April 2025 - Study of Mental Health Patterns at HBCUs and PBIs, Gen Z Perspectives on the Use of AI, and Report Aims to Improve Community-College Learners’ Attainment of a Bachelor's Degree

April 2025 Eye on Research

Commentary

Continual improvement plays a vital role in our higher-education ecosystem, particularly as institutions strive to enhance assessment practices and demonstrate effectiveness. I'd like to bring to your attention a free professional-development opportunity from Embry‑Riddle Aeronautical University, located in Daytona Beach, Florida.

The university has launched the Improvement Imperative webinar series. Monthly webinars will highlight topics of interest in assessment, accreditation, program review, and overall continual improvement. The sessions are held on the first Tuesday of each month at 3 P.M. EDT. 

AACRAO Research Update

We're making a final push for our enrollment-management survey targeted at community colleges and similar institutions. Despite mentioning this in our March blog, response rates remain significantly lower than needed for meaningful analysis.

Community colleges face enrollment challenges that differ from 4-year institutions. The research partnership with John M. Braxton, D.Ed. (Professor Emeritus, Vanderbilt University) and Michael Sparrow, Ed.D. (Assistant Professor, Morgan State University) represents an opportunity to understand enrollment-management strategies within the unique context of community colleges.

Your participation matters. Your insights will directly inform future AACRAO resources and professional development. The survey takes only a few minutes to complete, and your responses will help ensure community-college perspectives are properly represented in enrollment-management research.

All data is reported in the aggregate. No individual responses are identified.

If your institution offers certificates, associate degrees, or a limited number of bachelor's degrees, please complete the survey by May 2, 2025. Your participation is essential for developing resources tailored to your institution's needs. Please participate.

Access the survey here. Preview the survey questions with this PDF.

Results will be shared in an upcoming AACRAO report and will help shape further research by Drs. Braxton and Sparrow. Thank you for contributing to our collective understanding of effective enrollment-management practices in community colleges.

Current Higher Education Research and Related Topics

Study Examines Mental Health Patterns at Historically Black-Serving Higher-Education Institutions
A collaborative research report from the United Negro College Fund’s (UNCF) Institute for Capacity Building, the Healthy Minds Network and the Steve Fund examines the mental-health landscape of learners attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Predominantly Black Institutions (PBIs). It reveals the unique challenges and distinctive strengths in these educational environments.

Research emphasizes the importance of approaching mental-health programming with an intersectional lens that acknowledges the range of identity factors that influence learners' experiences and well-being. The study aims to understand and respond to mental-health challenges faced by HBCU and PBI learners. It will serve as a resource for stakeholders invested in promoting learner well-being and academic success. Key points in the report include the following:

• Learners employ multiple funding sources for tuition payments, with notable regional variations. U.S. learners frequently manage four or more sources, while learners in the U.K., Canada, and Australia typically rely on fewer funding streams.
• Financial interactions impact academic outcomes, with positive correlations between effective financial management and academic success. U.S. learners report the lowest perceived impact.
• Learners across all markets exhibit strong preferences for digital self-service tools when managing tuition payments and financial information. Variations in specific technology preferences are noted by culture.
• Mobile-payment adoption varies significantly by region, with Australian learners showing the highest usage rates for everyday purchases (81%) compared to significantly lower rates among U.S. learners (25%).
• International learners report higher satisfaction when financial systems are well-integrated but find managing financial activities more effort-intensive. Some indicate payment methods influenced their enrollment decisions.

Report Finds Fully Funding Minority-Serving Institutions Yields Improved Learner Outcomes
A newly-released report from the American Council on Education (ACE) and the MSI Data Project at New York University examines the critical role that Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) and Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) play in advancing economic mobility for learners of Color. The report demonstrates the value of increased investment in these institutions, despite their historically limited resources.

The research distinguishes between federally funded MSIs, eligible but unfunded institutions, and non-MSIs. This provides a more nuanced understanding of institutional impact in advancing economic mobility for learners and where targeted support could yield the greatest benefits. Postsecondary outcomes across multiple categories are analyzed, including degree completion, labor-market earnings, and transfer rates. Federally funded MSIs consistently outperform eligible, but unfunded, institutions in key metrics. Some key points include the following:

• Nearly 20% of higher-education institutions qualify as HBCUs, TCUs or MSIs, collectively enrolling over 50% of all undergraduate learners of Color. These institutions serve as vital access points for low-income and first-generation learners.
• Graduates of funded MSIs experience significant economic benefits after graduation, often achieving higher median earnings compared to peers from similar non-MSI institutions.
• HBCUs, TCUs and MSIs award substantially more degrees to their target populations than non-MSIs. HBCUs grant nearly three times more bachelor's degrees to Black learners than non-HBCUs.
• These institutions serve as crucial transfer destinations for learners of Color.
• TCUs enroll nearly nine times as many Native American transfer learners as institutions that do not specifically serve minority learners.

Study Examines How Learners Navigate Higher-Education Financial Systems
A new study (download required) from Touchnet and College Pulse examines the complexities learners face when financing higher education. The study focuses on how learners interact with campus financial systems and how they use technology to enhance their educational experience across different global markets. Interactive charts for the data are included.

Analysis reveals significant opportunities for institutions to strengthen satisfaction and success through technological advancements, particularly for learners who face unique challenges in navigating financial systems. Key points in the study include the following:

• Learners employ multiple funding sources for tuition payments, with notable regional variations. U.S. learners frequently manage four or more sources, while learners in the U.K., Canada, and Australia typically rely on fewer funding streams.
• Financial interactions impact academic outcomes, with positive correlations between effective financial management and academic success. U.S. learners report the lowest perceived impact.
• Learners across all markets exhibit strong preferences for digital self-service tools when managing tuition payments and financial information. Variations in specific technology preferences are noted by culture.
• Mobile-payment adoption varies significantly by region, with Australian learners showing the highest usage rates for everyday purchases (81%) compared to significantly lower rates among U.S. learners (25%).
• International learners report higher satisfaction when financial systems are well-integrated but find managing financial activities more effort-intensive. Some indicate payment methods influenced their enrollment decisions.

New Research Focuses on Gen-Z Perspectives on the Use of AI
A new research article (download required) from the Walton Family Foundation, GSV Ventures and Gallup examines the complex, sometimes paradoxical, relationship between Generation Z (those born between 1997 and 2012) and generative artificial-intelligence (AI) technologies. Despite being digital natives, Gen-Zers are skeptical about AI's impact on their lives and learning.

The study was part of the Voices of Gen Z research. It captures perspectives from nearly 3,500 individuals ages 13 to 28, offering insights for technology developers, employers and educators. Some key points include the following:

• While 79% of Gen-Zers report using generative AI products, they experience more anxiety (41%) than excitement (36%) or hope (27%) about the technology.
• Forty-seven percent of Gen-Zers use generative AI products weekly.
• Gen-Z individuals express concerns about AI's impact on critical thinking skills.
• Forty-nine percent believe AI will harm these skills, compared to 22% who think it will help.
• Approximately 50% of Gen-Z learners believe schools should permit AI use and teach learners how to leverage it. However, only 28% report their school explicitly allows AI use.
• The majority of Gen-Z workers (55%) report their employer lacks clear AI usage policies. Eleven percent indicate they have received "extremely clear" workplace guidelines.
• Gen-Z employees demonstrate significant trust issues with AI-produced work. Sixty-four percent indicate greater trust in human-produced work products than those created, or aided, by artificial intelligence.

New Paper Examines the Impact of Learner Readiness
A new “insight paper” from the Education Advisory Board (EAB) and Seramount examines the growing crisis of student readiness for higher education and the workforce. The report highlights how pandemic disruptions have exacerbated learning gaps and socio-emotional development that threaten future economic mobility and workforce competitiveness. The collaborative work by EAB and Seramount aims to assist K-12 educators, colleges and employers in addressing these challenges through cross-sector strategies. Key points in the paper include the following:

• Academic and socio-emotional readiness are critical predictors of college attendance, degree completion and workforce success.
• Post-pandemic learning losses have created significant gaps in student readiness requiring an estimated additional 4.8 months of schooling for reading and 4.3 months for math to recover to pre-pandemic norms.
• College-going rates have declined from 70% to 62% since 2016.
• Twenty-four percent of first-time freshmen drop out within 1 year.
• The United States has dropped out of the top 10 most competitive economies globally, making workforce readiness a critical need.
• Learners who were in elementary school during the pandemic are not expected to recover academically before reaching college in the next 3 to 5 years.

Report Aims to Improve Community-College Learners’ Attainment of a Bachelor's Degree
The Transfer Playbook, a new report released by the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program and the Community College Research Center, presents evidence-based strategies to address the gap between community-college learners' aspirations for a bachelor's degree (80%) and their actual attainment rates (16%). It highlights how implementing the report's recommended practices could double bachelor's-degree completion rates. Key points include the following:


• Three essential strategies are needed for transfer success–prioritizing transfer at the executive level, aligning program pathways with high-quality instruction and tailoring transfer advising with nonacademic support.
• Institutions that demonstrate these practices achieve transfer rates of 52% and bachelor's-completion rates of 61% among transfer learners, significantly outperforming national averages of 33% and 48%, respectively.
• Nearly 40% of undergraduate learners attend community colleges. Approximately 75% come from lower-income families seeking economic mobility.
• The economic imperative is clear–66% of family-sustaining jobs are expected to require a bachelor's degree by 2031.

The report features multiple case studies of successful transfer programs, including partnerships between institutions, such as George Mason University and Northern Virginia Community College, as well as Arizona Western College and Northern Arizona University.