Lauren Schudde is an associate professor of Educational Leadership and Policy. She studies how to ameliorate social inequities in the United States through higher education policy. Because the majority of college students, particularly those from low-income families, attend broad-access institutions, her research prioritizes students and policies at community colleges and regional public universities. Her ongoing projects examine dual enrollment pathways between high schools and community colleges, how community college students respond to state and institutional transfer policies, the influence of dev-ed reforms on student outcomes, labor market returns to different types of postsecondary degrees, and the trajectory of English Learners through K-12 into (and through) higher education. She uses both quantitative and qualitative research methods, though most of her research leverages state administrative data to answer pressing policy questions. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Institute for Education Sciences, the Spencer Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Greater Texas Foundation.
Schudde received her PhD in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Prior to joining the faculty at UT, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the Community College Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her work has been published in the Sociology of Education, Journal of Human Resources, American Educational Research Journal, AERA Open, Review of Research in Education, Review of Higher Education, Research in Higher Education, and Community College Review. She serves as Co-Editor-in-Chief of Research in Higher Education. She is a faculty research affiliate of the UT's Population Research Center and the Charles A. Dana Center and Teachers College's Community College Research Center and holds a courtesy faculty appointment with UT's department of Sociology.
Ph.D. in Sociology, University of Wisconsin Madison
M.S. in Sociology, University of Wisconsin Madison
B.A. in Sociology and Psychology, New York University
Studies how to ameliorate social inequities in the United States through higher education policy; focuses on college pathways at broad-access institutions, including community colleges.
Ryu, W., Schudde, L. & Pack, K. (2022). Constructing Corequisites: How Texas Community Colleges Structure Corequisite Math Coursework and the Implications for Student Success.
AERA Open,
8(1), 1–13.
https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584221086664.
Yucel, E., Jabbar, H. & Schudde, L. (2022). Navigating Transfer Through Networks: How Community College Students Seek Support from Social Ties throughout the Transfer Process.
Review of Higher Education,
45(4), 487–513. (
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Schudde, L., Bicak, I. & Shea, M. (2022). Getting to the Core of Credit Transfer: How Do General Education Credits Predict Baccalaureate Attainment for Community College Transfer Students?.
Educational Policy.
https://doi.org/10.1177/08959048211049415.
Schudde, L., Castillo, S., Shook, L. & Jabbar, H. (2022). The Age of Satisficing? Juggling Work, Education, and Competing Priorities During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World,
8, 1–13.
https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231221088438.
Schudde, L. & Shea, M. (2021). Heterogeneity in the Returns to Credits for Public Two-Year College Entrants. Research in Higher Education. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-021-09654-8.
Schudde, L., Jabbar, H. & Hartman, C. (2021). How Political and Ecological Contexts Shape Community College Transfer.
Sociology of Education,
94(1), 65–83. (
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Schudde, L., Jabbar, H., Epstein, E. & Yucel, E. (2021). Students Sensemaking of Higher Education Policies During the Vertical Transfer Process.
American Educational Research Journal.
https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312211003050.
Schudde, L., Bradley, D. & Absher, C. (2020). Navigating Vertical Transfer Online: Access to and Usefulness of Transfer Information on Community College Websites.
Community College Review,
48(1), 3–30. (
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Schudde, L., Ryu, W. & Brown, R. (2020). Major Movement: Examining Major Switching Patterns and Pathways at Community Colleges.
Review of Higher Education,
22(2), 189–235. (
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Schudde, L. (2019). Short- and Long-Term Impacts of Engagement Experiences with Faculty and Peers at Community Colleges.
The Review of Higher Education,
42(2), 385–426. (
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Schudde, L. & Keisler, K. (2019). The Relationship Between Accelerated Dev-Ed Coursework and Early College Milestones: Examining College Momentum in a Reformed Mathematics Pathway.
AERA Open,
5(1), 1–22. (
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Schudde, L. & Brown, R. (2019). Understanding Variation in Estimates of Diversionary Effects of Community College Entrance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Sociology of Education.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0038040719848445.
Schudde, L. & Meiselman, A. Y. (2019). The Importance of Institutional Data Reporting Quality for Understanding Dev-Ed Math Enrollment and Outcomes.
Community College Journal of Research and Practice.
https://doi.org/10.1080/10668926.2019.1616635.
Schudde, L. & Bernell, K. (2019). Educational Attainment and Non-Wage Labor Market Returns in the United States.
AERA Open,
5(3), 1–18. (
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Schudde, L. & Grodsky, E. (2018). The Community College Experience and Educational Equality: Theory, Research, and Policy. Handbook of Sociology of Education in the 21st Century: Springer International Publishing.
Schudde, L. (2018). Heterogeneous Effects in Education: The Promise and Challenge of Incorporating Intersectionality into Quantitative Methodological Approaches.
Review of Research in Education,
42(1), 72–92. (
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Schudde, L. (2016). The Interplay of Family Income, Campus Residency, and Student Retention (What Practitioners Should Know about Cultural Mismatch).
Journal of College and University Student Housing,
43(1), 10–27. (
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Schudde, L. & Goldrick-Rab, S. (2016). Extending Opportunity, Perpetuating Privilege: Institutional Stratification amid Educational Expansion. American Higher Education in the 21st Century (4ed.): Johns Hopkins University Press.
Schudde, L. & Scott-Clayton, J. (2016). Pell Grants as Performance-Based Scholarships? An Examination of Satisfactory Academic Progress Requirements in the Nation's Largest Need-based Aid Program.
Research in Higher Education. (
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Schudde, L. & Goldrick-Rab, S. (2015). On Second Chances and Stratification: How Sociologists Think About Community Colleges.
Community College Review,
43(1), 27–45. (
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Goldrick-Rab, S., Schudde, L. & Stampen, J. (2014). Making College Affordable: Rethinking Voucher-Driven Approaches to Federal Student Aid.
Reinventing Financial Aid: Charting a New Course to College Affordability. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press. (
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Schudde, L. (2011). The Causal Effect of Campus Residency on College Student Retention.
The Review of Higher Education,
34(4), 581–610. (
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Meiselman, A. (n.d.). The Impact of Corequisite Math On Community College Student Outcomes: Evidence from Texas. Education Finance and Policy.
Yucel, E., Jabbar, H. & Schudde, L. (n.d.). Navigating Transfer Through Networks: How Community College Students Seek Support from Social Ties throughout the Transfer Process. Review of Higher Education.
Barbara K Townsend Emerging Scholar Award, Council for the Study of Community Colleges (2021)
NAEd/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow, National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation (2018)
Emerging Education Policy Scholar, Thomas B. Fordham Institute (2017 - 2018)
Faculty Fellow, Greater Texas Foundation (2016 - 2019)
Dissertation Prize, Albert Shanker Institute (2013)
Academic Fellow, Institute for Higher Education Policy and the Lumina Foundation (2013)
NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship, National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation (2012 - 2013)
Dissertation Research Award, Institute for Research on Poverty (2011 - 2012)
Pre-doctoral Training Fellowship, U.S. Department of Education (2007 - 2010)
Jennifer Love, Ed.D., expected 2024 (Supervisor)Jennifer is interested in policy and process design and change management processes within higher education environments.
Jennifer's research interests include student financial policies, mentorship, and stranded credits.
Kimberly Pack (Supervisor)Policies and practice that impact student success outcomes and alleviate socioeconomic disparities in postsecondary education; postsecondary stratification; social mobility; educational transitions from high school through graduate education
Kamil Q Brown (Supervisor)| organizational change in higher education | college access, admission, and enrollment management | race, racism, and college-access politics