Underlining what matters in higher ed and ed tech: news, vendor updates, and commentary from across the field, in one place.https://theunderline.netlify.app/source/jhe/https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2742808https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2742808Purpose This instrumental case study of organizational legitimation and socio-legal pressures investigates the (un)intended policy outcomes of Texas House Bill 51—a performance-based funding model.Research Questions Through critical policy analysis, this study asks how emerging research policy contexts exacerbate…Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMTDwuana BradleyResearchhttps://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2739118https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2739118The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act introduced a 1.4% excise tax on the net investment income of select nonprofit colleges. Affected colleges warned that the tax would force them to cut educational spending and reduce financial aid to students. Using a triple-difference design that exploits the policy’s dual eligibility…Wed, 30 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMTYung­-Yu TsaiResearchhttps://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2735777https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2735777In the ever-evolving landscape of intercollegiate athletics, postsecondary institutions are increasingly committed to creating inclusive environments that enable collegiate athletes to thrive academically. Some of the influential factors shaping athletes’ academic achievement may be their experiences of campus…Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMTAgustín J. García et al.Researchhttps://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2728560https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2728560Although research on autistic college student success is growing, less is known about those who navigate both autism and co-occurring disabilities during college. This mixed-methods study employs a rigorous proposition testing approach to address critical gaps in the literature. Drawing on national survey and…Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMTKarly B. Ball et al.Researchhttps://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2735779https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2735779Thu, 24 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMTDion T. HarryResearchhttps://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2735778https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2735778This quasi-experimental study examined the effectiveness of a one-time institutional microgrant program on academic and financial outcomes among Pell-eligible undergraduate students. Academic outcomes investigated included retention to the next semester, degree completion, attempted credit hours, and grade point…Fri, 18 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMTBradley R. Curs et al.Researchhttps://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2721832https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2721832Guided by a racism-conscious theoretical framework for understanding organizational behavior, this study illustrates how systemic inequity is reproduced in elite-college admissions. Using critical-qualitative case study methods, including interviews with 18 admission personnel, I examine four mechanisms of…Wed, 09 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMTKamil Q. BrownResearchhttps://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2715730https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2715730The Multidimensional Conceptual Framework for Understanding Servingness in Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) made a significant contribution to HSI practice and research. Despite recent federal attacks on HSIs and loss of funding, HSIs will continue to enroll a significant number of Latine students and grapple with…Wed, 09 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMTGina A. García et al.Researchhttps://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2721833https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2721833Fri, 21 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMTYoungHoon Koh and Alice Eunjung LeeResearchhttps://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2722487https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2722487International students’ engagement in racial justice activism remains understudied. Guided by International Student Critical Race Theory (IntlCrit) and using narrative inquiry, this study examines how transnational and institutional influences shaped Asian international students’ engagement in U.S. racial justice…Fri, 21 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMTYuriko SatoResearchhttps://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2718017https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2718017Although higher education institutions have increasingly put in place promotion policies and processes for non-tenure-track faculty (NTTF), little research has examined how NTTF navigate these nascent organizational structures. This qualitative case study investigates the experiences of 26 full-time NTTF at a large…Tue, 18 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMTDawn Kiyoe Culpepper and Wuqi YuResearchhttps://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2715287https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2715287Evidence-based teaching is widely recognized as critical for student learning in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM), yet whether and how faculty develop these instructional practices through their social ties remains less well understood. To illuminate these dynamics, this study…Thu, 13 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMTChanghee Lee and Ross J. BenbowResearchhttps://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2718016https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2718016As institutions strive to enhance their interventions for students facing financial stress, additional research into who these students are and how their financial choices are associated with their persistence is critical. In this study, we focus on how student tuition financing is associated with student persistence.…Thu, 13 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMTMomene Ghadiri et al.Researchhttps://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2715286https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2715286Higher education research on STEM lab supervision has often addressed the dynamics of doctoral agency through three parallel strands of scholarship: the restriction of research judgment, the redefinition of scholarly self-understanding, and the redirection of agency toward productivity-oriented self-management. What…Tue, 11 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMTThomas Byrne et al.Researchhttps://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2706434https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2706434This study explores the relationship between dual enrollment (DE) math and English gateway course-taking and academic momentum indicators — earning 30 credits by the end of the first year, first-year credit accumulation, and persistence to the third semester. The study is based on a sample of first-time freshmen at…Wed, 05 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMTVandeen A. Campbell et al.Researchhttps://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2708354https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2708354Approximately 20 percent of all U.S. postsecondary institutions are eligible to apply for a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) grant, with over a 90 percent increase since 2010. Despite extensive descriptive and qualitative research on Latine-serving institutions (HSIs), fewer quantitative studies have examined how an…Wed, 05 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMTWilliam Casey BolandResearchhttps://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2712070https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2712070This qualitative study draws upon semi-structured interviews with 31 college and university presidents whose institutions host prison education programs. We examine how presidents justify their support for prison education and find three dominant themes among their narratives: mission and margin, knowledge and…Mon, 03 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMTErin L. Castro and Mary Rachel GouldResearchhttps://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2706433https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2706433The reputations of researchers and journals alike are substantially based on the frequency with which their publications are cited. Some inquiry has examined predictors of citation counts, but these studies generally do not examine education research, and the findings often diverge considerably across disciplines or…Tue, 21 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMTNicholas A. Bowman et al.Researchhttps://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2699777https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2699777Contemporary doctoral education is situated within a changing labor market shaped by gender inequity, disciplinary difference, and regional opportunity structure, yet little is known about how students’ job values predict career choices. Guided by the Theory of Work Adjustment and Warr’s Vitamin Model, we examined…Thu, 16 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMTLechen Li and Jue WuResearch