Toward a New Model of College “choice” For a Twenty-first-century Context

Abstract

The past two decades have seen massive changes in the higher education landscape, including the heightened participation of post-traditional students, high reentry and mobility of students within and across sectors, and the increased visibility of open admissions institutions, such as community colleges and for-profit colleges. Despite these radical shifts, the most commonly used college choice frameworks still focus on the decisions of students who fit a stereotypical profile and are entering traditional institutions of higher learning for the first time. In this article, Constance Iloh argues for the necessity of a new conceptual approach and offers a three-component ecological model of college-going decisions and trajectories that incorporates the pressing conditions and shifting contexts of twenty-first-century postsecondary education. In doing so, Iloh also asserts that the concept of “choice” may be a limited and problematic way of understanding present-day college-going.ErrataThe Editorial Board of the Harvard Educational Review is issuing an errata statement in conjunction with “Toward a New Model of College ‘Choice’ for a Twenty-First-Century Context” (Volume 88, Number 2, pages 227-244, doi:10.17763/1943-5045-88.2.227), by Constance Iloh, due to multiple instances in which the author incompletely attributed previously published material in the introduction and literature review. Given these extensive citation errors, the Editorial Board felt it important to correct the scholarly record. Pages 228-232 of the published article contain the following incompletely attributed materials: Excerpt lacking quotation marks from Heil, S., Reisel, L., & Attewell, P. (2014). College selectivity and degree completion. American Educational Research Journal, 51(5), 913-935. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831214544298Excerpt lacking quotation marks from Cabrera, A. F., & La Nasa, S. M. (2002). Understanding the college-choice process. New Directions for Institutional Research, 2000(107), 5-22. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ir.10701Two excerpts lacking quotation marks from Niu, S. X., Tienda, M., & Cortes, K. (2006). College selectivity and the Texas top 10% law. Economics of Education Review, 25(3), 259-272. doi:10.1016/j.econedurev.2005.02.006Excerpt lacking quotation marks from Cabrera, A. F., & La Nasa, S. M. (2000). Understanding the college-choice process. In A. F. Cabrera & S. M. La Nasa (Eds.), Understanding the college choice of disadvantaged students: New directions for institutional research. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Excerpt lacking quotation marks from Chen, J. C. (2017). Nontraditional adult learners. SAGE Open, 7(1). doi:10.1177/2158244017697161Quote lacking quotation marks and citation from Robert Hansen, CEO of University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA) as reported in Inside Track. (2015). National study of non-first-time students shows full-time enrollment may not be appropriate for all. Retrieved from https://www.insidetrack.com/national-study-of-non-first-time-students-shows-full-time-enrollment-may-not-be-appropriate-for-all/Excerpt lacking quotation marks and citation from Bidwell, A. (2014, July 29). 31 million in higher education limbo: Some college, no degree. US News & World Report. Retrieved from https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/07/29/31-million-in-higher-education-limbo-some-college-no-degreeExcerpt lacking quotation marks from Tudge, J. R. H. (2008). The everyday lives of young children: Culture, class, and child rearing in diverse societies. New York: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/ CBO9780511499890