Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2608-8154

Date of Graduation

Spring 2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Department of Graduate Psychology

Advisor(s)

Deborah Bandalos

Abstract

A new grant program implemented to provide subsidized training costs for students enrolling in short-term noncredit programs aligned with high-demand industry credentials leading to middle-skill jobs was implemented in July 2016. The grant program follows a pay-for-performance model where students are given a two-thirds discount on tuition but required to pay back an additional one-third if they do not successfully complete their short-term noncredit training. An exploratory study was conducted to provide training program completion and credential attainment rates for the overall program and by student demographic groups (age, race, and gender). Results showed little variation among training program completion rates among groups but showed considerable differences among programs and demographic groups for credential attainment rates indicating possible barriers to credential attainment. Supplemental information was collected via a survey sent to career coaches at the community colleges implementing the grant program. Responses indicated a need for additional resources (e.g. transportation vouchers) and support for students during program implementation (e.g. additional classroom resources). Overall, findings indicate a need for further research once additional enrollment data is available and additional collection of qualitative data from the colleges implementing the program to support programmatic improvement aligned with the grant outcomes.

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