress, encourage family well-being, and increase participation in civic and social events.

The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) was among the first legislative responses to the financial and mortgage crises of 2008 and allowed the U.S. government to alleviate distressed financial institutions of equity and assets that were straining the housing and financial markets. However, the underlying economic events that precipitated the legislative intervention, including rising foreclosure rates in specific states, had been disproportionately affecting Americans months before the bill was signed into law. The purpose of this dissertation was to determine the parameters of the issue public that was supportive of TARP by studying how demographic and geographic disparities of the recession were related to selective exposure to news media and the formation of this issue public. The news effects theoretical perspectives of agenda setting and media priming, including attribute agenda setting and attribute priming, along with the theoretical framework of the public opinion concept of issue publics, particularly state-specific issue publics, guided and informed the execution of this research. This dissertation entailed two research approaches: a content analysis of national television news six months prior to and up until the passage of TARP in early October 2008, and a secondary analysis of select data from the 2008 National Annenberg Election Survey, a rolling cross-sectional phone survey conducted from late 2007 until Election Day 2008. Results from the content analysis study suggest national television news of the economy in 2008 predominantly covered the presidential election, the economic attributes of taxes and inflation, and presented the economic crisis as a national issue. As for the public opinion study, economic attitudes were predictive of support for TARP, but exposure to the news and demographics, including geography, were not associated with support for TARP. Overall, the unfolding recession was not frequently covered on national television news in 2008, and support for TARP was found to be associated with an individual's attitudes as opposed to demographic identity or geographic location. Findings suggest attribute agenda-setting effects were most likely for individual views of blame for the crisis, while the issue public that was supportive of TARP appeared to be based upon economic attitudes.

Since its inception in 1993, nearly 90,000 high school dropouts have completed the National Guard Youth Challenge Program, a youth diversion program for unemployed high school dropouts. As of 2008, 27 states have partnered with the military to implement this residential program for at-risk youth. There is limited research on this new social welfare program despite its representing a dynamic military-state-welfare relationship. This study examines state-level conditions and looks to answer three research questions: 1) Under what conditions do states start a ChalleNGe program?; 2) What role do time-varying social and economic factors have in influencing states to initially adopt the program?; and 3) To what extent does the racial composition of program sites reflect the racial composition of its host state's young high school drop-outs? I examined state-level social and economic conditions using data from a variety of federal agencies and public opinion surveys. I examined social and economic circumstances that may have influenced state-level participation. Due to the nature of time-dependent variables and states' launching programs as various times since 1993, I used an event history analysis to predict the timing of initiation of a ChalleNGe program. The results of this research indicate that high unemployment rates and low high school graduation rates increase the likelihood that a state will create a ChalleNGe program. The results from this study provide insight into the creation and expansion of the ChalleNGe program as well as the changing role of military as a part of the welfare state.