University of Wisconsin–Madison
By Amberly Dziesinski Over the past 6 months, our team has been combing through state policy documents to better understand how community colleges are funded. We aimed to identify if, and how, states fund three different enrollment types: credit-bearing, noncredit, and dual enrollment students. We are excited to share the resulting report and accompanying interactive …
By Gresham Collom, Ph.D., University of Minnesota Oneewe (thank you – Munsee) for reading our monthly Indigenous Student Financial Aid Opportunities blog series! This is a space for us to share updates on our project, describe programs and policies we find during data collection, and reflect on interesting developments we see in the data. We …
This story originally appeared in Community College Daily. Community colleges today serve a wide range of students — from degree-seeking to dual enrollment to noncredit students. However, not all state funding policies have kept up with this reality. A new project from the Association for Community College Trustees (ACCT) and the Student Success Through Applied …
By Nicholas Hillman When people ask me what the SSTAR Lab does, I often start by explaining we are a “research-practice partnership.” That phrase seems to click with folks, at least most of the time. People nod along, connecting the dots on how those three words might fit together. Research, practice, and partnership. They go …
Hello! Welcome to the SSTAR Lab Blog; we’re so glad you’re here. Whether you’re a researcher, practitioner, policymaker, or just someone interested in higher education research, we hope you find this site informative and useful. SSTAR Lab is a research center situated within the Division of Enrollment Management at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Our team …
By Kathryn Boonstra Paying for college involves navigating a complex landscape of federal, state, institutional, and private financial aid (“aid”). These types of aid differ in their eligibility criteria, funding sources, awarding procedures, and benefit types, and new policies and programs are regularly introduced or retired. Not only do these varied requirements and stipulations present …
By Gresham Collom & Misti Jeffers Did you know Indigenous college students accounted for only 0.7% of enrolled college students in 2020 (Keo et al., 2021)? Indigenous Peoples in the United States have long experienced a history of colonization, genocide, and racial oppression, and Indigenous students continue to experience barriers to access and success in …
By Leslie Orrantia With similar disparities in student outcomes across secondary and postsecondary sectors, states are increasingly turning to K–12 to ask what lessons may inform higher education finance for more equitable distribution of resources. This question is central to a new SSTAR Lab literature review titled “Adequacy and Equity in Education Finance: How Can …
This story originally appeared in Marketplace. President Joe Biden’s administration is taking another crack at student debt relief. It proposed a rules change under an existing higher education law that would give some borrowers a break on interest charges. The administration hopes this plan will be more durable against legal challenges. This latest effort would …
This story originally ran in The Badger Herald. The Student Success Through Applied Research Lab released a report in early January on how equity-based funding could work to close achievement gaps for college students from low-income or marginalized backgrounds. The research done at SSTAR lab is funded by external organizations, according to SSTAR lab research …