Open research questions in Higher Education Research Studies

What the literature leaves open

• In this regard, future research should focus on refining the family and academic fac- tors by incorporating additional items, testing measurement invariance across gender, institution type, and cultural groups, and examining the predictive validity of the scale in relation to academic performance, retention, and wellbeing. Accordingly, the multidimensional structure of the scale at the instrument level remains to be empirically established.

  Development and validation of subscales for assessing first-generation university students’ experiences · 2026 · DOI

• Little is known about demographic or academic differences between CSP participants and eligible nonparticipants—information critical for strengthening outreach.

  Who Participates and Why It Matters: Understanding Demographic and Academic Differences in a College Campus-Support Program for Students with Foster Care Experience, Students Experiencing Homelessness, and Independent Students · 2026 · DOI

• From the findings and conclusions of the study, the researcher has formulated the following recommendations: 1. Senior high schools should strengthen career guidance programs to help students make better informed decisions. There should be a closer partnership between Senior High Schools and Higher Education Institutions for an easier transition. 2. Higher Education Institutions should offer bridging programs for students who do not have any accounting or business background. They have to do diagnostic assessments to see which students need extra support. It might be useful to have separate foundation classes for ABM and non-ABM students. The academic advising and career guidance programmes should be increased. 3. Students should study at an advanced level for at least one month before entering business-related programs. They need to develop self-discipline, good study habits, and time management. They can also turn to YouTube, online learning modules, business textbooks, and more. They must seek help early from peers, instructors, and other guidance services. 4. Teachers should slow down lessons and provide scaffolding for non-ABM students. They should have remedial classes, consultations, and some simple examples. Teachers should not assume that students have previous knowledge of accounting and business concepts. Teachers should create a non-judgmental environment that encourages students to share their ideas, ask questions, and seek clarification. 5. Further studies should broaden the examination to incorporate more schools for comparative purposes. They should use mixed methods to measure the extent of struggle and examine the long-term impact of mismatch on academic performance and retention. 149 Canadian Journal of Educational and Social Studies Declaration of AI-Assisted Editing AI tools were used solely to improve the grammar, clarity, and readability of this manuscript. All scientific content and interpretations are the original work of the authors.

  Struggles of Non-ABM Freshmen in College Course Mismatch · 2026 · DOI

• Future studies could build on this work by gathering primary data directly from students in both the public and private sectors to capture their lived experiences more accurately. It would also be useful to explore how academic and administrative staff understand the challenges facing their institutions, as their perspectives may reveal constraints not visible to students. In addition, researchers could look more closely at how digital transformation is shaping student satisfaction, particularly as institutions expand online and blended learning models. BIBLIOGRAPHY Abdool, Sajida, Roger MASON, and Mandusha Maharaj. “Student Protests and the Brand Image of a South African University of Technology.” Expert Journal of Business and Management 11, no. 2 (2023). Aman, Shahrukh, Nosheen Aziz, and Mohsin Abbas. “Student Satisfaction in Higher Education: A Systematic Review Examining Its Impact on Institutional Growth and Comparative Dimensions.” Journal of AppliedMath 1, no. 3 (2023). Annamdevula, Subrahmanyam, and Raja Shekhar Bellamkonda. “The Effects of Service Quality on Student Loyalty: The Mediating Role of Student Satisfaction.” Journal of Modelling in Management 11, no. 2 (2016): 446–62. Belinski, Ricardo, Adriana M M Peixe, Guilherme F Frederico, and Jose Arturo Garza-Reyes. “Organizational Learning and Industry 4.0: Findings from a Systematic Literature Review and Research Agenda.” Benchmarking: An International Journal 27, no. 8 (2020): 2435–57. Bezuidenhout, Marie. “Qualitative Data Colletion.” In Research Matters, edited by corner’Davis Franzel du Plooy-Celliers and Rose-Marie Bezuidenhout, 173–94. Cape Town, SA: Juta, 2014. Deeley, Susan J, Moira Fischbacher-Smith, Dimitar Karadzhov, and Elina Koristashevskaya. “Exploring the ‘Wicked’Problem of Student Dissatisfaction with Assessment and Feedback in Higher Education.” Higher Education Pedagogies 4, no. 1 (2019): 385–405. Duarte, M Eduarda, Maria C Soares, Sandra Fraga, Manuel Rafael, M Rosário Lima, I Paredes, R Agostinho, and A Djaló. “Career Adapt-Abilities Scale–Portugal Form: Psychometric Properties and Relationships to Employment Status.” Journal of Vocational Behavior 80, no. 3 (2012): 725–29. Duggal, R. “ The One Marketing Truism You Cannot Ignore: Perception Is Reality.” Forbes Communications Council, May 29, 2018. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2018/05/29/the-one-marketingtruism-you-cannot-ignore-perception-is-reality/. European Students’ Union. 2005 Policy Paper “Commodification of Education.” Brussels: European Students’ Union, 2011. Hussain, Rao Mazhar, and Muhammad Waqas Maharvi. “Impact of Service Quality on Students’ Satisfaction in Public Universities of Pakistan.” Journal of Excellence in Social Sciences 3, no. 2 (2024): 54–78. Khadka, Ajaya Kumar, and Srijana Khadka. “Factors Affecting Customer Satisfaction in Fitness Clubs: Study from Kathmandu Valley.” NCC Journal 7, no.

  Rethinking higher education: Toward student-centred learning and meaningful engagement · 2026 · DOI

• Future research could explore different contexts, such as private Anglo-Saxon universities, offering more opportunities for student engagement and DFS exploration. Optimal distinctiveness theory suggests that individuality is essential and can be discussed, even when shared understanding is lacking.

  The Discipline Future Selves of Higher Education Students: A Shared Understanding? · 2026 · DOI

• Additionally, as transition is not limited to the first year of university and students can particularly struggle with the increased expectations and workload of the second year, we plan to run focus groups with both current first and second year students with the aim of exploring what support would be beneficial for them when transitioning to second year.

  “Take away some of the fear”: An evaluation of how a pre-arrival module helped to support student transition to first year psychology · 2026 · DOI

• Overall, these insights call for a student-centred, flexible, and interactive approach to teaching, with ongoing reflection and adaptation to meet the changing needs of learners. It is important to engage students in dialogue at all points of the learning journey so that what can be altered to encourage engagement can be dealt with in a timely fashion. Faculty needs to consider providing the rationale for engagement to students at every opportunity, especially as regards the use of AI that effectively prevents the development of skills and the application of knowledge. As students engage in conversation with faculty, it is hoped that they will come to recognise that there is more than a mark at stake if they don’t engage for their own growth and development. This is a long-term view that faculty can aim to share regularly so that the reason for coming to campus and engaging in lessons becomes a compelling argument. Faculty should prioritise creating learning spaces that foster active participation, approachability, and a sense of belonging, as these factors are now central to positive student experiences. Lecture capture and AI increase choice, so in-person time must offer what recordings cannot. Interaction, feedback, and applied practice. Programmes should design work around cohort trust, and timetabled to sustain attention . Using shorter sessions, breaks, varied and hands-on activities, and those that reinforce the real world relevance of academic material, should be prioritised for maximising productivity. In short, make every class unmissable and worth turning up for.

  Teaching techniques that students show up for - An exploratory study of student engagement and attendance in UK Higher Education. · 2026 · DOI

• https://doi.org/10.1177/17456916211059817 on Feigenbaum, P. (2021). Telling students it’s O.K. to fail, but showing them it ssn’t: Dissonant 60 Journal of Teaching and Learning 20(1) M. Gallina, J. Maclachlan, & A. Kandiah paradigms of failure in higher education. Teaching & Learning Inquiry, 9(1), 13-26. https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.9.1.3 Fontaine, S. J., & Cook, S. M. (2014). Co-curricular engagement for non-traditional online n3. learners.

  Failing Better: Understanding and Supporting Students Through Failure in Higher Education · 2026 · DOI

• First, a key limitation of this review is the restriction to two databases, Scopus and Web of Science. At the time of this review, only a few studies have examined how socioeconomic status and self- regulation interact during the transition of students to higher education. Secondly, although this review foregrounds key determinants such as socioeconomic status and self-regulation, the specific role of contextual and cultural diversity in shaping the transition experience remains underexplored. , 2020; Winstone & Hulme, 2019) suggests that diversity characteristics may interact in complex ways with students’ transition journeys, yet these dynamics remain insufficiently theorised across varied educational settings.

  Unpacking Influences of Socioeconomic status and Self-Regulation on Transition to Higher Education: A Systematic Review · 2026 · DOI

• Future research is needed to ascertain whether similar results can be replicated with traditional and non-traditional college matriculants. With respect to the largely understudied dual-credit student population, these findings suggest Current Issues in Education, 27(2) 20 ROBERTSON: INVESTIGATING THE IMPACT that standardized assessments like the ACCUPLACER – designed exclusively for the purpose of determining a college matriculant’s initial mathematics course placement – may lack predictive validity. While this study is a testament to the efficacy of MMA as a viable placement modality, its results are limited in terms of generalizability.

  Investigating the Impact of a Multiple Measures Placement Algorithm on Student Achievement in a Dual-Credit College Algebra Course: A Quantitative Study · 2026 · DOI

• While this study addresses a gap in the literature regarding the use of MMA to determine initial collegiate course placement among dual-credit high school students, it does so at the expense of generalizability of findings. The results provide convincing evidence as to the role MMA plays in broadening access to transferrable, college-level mathematics courses; however, any conclusions drawn from this evidence are limited in applicability to the population of dual- credit high school students.

  Investigating the Impact of a Multiple Measures Placement Algorithm on Student Achievement in a Dual-Credit College Algebra Course: A Quantitative Study · 2026 · DOI

• The current study represents just the beginning in terms of a sustainable program of research designed to explore the impact of MMA on student achievement among dual-credit students. Findings from prior research (Atwell et al., 2012; Knox, 2017; Venezia & Hughes, 2013; Wang et al., 2015) suggest that early successes in college, such as those celebrated by nearly 86% of the students in the featured dual-credit college algebra program, are positively correlated with on-time degree completion and/or credential attainment. A longitudinal study Current Issues in Education, 27(2) 19 ROBERTSON: INVESTIGATING THE IMPACT involving the sample of 2928 students in the present study would represent a viable approach for testing this conjecture. Results from this type of study would be useful in gauging the extent to which academic momentum generated by early college success yields long-term wins and culminates with the eventual completion of a degree or certificate program. From a short-term perspective, data gathered for the present study might be utilized to investigate whether performance within and across placement groups varies by age, gender, ethnicity, and/or age of participants. Knowledge gleaned from such a study would represent a logical first step in gaining a better understanding of why some dual-credit students benefit more from MMA placement than others. At the same time, this information would do little to address what is arguably the key limitation of this study: its generalizability. Performing a similar study involving direct and indirect college matriculants would be useful in gauging the efficacy of placement via MMA in these respective populations. It would be especially important to determine whether the relevance of measures of past high school achievement diminish over time, especially among indirect matriculants who might be returning to school after serving in the military or joining the workforce immediately after high school graduation. If ACT math scores and prior high school performance are found to be less reliable determinants of initial collegiate mathematics course placement among indirect matriculants, the focus of research should arguably shift to facilitate the identification of more pertinent predictive measures of student success (e.g., non-cognitive factors such as motivation, past work experience or training, etc.). Moreover, these measures may differ by course level, thus highlighting the need for further research to investigate outcomes associated with the use of MMA placement algorithms in successor mathematics courses for which college algebra is a prerequisite, namely trigonometry, precalculus, calculus, and statistics.

  Investigating the Impact of a Multiple Measures Placement Algorithm on Student Achievement in a Dual-Credit College Algebra Course: A Quantitative Study · 2026 · DOI

• Drawing from my lived experiences, I offer the following guidance to Black women pursuing doctoral study, and to the institutions, the supervisors, and the advisors who are positioned to support them. These insights are grounded in both my journey and in what research affirms about persistence, support, and culturally responsive practices. Black Women, This is For You! • Believe in your capacity to succeed in a doctoral program and know you are worthy of centering your personal and professional goals. • Intentionally build your support networks beyond family and work to include those who celebrate you and hold you accountable. • Choose programs and mentors that honor your whole self. • Protect your joy and peace and remember, as Lorde (1988) reminds us, self-care is an act of political warfare. Institutional and Supporting Cast, This is For You! Institutions and supporters play a critical role in fostering success. Family-friendly policies, culturally responsive mentorship (Bertrand Jones et al., 2015), and recognition of the emotional labor Black women contribute are essential to sustaining them in academic spaces. Developing intersectional professional development opportunities that affirm their full identities transforms advocacy into action, ensuring Black women can thrive, lead, and complete the journeys they begin.

  Motherhood and the Pursuit of a Doctorate as a Full-Time Housing Professional · 2026 · DOI

• The CSS is widely adopted by colleges to understand student experiences and—to my knowledge—is the only nationwide survey available with repeat measures of internship participation over a three-decade period in the United States. This rich historical data, however, do not include further information about the characteristics of internships, including payment, duration, or integration with coursework. These characteristics would help distinguish between internships that do or do not meet best practices for student learning (e.g., Hora, Wolfgram and Thompson 2017). Not all internships are equally as useful for student outcomes (Moore 2013), and it would be ideal to identify how student privilege predicts participation in quality internships. Likewise, the CSS only includes schools that opt to administer the survey and students who persist until their final year of college. This means that students in the CSS are disproportionately privileged and on track to receive a degree, relative to the population of baccalaureate enrollees and graduates (National Center for Education Statistics 2023, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics 2017). It would be ideal to have historical, nationally representative data on internship participation and characteristics among all young people—including those in high school, those who are not enrolled, those who attend 2-year institutions, and those with some baccalaureate coursework but no degree. Students also have different probabilities of entering selective colleges, choosing specific majors, and earning higher grades (Davies and Guppy 1997)—all of which correlate with internship participation. Unfortunately, the CSS does not have extensive information on longitudinal family or academic background to evaluate these selection effects.

  More Common, Less Equal: Disparities in College Internship Participation Over Time · 2026 · DOI

• Several limitations of this study should be acknowledged. First, the study utilized a small sample size, which may limit the generalizability of the findings to broader populations. Second, 369 Torres et al. the research was conducted at a single site, specifically a Hispanic student organization on one research-intensive, public university campus, which further constrains the applicability of results to other contexts or institutions. However, as Andrade (2020) conveyed, a large majority of research utilizes convenience sampling and this type of research is necessary when sociocultural factors are examined. Third, self-selection bias may have influenced the sample, as individuals who chose to participate may have had particular interests, experiences, or comfort levels that differ from those who did not volunteer. Nevertheless, Popovic and Huecker (2023) indicated that bias is inherent in all research resulting in the need for researchers to conduct and report their findings transparently and honesty. Bowman et al. (2015) proclaimed that underrepresented college students may be more likely to feel disconnected and isolated in institutions in comparison to their peers. This may be particularly true for students who move to new cities and states to attend colleges that are classified as predominately White institutions (Keel, 2020). Although researchers suggest that student organizations can help to provide students with a sense of belongingness and support (Gopalan & Brady, 2019; Laur et al., 2019; Museus, 2008; Von Robertson, Bravo, & Chaney, 2016), many students in this study did not seek out opportunities for group membership. To better promote student organizations, colleges can share information about upcoming student organization events and articulate the benefits of joining these types of groups. Particularly, institutions of higher education may need to demonstrate their commitment to cultural competency by proving “that they value these students by creating and developing a climate wherein the history, culture, and heritage of these students is inherently respected, valued, and accepted” (Von Robertson et al., 2016, p. 732). In essence, higher education institutions must actively cultivate an environment where the history, culture, and heritage of all students are acknowledged, engaged, and celebrated.

  Hispanic Students’ Perceptions of Hispanic Student Organizations: Underutilized Campus Community · 2026 · DOI

• intensify tends to progressively, strengthening the reinforcing loops identified in the CLD (R6, R7, R13). The trajectory described responds to an endogenous dynamic dominated by organisational feedback structures rather than external shocks. Regarding the second research question (RQ2), the mediating role of academic burnout in translating cumulative organisational pressures into dropout decisions, the findings confirm this role through two converging strands of evidence. First, the trajectory of academic burnout in the baseline scenario shows sustained growth from 0.2 in year 1 to 0.58 in year 10, following a pattern parallel to that of dropout. Second, the sensitivity analysis shows that student dropout is highly sensitive to parameters associated with burnout (k burnout) and vocational misfit (k misfit), with comparable magnitudes of effect and clearly greater influence than parameters related to the rate of burnout accumulation.

  Organisational characteristics and student dropout dynamics in technical and vocational higher education: a Forrester-based simulation study · 2026 · DOI

• In this paper, we focus on postsecondary (or tertiary) educational attainment. PSE attainment is a key mechanism for the reproduction of income inequalities across generations. First, a large income premium is associated with postsecondary education in Canada, especially for graduates of bachelor’s programs (Boudarbat et al., 2010). In Canada, unequal access to PSE by parental income accounts for close to half of the overall estimate of intergenerational income transmission, with unequal access to bachelor’s programs driving most of that effect (Simard-Duplain & St- Denis, 2020a). Second, PSE, and specifically bachelor’s programs in the US, appears to play an equalizing role between children of different social origins (Hout, 1988; Pfeffer & Hertel, 2015; Torche, 2011), meaning that equal opportunity in access to PSE should translate into greater social mobility. More generally, addressing inequalities in access to PSE has been a core policy objective across OECD countries. Finally, parental background is more strongly associated with educational attainment than achievement (test scores or grades), which may in part be due to the fact that credentials represent a more visible signal to employers and attainment is more easily influenced by parental resources (Heisig et al., 2020). Many studies on the influence of grandparents on educational outcomes focus on measures of educational achievement (Engzell et al., 2020; Hällsten, 2014; Hällsten & Pfeffer, 2017; Modin et al., 2013). Others focus on educational attainment measured in years of education (Barclay et al., 2021; Braun & Stuhler, 2018; Ferrie et al., 2020; Hällsten, 2014; Jæger, 2012; Lindahl et al., 2015). Meanwhile, only a few studies have focused on the influence of grand-parental SES on PSE attainment, and the evidence is contradictory evidence. Some studies find a net association between Canadian Studies in Population (2026) 53:2 1 3 2 Page 6 of 28 grandparental SES and access to college in the US (Loury, 2006) or tertiary education in Europe (Sheppard & Monden, 2018). Other studies using a broader range of measures of parental characteristics find no direct effects for grandparents on categorical measures of educational attainment capturing access to PSE (Bol & Kalmijn, 2016; Warren & Hauser, 1997; Wightman & Danziger, 2014). In the Canadian context, PSE features a certain form of horizontal stratification, without prior tracking at the secondary level in most cases. On one hand, high school graduates can access bachelor’s programs (a prerequisite for graduate studies) and advanced professional degrees in medicine, law, engineering and other fields, offered by universities.3 On the other, they can access a wide range of trades and vocational attestations, certificates and diplomas offered by colleges and other similar institutions, which are associated with significantly lower earnings on average (Boothby & Drewes, 2006; Boudarbat et al., 2010) and lead to different occupations.4 We could find no studies of multigenerational inequalities investigating such horizontal stratification dynamics in education except for a study showing that access to vocational or academic upper secondary tracks in Sweden is influenced by grand-parents (Møllegaard & Jæger, 2015). Our study intends to produce evidence on the multigenerational social mobility in the context of a horizontally differentiated PSE system.

  The Influence of Grandparents on Access to Postsecondary Education · 2026 · DOI

• Our analysis is subject to a few important limitations. First, as a stated preferences experiment, we estimate how institutional attributes affect students’ preference among hypothetical higher education options, but we cannot observe revealed enrollment behaviors (i.e., the actual students’ enrollment in college or university). While it is reasonable to expect that students will enroll in colleges or universities that are similar to their stated preferences, there may be differences between students’ stated and revealed preferences that our study cannot capture, perhaps due to many unmeasured constraints such as admission outcomes, parental influence, and financial aid and scholarship packages. Secondly, our analysis is limited to our sample of private Christian K-12 students in the U.S., whose preferences are unlikely to generalize to other student populations. Private Christian students likely have distinct reasons for enrolling in their K-12 schools relative to their secular private school, traditional public school, or alternative education students, and these differences are likely related to the ways in which these student groups choose higher education institutions.

  Which School Characteristics Do Students Consider When Choosing a College or University? Experimental Evidence from the K-12 Private Christian School Sector · 2026 · DOI

• The current study was limited to full-time students who did not receive formal financial aid or institutional financial assistance. The sample size was relatively small (n = 20), and seven participants reported that their parents were employed and able to provide partial financial support. This partial support may have shaped their experiences, as these students were not entirely financially independent, potentially mitigating the intensity of financial stress when compared to students with no familial support. Consequently, the findings may not fully represent the full spectrum of financial challenges faced by all self-funded students, particularly those without any parental assistance. The study employed a purposive sampling technique, meaning that participants were not randomly selected. This limited the generalizability of the findings, and the results should therefore not be extrapolated to the entire student population at the University of Venda or to rural universities more broadly.

  Inflation's disruptive impact on student mental health and academic resilience: Strategic ecosystem implications for rural universities in South Africa · 2026 · DOI

• This is a proposal based on existing literature and has not been tested empirically. Additionally, HGT is only one of a number of needs theories and arguments could be made for considering others.

  Student transition to university: Taking a needs based approach · 2026 · DOI

• To strengthen the contribution of student loans to student retention, policymakers and higher education funding institutions should increase the loan amounts to better reflect actual tuition, living, and learning costs, particularly for students from low-income backgrounds. Timely disbursement of funds must be ensured to prevent interruptions in academic engagement and reduce dropout risk. Additionally, awareness campaigns should expand beyond loans and scholarships to inform students of alternative funding opportunities, fostering informed decisionmaking. Loan schemes should continue to offer flexible, income-based repayment plans while considering inflation and cost-of-living adjustments, ensuring graduates can repay without undue financial hardship. Institutions should also streamline application and monitoring processes, ensuring transparency, fairness, and effective management to build student confidence in the system. By implementing these loans can more effectively support retention, academic measures, student performance, and the long-term development of a skilled workforce in Tanzania. REFERENCES Asah, F. T., & Louw, L. (2021). Guidelines and criteria used by formal financial institutions to assess credit applications from small and medium enterprises in South Africa. The Southern African Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management, 13(1), 9. Global Journal of Basic Education (GJBE)| Volume 2 Issue 1 Year 2026 | 77 The Contribution of Student Loans to Student Retention in Higher Education Institutions in Mwanza City, Tanzania Behr, A., Giese, M., Kamdjou, H., & Theune, K. (2020). Dropping out of University: A Literature Review. Review of Education, 8(2), 614-652. Benjamin, K., Wen, X., Baah Nketia, E., & Kweitsu, G. (2019). A Comparative Analysis on Efficiency of the Student Loan Repayment Policy in Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Nigeria. International Journal of Scientific Research and Management, 7(02), 992–1003. Chen, H. (2024). The Factors That Make Education High Performing-Take Finland for Example. Journal of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences, 43, 191-200 Chirwa, I. N., Masaiti, G., Mwale, N., Mkandawire, S. B., Mulenga, I. M., & Sichula, N. K. (2022). Loans and scholarships in Africa’s higher education finance: a comparative analysis of capitation, policy, and recoveries in eleven countries. British Journal of Education 10(16):67-88 Furuta, K. (2024). The burden of student loan debt: differences in socioeconomic background and attitudes towards higher education. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 45(1), 41-59. HESLB (2024). Guidelines and Criteria for Issuance of Loans for Bachelor's Degree. Huang, F. (2018). Higher education financing Japan: Trends and in challenges.

  The Contribution of Student Loans to Student Retention in Higher Education Institutions in Mwanza City, Tanzania · 2026 · DOI

• The reflective journals may not have surfaced the full range of the participants’ perspectives on leadership. The journals were a requirement of their PD program and the participants may have viewed them as a box to check versus an opportu- nity to delve deeper into their conceptions of leading. As community college faculty, time is in short supply for the group given their teaching loads and the additional work of doing the PD and their team projects. Thus, some of the reflections varied in length for each participant and across participants. It is unknown if the partici- pants did additional reflecting in personal journals. The participants were not inter- viewed to provide any further insights on their views of reflection. Even though the PD sessions were recorded, they were not reviewed as much of the group discus- sions among participants occurred in breakout rooms, which were not part of the recordings.

  Developing Faculty as Mid-level Leaders: Learning about Leadership · 2026 · DOI

• Abstract: State funding for public higher education institutions is crucial in supporting college access and completion, particularly among students from historically under-represented groups, yet little is known about the mechanisms that states use to allocate funds and how they are affected by financial challenges.

  A Typology and Landscape of State Funding Formulas for Public Colleges and Universities from 2004 to 2021 · 2024 · DOI

• Although HSI scholarship has increased dramatically since around 2010, there is still a gap in knowledge about individuals who fall within the “H” and the diversity among HSIs themselves.

  Advancing “Intersectional Servingness” in Research, Practice, and Policy With Hispanic-Serving Institutions · 2023 · DOI

• We also report a positive impact on bachelor’s degree production among adult students when the PBF policy included a targeted incentive for graduating adult students, suggesting that PBF policy design represents a critical but understudied area of study with implications for underserved students.

  A National Analysis of theImpact of Performance-BasedFunding on CompletionOutcomes Among UnderservedStudents · 2023 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Higher Education Research Studies

• Dropout from Higher Education: A Theoretical Synthesis of Recent Research · Review of Educational Research · 1975 · 3,713 citations
• First- and Second-Generation College Students: A Comparison of Their Engagement and Intellectual Development · The Journal of Higher Education · 2005 · 893 citations
• A Conceptual Model of Nontraditional Undergraduate Student Attrition · Review of Educational Research · 1985 · 867 citations
• ‘It was nothing to do with the university, it was just the people’: the role of social support in the first‐year experience of higher education · Studies in Higher Education · 2005 · 554 citations
• How universities can enhance student mental wellbeing: the student perspective · Higher Education Research & Development · 2019 · 372 citations
• Developing Models of Graduate Student Degree Progress · The Journal of Higher Education · 1988 · 366 citations
• A sense of belonging at university: student retention, motivation and enjoyment · Journal of Further and Higher Education · 2021 · 343 citations
• Stress and the higher education student: a critical review of the literature · Journal of Further and Higher Education · 2006 · 280 citations
• Reducing Income Inequality in Educational Attainment: Experimental Evidence on the Impact of Financial Aid on College Completion · American Journal of Sociology · 2016 · 198 citations
• First-Generation College Students as Academic Learners: A Systematic Review · Review of Educational Research · 2020 · 191 citations

Most recent work

• Reframing Belonging in Higher Education: an Intersectional Ecological Model for Research, Policy, and Practice · Educational Psychology Review · 2026
• Navigating borders · Journal of International Students · 2026
• Ten reasons why colleges and universities should educate character · Journal of Moral Education · 2026
• The Educational Value of the Missed Opportunity · Journal of Cancer Education · 2026
• The State of Black Education in Texas: Educational Disparities, Student Outcomes, and Implications for Human Development and Public Policy · Journal of Education and Human Development · 2026
• The Development and Validation of the Academic Cultural Wealth Scale: Recognizing Student Strengths Through Critical Quantitative Methods · Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis · 2026
• The academic lives of commuter students: examining the use of the physical and digital spaces within the contemporary university · London Review of Education · 2026
• Failing Better: Understanding and Supporting Students Through Failure in Higher Education · Journal of Teaching and Learning · 2026
• How Do Place-Based Scholarships Affect Student Borrowing and Academic Outcomes? Lessons from Atlanta · Education Finance and Policy · 2026
• “Take away some of the fear”: An evaluation of how a pre-arrival module helped to support student transition to first year psychology · Journal of Perspectives in Applied Academic Practice · 2026

Related topics in Social Sciences