For more than 60 years, Dallas College has served more than 3 million students, making it one of the largest community colleges in Texas. Located in the heart of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, the College is guided by a mission of transforming lives and communities through higher education and relies on strong research as a foundation to enhance student success, break down barriers to postsecondary attainment, and advance economic mobility, no matter a student’s background or zip code.
The Research Institute at Dallas College was founded in 2021 by Executive Director Dr. David Mahan on a simple premise: to embed robust, actionable, practitioner-driven research about community college student success within a community college itself. Since its founding, the Research Institute, together with Dallas College’s Labor Market Intelligence Center, has developed a growing portfolio of work dedicated to illuminating the economic value students derive from higher education, particularly community college.
Many projects that began as institutional improvement efforts within Dallas College have since had regional or national impact. The Institute’s research has explored topics ranging from the long-term economic benefits of dual enrollment and the economic value of Hispanic-Serving Institutions to differences in earnings outcomes across Texas postsecondary programs. This work is complemented by locally focused briefs and resources examining P-TECH programs, transfer pathways, intergenerational mobility, industry conditions, and opportunity youth in the Dallas region.
The Institute’s research also considers the holistic value of college beyond economic returns, including mental health and well-being, and explores how community colleges can best support unique student populations, such as military-connected and veteran students. A central part of its agenda going forward is understanding not just whether students graduate, but whether they go on to earn livable, sustainable wages. The Institute’s data visualization page brings living-wage findings and other research to life through dashboards that allow users to explore results by program and population, including first-generation students, adults, single parents, and more.
“Community colleges are where much of the economic mobility work in Texas actually happens, yet they’ve rarely had research capacity of their own,” Dr. Mahan says. “We built the Research Institute to change that—and to share what we learn openly. Every partner in LONESTARP3 is working on a piece of the same pipeline, from early childhood to first jobs. Our students move across all of our institutions; our evidence should too.”
