Date of Award

Fall 12-2016

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Political Science, International Development, and International Affairs

Committee Chair

Shahdad Naghshpour

Committee Chair Department

Political Science, International Development, and International Affairs

Committee Member 2

Joseph St. Marie

Committee Member 2 Department

Political Science, International Development, and International Affairs

Committee Member 3

Robert Pauly

Committee Member 3 Department

Political Science, International Development, and International Affairs

Committee Member 4

Stephanie Burdine King

Abstract

Since their inception in the early 1900s, community colleges have been about making higher education accessible. While their initial purpose was to overcome the geography barrier to higher education, the mission of community colleges and higher education on the whole has expanded over time to mitigate other barriers to higher education to include gender, race, religion, and socioeconomic barriers. As public support for higher education has changed over time, institutions have had to change their tuition and fee structure to make up the budget shortfall created by the decreases in public funding. How have these changes impacted accessibility to public higher education, and community colleges in particular?

This paper addresses the question of accessibility from a student perspective, an institutional perspective, and an international perspective. Regression analysis and descriptive statistics are used to determine factors that influence accessibility to public higher education.

ORCID ID

0000-0002-3386-912X

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