Community College Review

Objective: The purpose of this study is to understand the relationship between organizational characteristics, state political climate, and student civic engagement at community colleges, operationalized in this article as student voting. Method: Utilizing a unique cross-sectional dataset compiled by the Institute for Democracy & Higher Education for the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections that merges student voting data, enrollment records from the National Student Clearinghouse, and institutional data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, we employed multi-level binary logistic regression to account for individual and organizational influences. Results: The relationship between voting and student characteristics aligns with national voting trends, in that students who are female, older, and White had higher odds of voting. However, there was one notable exception in 2012 where Black students had higher odds of voting than their White peers. We also found that students enrolled full-time and those enrolled at colleges in electoral battleground states were more likely to vote in 2012 and 2016. Weak or mixed relationships emerged between voting and environmental factors such as campaign spending, ballot initiatives, get-out-the-vote programs, restrictive voter laws, and compositional diversity of the student body. Conclusion: This study provides insight for community college leaders on potential ways to engage students in an effort to promote voter turnout in a presidential election year on their campuses. Specifically, we posit that institutions could highlight the salience of public policy issues for students, lobby for less restrictive voting laws, and implement evaluation programs of their civic engagement initiatives.

Objective: International reverse transfer students are international students who begin their postsecondary journey at a four-year institution but subsequently transfer to a community college. In this qualitative study, we examine the lived experiences of international reverse transfers to understand the reasons for reverse-transfer and to understand the students’ learning experiences. Methods: Using a phenomenological approach, we recruited 10 international reverse transfer students attending one four-year university or one of the two community colleges. We conducted individual interviews with all participants and analyzed transcript data through Bourdieu’s sociological theory of field, habitus, and social and cultural capital. Results: We identified three types of international reverse transfer students: undergraduate reverse transfers, temporary reverse transfers, and postbaccalaureate reverse transfers. Each type reported different reasons for reverse transfer but shared similar influential factors of the reverse transfer process as well as the learning experiences while enrolled at the community colleges. Contributions: This study helps to fill an information and research gap regarding international reverse transfer students. We present the academic, social, and cultural challenges faced by international students and offer practical implications for higher education practitioners for improved understandings and better processes to serve international students from diverse cultural backgrounds.

Objective: Despite the popularity of the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE), this instrument has been criticized regarding its development, theoretical basis, validity, and connection to practice. In light of these concerns, this article reframes the survey by employing Chickering and Gamson’s seven principles, one of the survey’s original theoretical frameworks. A robust discussion of the new measure and its implications for research and practice is presented. Method: Chickering and Gamson’s theory was used to motivate, create, and evaluate a seven-factor model using items from the CCSSE. Drawing on responses from two community colleges (N = 1,076), a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test this model. Results: Findings provide support for a seven-factor model with high model fit and moderate-to-strong factor reliability. Contributions: This study offers a valid alternative approach to considering CCSSE data that may influence future work in the area of community college student engagement. We also consider how institutional research practitioners and other stakeholders can leverage study insights to promote student success across community college contexts.

Objective: Increasing rural community college degree attainment is very important to foster rural areas’ economic and social well-being. Rural community colleges differ greatly from their suburban and urban counterparts in financial aid patterns and student bodies. However, existing literature is vacant with respect to student financial aid and degree attainment in rural community colleges. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between financial aid and associate degree attainment for rural community college students and compare the financing patterns of the three locales. Method: Using data from Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), we performed a series of logistic regression models that include financial aid variables and control variables from psychological, sociological, organizational, and internationalist perspectives. Results: We found rural community college students exceeded other locales in degree attainment. Logistic regression results reveal insignificant roles of Pell Grants and Federal Subsidized Loans, and negative role of Federal Unsubsidized Loans in associate degree attainment for rural community college students. Contributions: The results suggest that public subsidies, such as Pell Grants, were not sufficient to cover rural students’ unmet need for financing degree attainment, and that rural students are more cost-conscious in borrowing and spending than their suburban and urban counterparts.