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Although student loan debt has been rigorously studied over the past several decades, scant research has investigated how institutions of higher education communicate debt to current and former student borrowers. As COVID-19 forced the United States Department of Education to cancel the Annual Student Loan Acknowledgement as part of a student's signing of the master promissory note (MPN), there are no other mechanisms for students to be aware of their student loan debt beyond a debt letter from their institution or reviewing their National Student Loan Debt System (NSLDS) portal. This applied linguistics study surveyed 2,030 current student loan borrowers attending U.S. institutions of higher education to explore their preferences for receiving a student loan debt letter. Results suggest students of Color and first-generation in college students strongly prefer shorter, simpler letters, while there were no statistically significant preferences by gender. Implications for research and practice will be addressed.

Decades of research suggests that institutional communication can dictate student success, but the COVID-19 pandemic exposed challenges to new demands. Institutions may not have been prepared to adjust communications during the COVID-19 pandemic, and given the ongoing nature of the pandemic, literature has yet to examine how higher education institutions communicated with students during COVID-19. The current study fills this gap by exploring how college students viewed institutional communication from multiple stakeholders, including staff, faculty, and peers, and whether institutional communication supported student persistence. Data suggests a majority of students were critical of institutional communication but rarely engaged with that communication or acted. Moreover, students strongly preferred communication that they perceived to be authentic and personal, while students also felt that high-quality communication from their institution would help them persist and connect with their support networks. We address implications for research, policy, and institutional communication and practice.

Decades of research has suggested that completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) can be a complex, difficult process for postsecondary students and their support networks. However, no extant research has informed federal student aid practitioners and researchers as to what federal student aid jargon terms institutions of higher education actually use in their application instructions to complete the FAFSA. To fill this gap in the research, this study adopts a distributional linguistic approach to analyze a random sample of federal student aid application instructions published on institutional websites (.edu) over three years (2017, 2018, and 2019) to learn how prevalent Federal Student Aid (FSA) Glossary terms are and what terms are used most frequently. Results suggest few of the 152 FSA Glossary terms have been regularly used by institutions of higher education from 2017 to 2019, with the most frequent terms being FAFSA, loan, federal student aid, FSA ID, and scholarship. In addition, many institutions only used one or two FSA Glossary terms over three years, bringing into question the accuracy and relevance of the FSA Glossary. Implications for research, financial aid administration, and financial aid policy are addressed.

Institutions of higher education have mandated COVID-19 vaccinations for students wishing to return to an on-campus, in-person learning experience. However, some groups have expressed a hesitancy to be vaccinated, while others are unsure about the vaccine's side effects and/or efficacy. Yet, an under-researched aspect of COVID-19 vaccinations and related communication is whether individuals--in this study, college students--understand that the COVID-19 vaccine is free and whether that understanding varies among groups of people. As a result, this study surveyed 1,183 college students to explore these students' knowledge of vaccine costs and whether differences exist between groups. Data suggests many college students do not know that COVID-19 vaccinations are free: Asian American/Pacific Islander students were most aware of COVID-19 vaccines being free (55.7%), while Black/African American students were least aware (41.4%). Moreover, women were more aware of free COVID-19 vaccines (50.2%) than men (40.1%), first generation college students were more aware (50.9%) than non-first generation college students (42.7%), and students without disabilities (50.7%) were more aware than students with disabilities (26.6%). Implications for health communication, vaccine awareness, and higher education policy are addressed.

ObjectivesWe aimed to describe emergency department (ED) care transition interventions delivered to older adults with cognitive impairment, identify relevant patient-centered outcomes, and determine priority research areas for future investigation.DesignSystematic scoping review.Setting and participantsED patients with cognitive impairment and/or their care partners.MethodsInformed by the clinical questions, we conducted systematic electronic searches of medical research databases for relevant publications following published guidelines. The results were presented to a stakeholder group representing ED-based and non-ED-based clinicians, individuals living with cognitive impairment, care partners, and advocacy organizations. After discussion, they voted on potential research areas to prioritize for future investigations.ResultsFrom 3848 publications identified, 78 eligible studies underwent full text review, and 10 articles were abstracted. Common ED-to-community care transition interventions for older adults with cognitive impairment included interdisciplinary geriatric assessments, home visits from medical personnel, and telephone follow-ups. Intervention effects were mixed, with improvements observed in 30-day ED revisit rates but most largely ineffective at promoting connections to outpatient care or improving secondary outcomes such as physical function. Outcomes identified as important to adults with cognitive impairment and their care partners included care coordination between providers and inclusion of care partners in care management within the ED setting. The highest priority research area for future investigation identified by stakeholders was identifying strategies to tailor ED-to-community care transitions for adults living with cognitive impairment complicated by other vulnerabilities such as social isolation or economic disadvantage.Conclusions and implicationsThis scoping review identified key gaps in ED-to-community care transition interventions delivered to older adults with cognitive impairment. Combined with a stakeholder assessment and prioritization, it identified relevant patient-centered outcomes and clarifies priority areas for future investigation to improve ED care for individuals with impaired cognition, an area of critical need given the current population trends.

Students who leave higher education before earning a credential ("stop outs") often do so for failing to maintain satisfactory academic progress, or SAP. This article details why enrollment managers must work with their financial aid counterparts to smooth students' re-entry to higher education, focusing on SAP alleviation strategies.

Advancements in computational linguistics have allowed educational researchers to examine large amounts of text and assess the reading difficulty of that text for speakers whose first language is English (L1), and speakers whose first language is not English (L2). Considering L2 students exploring higher education, extant research suggests these L2 students do not access United States (U.S.) higher education as the same level as their L1 peers. Using popular measures of L1 and L2 readability, the current study analyzes admission instructions from 341 randomly-selected four-year U.S. institutions of higher education and finds L2 readability is more difficult (30.9) than L1 readability (37.7) and differences in means are statistically significant (p=0.001) across the entire sample and each institutional sector (public, private non-profit, and private for-profit). These findings may help explain the postsecondary achievement gap experienced by L2 students in the United States.

As admissions counselors expanded their footprint in online spaces to connect with prospective students and families during COVID-19, the same has been done by many institutions--for years and long before the pandemic--with digital swag. This study will provide a baseline from which enrollment managers can understand how "digital swag" is being used and whether such an approach would be beneficial for their institution.

BackgroundTherapeutic targeting of host-cell factors required for SARS-CoV-2 entry is an alternative strategy to ameliorate COVID-19 severity. SARS-CoV-2 entry into lung epithelium requires the TMPRSS2 cell surface protease. Pre-clinical and correlative data in humans suggest that anti-androgenic therapies can reduce the expression of TMPRSS2 on lung epithelium. Accordingly, we hypothesize that therapeutic targeting of androgen receptor signaling via degarelix, a luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) antagonist, will suppress COVID-19 infection and ameliorate symptom severity.MethodsThis is a randomized phase 2, placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trial in 198 patients to compare efficacy of degarelix plus best supportive care versus placebo plus best supportive care on improving the clinical outcomes of male Veterans who have been hospitalized due to COVID-19. Enrolled patients must have documented infection with SARS-CoV-2 based on a positive reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction result performed on a nasopharyngeal swab and have a severity of illness of level 3-5 (hospitalized but not requiring invasive mechanical ventilation). Patients stratified by age, history of hypertension, and severity are centrally randomized 2:1 (degarelix: placebo). The composite primary endpoint is mortality, ongoing need for hospitalization, or requirement for mechanical ventilation at 15 after randomization. Important secondary endpoints include time to clinical improvement, inpatient mortality, length of hospitalization, duration of mechanical ventilation, time to achieve a normal temperature, and the maximum severity of COVID-19 illness. Exploratory analyses aim to assess the association of cytokines, viral load, and various comorbidities with outcome. In addition, TMPRSS2 expression in target tissue and development of anti-viral antibodies will also be investigated.DiscussionIn this trial, we repurpose the FDA approved LHRH antagonist degarelix, commonly used for prostate cancer, to suppress TMPRSS2, a host cell surface protease required for SARS-CoV-2 cell entry. The objective is to determine if temporary androgen suppression with a single dose of degarelix improves the clinical outcomes of patients hospitalized due to COVID-19.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT04397718. Registered on May 21, 2020.

This exploratory study responds to the criticism that non-instructional faculty or "academic professionals" at American universities are the cause of "administrative bloat." The purpose of the study was to build from the work of Rhoades (1998) and Kane (2007) to examine whether academic professionals at an R-1 (very-high research activity university) performed core university work of research, teaching, and/or public service. A survey of 1036 academic professionals suggested that many of these individuals were routinely and directly contributing to research, teaching, and public service instead of administrative work, failing to contribute to any notions of "administrative bloat." In addition to the three areas of core work, academic professionals often had advanced degrees, published in peer-reviewed journals, had specialized skills and bodies of knowledge, applied for grants, and engaged in entrepreneurial activities. The study concludes with a discussion of academic professionals in European countries and the role of disruptive innovation and new professionalism in compelling universities to expand the use of academic professionals in order to produce cheaper degree alternatives and generate new sources of funding .

In 2009, President Obama called for a simplification of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), resulting in the average family completing the FAFSA in 20 minutes. Yet, during the 2013-2014 college application season, nearly 900,000 Pell Grant-eligible high school graduates did not complete the FAFSA, leaving $2.9 billion in Pell Grant funds unclaimed (Sen-Gupta, 2015). Subsequently, researchers have investigated the hurdles of FAFSA completion, however, no extant research has examined whether institutional financial aid application instructions are readable, an element of the application process which seems logical to scrutinize. This study examines financial aid application instructions of 300 randomly-selected U.S. institutions to answer the primary research question, "At what reading comprehension level do institutions compose financial aid application instructions?" Findings indicate 75% of financial aid application instructions are unreadable by high school graduates of average reading comprehension ability, with 41% of instructions written at or above a 14th-grade reading comprehension level. Implications for practitioners and future research are addressed.

By many accounts--on August 11th and 12th, 2017--a "Unite the Right" rally organized by white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia, catalyzed a series of violent events culminating in the injury of dozens of people and the death of three people (Alvarez, 2017; Astor, Caron, & Victor, 2017; Heim, 2017; McKelway, 2017). Subsequently, dozens of college and university leaders across the country released official statements condemning the violence. This study examines 99 of these institutional statements released during or immediately after the crisis in Charlottesville to learn whether these statements informed campus community members of institutional hate and bias policies meant to protect members against acts of hate, bias, and violence, such as the ones witnessed in Charlottesville. Findings reveal only 8% of statements included a directive on how to engage with institutional hate and bias policies, yet over 75% of institutions had hate and bias policies in place. Implications for executive leadership communication and future research are addressed.

As open enrollment public charter school districts have continued to grow in Texas, researchers and policymakers have continued to question how these public charter school districts spend public taxpayer dollars. Although extensive research has addressed how public charter school districts spend money to recruit teachers, complete capital projects, and hire school leaders, no studies have examined how public charter school districts compete with traditional public school districts online to drive traffic and interest in their schools. Using Texas Education Agency and SEMrush data (web metrics, such as organic keywords, organic traffic, and traffic cost) from the 2018-2019 school year, this study compares public charter school district and traditional public school district web metrics to learn more about how charter school districts continue to open and drive enrollment. Results suggest that, when compared to traditional public school districts in Texas, public charter school districts in Texas are less web popular by keyword search (p < 0.00) and traffic (p < 0.00), yet these districts spend more on driving Internet traffic to their websites (p < .00) than traditional public school districts. Implications for research, policy, and competition between open enrollment public charter school districts and traditional public school districts are addressed.

Student fees remain an under-researched aspect of postsecondary education and finance (Kelchen, 2016). This study examines the mandatory and additional fees charged to full-time, in-state undergraduate students by public and private not-for-profit four-year institutions in Texas (n=96). Findings demonstrate the average four-year institution in Texas charges over $1,500 per academic year in mandatory fees, $500 higher than the national average. Moreover, private institutions charge an average of $1,100 less than publics, while fees comprise 6.8% of the total cost of attendance at private and 29.1% at publics. Institutions of higher education compose fee explanations above the 12th -grade reading level and only 5.2% of the sample provided fee explanations in a language other than English, thus further marginalizing non-English speaking language populations in Texas. Implications for policy makers, practitioners, and future research are addressed.

A recent Educational Testing Services report (2016) found that international graduate students with a TOEFL score of 80--the minimum average TOEFL score for graduate admission in the United States--usually possess reading subscores of 20, equating to a 12th-grade reading comprehension level. However, one public flagship university's international graduate student admissions instructions are written at a 17th-grade reading comprehension level, or, a 27-30 band on the reading section of the TOEFL. This study seeks to answer the question, "Do U.S. graduate programs compose admissions materials at unreadable levels compared to these programs' minimum reading comprehension levels for international graduate student admission?" Findings reveal average public flagship international graduate student admissions materials are written above 15th-grade reading comprehension levels, with select flagships composing these materials at 19th grade reading levels. Implications for practitioners and policymakers, as well as areas of future research, are addressed.

Little is known about the funding organizations and mechanisms behind artificial intelligence (AI) research conducted in United States (U.S.) educational systems (K12 and higher education). This study therefore performs a bibliometric and network analysis of AI research conducted in U.S. educational systems to explore which types of organizations fund peer-reviewed scholarship, which organizations receive this funding, and how these organizations form funded research networks. The results suggest evidence of institutional stratification, with non-U.S. government organizations (such as in China and Europe) funding many AI studies within U.S. educational systems. Moreover, the data suggest stratified funding networks have marginalized Minority-Serving Institutions, consolidating the influence of AI research conducted in U.S. educational systems among few, elite, and predominately White institutions. The implications for research and policy advocacy are also addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching ecosystem services provides an ideal opportunity to use inquiry-based learning to help students make connections between ecological, geological, and social systems. The idea of ecosystem services, or the benefits nature provides to society, has emerged as a key concept in a host of environmental fields and is just beginning to gain attention within the geosciences. Although the concept has the potential to positively affect policy decisions by quantifying the economic value of ecosystem services, it has been criticized for commodifying nature and having limited engagement with geoscience perspectives. To teach ecosystem services to the next generation of geoscientists, we developed two variations of an inquiry-based learning exercise in which students used the ecosystem services approach to assign a monetary value to eight different ecosystem services generated by four ecosystems. One version of the exercise had students make these valuations in the field, whereas one was completed solely in the classroom. In both cases, the students scored significantly better on a postexercise assessment, demonstrated a deeper understanding of the ecosystem services approach, and reported that the exercise was preferable to a traditional lecture. Our data and observations also suggest that this exercise offers a great deal of flexibility and can be used in many learning environments. Geoscientists should be especially interested in integrating the concept of ecosystem services into their courses so that the next generation of geoscientists is well positioned to contribute to the interdisciplinary field of ecosystem services.

Although emergency aid programs have existed on community college campuses for years, no extant research has articulated which emergency resources students apply for and how students prioritize these resources against others (e.g., food needs compared to housing needs). To better understand student emergency aid needs shortly after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, this study reports on 333 community college students' self-assessed emergency needs from March 26, 2020, until October 2, 2020. Results suggest that community college students self-reported the highest need for utility payment assistance, with food being the lowest need. However, correlations were highest among housing and utility assistance, suggesting many community college students simultaneously struggled with housing and utility payments, amplifying their financial burden and stress. Strengthening the body of literature on postsecondary emergency aid, this study concludes with implications for college student emergency services, higher education case management, and emergency aid policies.

Background: While there have been numerous calls to increase the participation of people with disabilities in STEM, many postsecondary institutions are not equipped to support students with disabilities. We examined the accessibility of 139 webpages from 73 postsecondary institutions in the USA that contained information about the undergraduate physics curriculum and graduate research programs. We selected these webpages as they are common entry points for students interested in pursuing a physics degree. We used Tenon and Mac OS X's VoiceOver software to assess the level of accessibility of these webpages as measured by alignment with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. Results: We found that only one webpage had minimal accessibility errors (i.e., 10 errors), while the other webpages had numerous accessibility errors. Five specific error types accounted for the majority of all errors. The five most common errors were related to information, structure, and relationships of content (1.3.1 Level A; 39.7%); text alternatives for non-text content (1.1.1 Level A; 27.0%); information about link purpose (2.4.4 Level A; 14.7%); capability to resize text (1.4.4 Level AA; 10.0%); and information about the name, role, and value of user interface components (4.1.2 Level A; 11.2%). Conclusions: We present and describe the five common accessibility errors we identified in the webpages in our sample, suggest solutions for these errors, and provide implications for students with disabilities, instructors and staff, institutional administration, and the broader physics community.

This study examines first-year undergraduate admissions materials from 325 bachelor-degree granting U.S. institutions, closely analyzing the English-language readability and Spanish-language readability and translation of these materials. Via Yosso's linguistic capital, the results reveal 4.9% of first-year undergraduate admissions materials had been translated into Spanish, 4% of institutional admissions websites embed translation widgets, and the average readability of English-language content is above the 13th-grade reading level. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

A method to register THz and visible images of cutaneous burn wounds and to calibrate THz image data is presented. Images of partial and full thickness burn wounds in 9 rats were collected over 435 mins. = 7.25 hours following burn induction. A two-step process was developed to reference the unknown structure of THz imaging contrast to the known structure and the features present in visible images of the injury. This process enabled the demarcation of a wound center for each THz image, independent of THz contrast. Threshold based segmentation enabled the automated identification of air (0% reflectivity), brass (100% reflectivity), and abdomen regions within the registered THz images. Pixel populations, defined by the segmentations, informed unsupervised image calibration and contrast warping for display. The registered images revealed that the largest variation in THz tissue reflectivity occurred superior to the contact region at ~0.13%/min. Conversely the contact region showed demonstrated an ~6.5-fold decrease at ~0.02%/min. Exploration of occlusion effects suggests that window contact may affect the measured edematous response.