Archive
Research Report
August 20, 2026
Beyond Access
Policy and Collaboration in Addressing Student Basic Needs Insecurity
Students’ ability to succeed in higher education is closely tied to their access to food, housing, technology, transportation, mental health, and other essential support. While a range of public benefits programs and institutional initiatives aim to address these basic needs, access to support is often shaped by a complex and fragmented policy environment. State and federal policy related to basic needs has a direct impact on the support students can access.
Research Report
August 18, 2026
AI Skills for College Graduates
Exploring How Instructors and Employers Prioritize AI Skills Differently
Since the public release of ChatGPT in 2022, both higher education institutions and employers have been keenly focused on how to prepare college students, and ultimately graduates, for the new world of AI-inflected work. But what does it mean to be ready for the AI workplace? We embarked on one of the first major efforts to vet a comprehensive framework of what constitutes AI skills with college and university instructors as well as to understand how instructors prioritize these skills.
Research Report
July 14, 2026
Part Time, Full Potential
Strategies for Improving Outcomes for Part-Time Learners
Ifeatu Oliobi, Ini-Abasi Umosen, Christy McDaniel, Pooja Patel, Emily Schwartz, Elizabeth Davidson Pisacreta
Part-time students represent about one-quarter of all undergraduate students at four-year institutions and nearly two-thirds at two-year institutions, yet they complete credentials at roughly half the rate of their full-time peers. These gaps are driven primarily by constraints due to work schedules, caregiving obligations, and limited financial aid, rather than by student characteristics or motivation. Added to this, the systems meant to support postsecondary success are largely designed for students who can attend full time.
Research Report
July 13, 2026
Serving Incarcerated Patrons
Barriers, Innovations, and Lessons from Law Libraries Across the United States
People in prison have a constitutional right of access to the courts to challenge their convictions, contest conditions of confinement, and otherwise protect their legal interests. Granting access to legal information and resources to incarcerated individuals also serves a broader public purpose, helping to expose wrongful convictions, identify unconstitutional conditions, and ensure that correctional institutions remain subject to legal oversight and accountability.
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Research Report
May 14, 2026
US Library Survey 2025
Under Pressure
The US Library Survey examines how library leaders conceptualize their work—what they prioritize, how they navigate decision-making, and how they align the library with the goals of their parent institutions. The 2025 cycle examines leaders’ perspectives on the library’s core role, governance, and key dimensions of strategy and operations. The report also includes their perspectives on generative artificial intelligence (AI), developments in the scholarly communication ecosystem, and change management.
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Research Report
May 7, 2026
Examining Employers’ Perceptions of Online Credentials
A Discrete Choice Experiment
In this study, supported by Strada Education Foundation and the Joyce Foundation, we conduct a discrete choice experiment with professional recruiters and hiring managers to better understand how they respond to online credentials, including those earned from out-of-state institutions.[9] Our research asks whether employers prefer hypothetical job applicants with in-person degrees compared to online degrees, if this preference differs based on whether the degree was earned from an in- or out-of-state institution, and how these preferences may vary by other…
Research Report
April 14, 2026
Academic Momentum and Credit Mobility
Examining the Role of CUNY’s Transfer Explorer
This report examines whether using T-REX is associated with improved early transfer outcomes for CUNY students who move from a CUNY community college to a CUNY bachelor’s-degree-granting college. Using administrative data for first-time vertical transfer students initiating transfer between Fall 2020 and Spring 2025, we compare outcomes for students who logged in to T-REX before or during the year they transferred and students who did not. We focus on two outcomes measured at the bachelor’s-degree-granting college: (1) the total number…
Research Report
April 10, 2026
Assessing Mississippi’s Higher Education in Prison Data Infrastructure
This report documents Phase 1 of a multi-phase effort to understand Mississippi’s current higher education in prison data landscape and identify opportunities for improvement. Drawing on stakeholder interviews, document review, and engagement with MCHEP and other state partners, the assessment examines what data are currently collected, how those data are used, where there are gaps and inconsistencies, and what limits the usefulness of existing data for decision-making.
Research Report
March 25, 2026
Sustaining Open Source Software in the Research Enterprise
Findings from a One-Day Workshop
“Sustaining Open Source Software in the Research Enterprise” (SOSSRE), a one-day in-person workshop made possible with generous funding from the National Science Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and a gift from Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, was designed to bolster the ecosystem of open source research software and develop holistic pathways for sustaining it within higher education.
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Playbook
March 24, 2026
Library Partnership Development Framework
Drawing on a qualitative inventory of library websites, national case studies, and insights gathered through an in-person institute , the project has informed the development of the Library Partnership Development Framework. This framework is designed to support libraries at all stages of partnership: exploring new opportunities, formalizing emerging collaborations, or enhancing and scaling established initiatives.
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Research Report
March 12, 2026
Aligning State Investments with Workforce Opportunity
A Framework for Targeted Higher Education Funding
State and local spending on higher education represents a significant public investment, and states have a responsibility to deploy these dollars in ways that maximize their social and economic returns. Policy discussions about how states can ensure their investments maximize these economic and social returns, however, have largely centered on states’ direct appropriations to public institutions and, more recently, on how those dollars can be tied to credentials of value. Far less attention has been paid to state financial aid…
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Research Report
February 23, 2026
Art Museum Director Survey 2025
Museum Strategy and Operations
The Ithaka S+R Art Museum Director Survey seeks to understand the opportunities, challenges, and strategic issues art museum directors face in their work, particularly in relation to budgeting, public trust and engagement, collections care, and talent management. For the third iteration of this project, we continue to explore how museums are governed, how they serve the public, and what kinds of strategies they develop to respond to complex challenges.
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Research Report
February 18, 2026
Beyond the Median: Earnings Dispersion Across Programs in South Carolina
Findings from Postsecondary Employment Outcomes (PSEO) Data
Which academic programs provide consistent economic returns and which leave graduates facing greater uncertainty? This brief uses Postsecondary Employment Outcomes (PSEO) data to examine earnings dispersion within programs of study in South Carolina. While median earnings are often used to assess program outcomes, they can obscure wide variation among graduates. By analyzing the 25th and 75th percentile earnings, this study highlights which programs provide consistent economic returns and which leave graduates facing greater uncertainty.
Research Report
February 18, 2026
Industry Concentration and Workforce Pathways in South Carolina
Findings from Postsecondary Employment Outcomes (PSEO) Data
Which academic programs lead to clear labor market placement, and which lead to more diffuse or uncertain employment outcomes? This Ithaka S+R report uses South Carolina’s Postsecondary Employment Outcomes (PSEO) data to examine how graduates from different fields of study are distributed across industries, in collaboration with the PSEO Coalition.
Research Report
February 18, 2026
Rural Graduate Retention and State Workforce Contributions in South Carolina
Findings from Postsecondary Employment Outcomes (PSEO) Data
This Ithaka S+R report uses Postsecondary Employment Outcomes (PSEO) data to examine how the earnings, employment locations, and contributions to South Carolina’s workforce differ for graduates of rural- and urban-serving institutions in the state. By comparing outcomes for associate and bachelor’s degree graduates, the analysis highlights how the urbanicity of where students study shapes both individual economic trajectories and the extent to which graduates remain employed in South Carolina.
Research Report
February 12, 2026
What Commission Action Letters Reveal
A Thematic Analysis of WSCUC Decisions (2012–2024)
In the United States, quality assurance is directly tied to the accreditation process. By analyzing the decisions that accreditors record in their formal action letters, we can identify the most common issues that institutions face and the priorities that shape accreditors’ decisions.
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Research Report
February 12, 2026
Regional Accreditation Standards
A New Framework for Comparison
Accreditation is an important aspect of higher education, yet its processes and impacts remain largely opaque to the public. This research project aims to systematically analyze accreditation standards from each of the major US accreditors as well as offer insights into how these criteria influence student success and post-graduation outcomes.
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Research Report
February 12, 2026
Understanding the Impact of Data-Driven Accreditor Practices on Student Outcomes
This paper examines whether the adoption of data-driven practices by the seven former regional accreditors is associated with measurable changes in student outcomes. We document when accreditors introduced four observable practices—public dashboards, public-facing reports, peer benchmarking policies, and internal dashboards—and compare the onset of those practices with resulting changes in student outcomes.
Research Report
December 8, 2025
Addressing Re-Engagement and Re-Enrollment Barriers for New Jersey Learners with Some College, No Degree
Data, Policies, and Solutions
Re-engaging and re-enrolling adult learners with some college credit but no degree is an increasing priority nationally and in New Jersey. Credential completion not only enables individuals to access higher paying jobs, but also generates tuition revenue for institutions and supports regional economic development. Recognizing this and the other benefits experienced when students return, New Jersey’s higher education institutions and the Office of the Secretary of Higher Education (OSHE) have made significant investments in re-engaging and re-enrolling stopped out students.
Research Report
December 4, 2025
From Concept to Campus
Lessons from the Design, Launch, and Growth of Transfer Explorer
This report tells the story behind Transfer Explorer—charting its design, pilot, launch, and ongoing improvements—to illuminate the decisions, and partnerships that made it possible and to highlight how Transfer Explorer may be leveraged in the future to improve credit mobility policies and procedures across the country. In doing so, the report is less about the outcomes of Transfer Explorer itself and more on the processes that shaped it.
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