This study focused on three major areas of influence on students' postsecondary decisions as related to the DCCE initiatives: the knowledge-base of the students and their advisors, the college enrollment aspirations for the students, and the students' college planning practices. The research investigated whether these elements are being addressed by the DCCE initiatives and the level of effectiveness of any efforts to address these major areas of influence on students' postsecondary decisions. The study was a three-phase, mixed methods study using participant data from students from nine North Carolina community colleges. The first phase involved a student database search; the second phase involved a combined student interview, which represented the first data collection methodology used in the study, and the third phase was the administration of an individual student questionnaire. The research revealed that there are several major influences on the students' decisions regarding enrolling in DCCE courses. The primary influence was the students' parents. Other helpful and influential sources of information in the students' DCCE enrollment decisions were student advisors such as teachers. Students' decisions regarding DCCE participation also were influenced by knowledge of tuition-waived college credit, transferability of college courses, getting an early start on college courses, and a quicker pathway to career goals. A majority of the respondents felt that their pre-DCCE level of understanding of how they could apply their DCCE experience to achieve their college goals was very high. Only half of the respondents reported knowing where they wanted to go to college or what they wanted to study once they graduated from high school before they started taking DCCE courses, and a majority of the respondents did not start planning for college until their sophomore or junior year of high school. A majority of the respondents were already taking DCCE courses when they developed their college goals. The data suggest that the students' college goals actually evolved throughout their DCCE experience via their participation in the DCCE program
