This chapter addresses the definition, development, implementation, and assessment of student dispositions promoted through service-learning projects and community engagement in an online graduate program. A brief description of constructivist educational theory which provides the framework for service learning and community engagement is introduced. Specific evidence-based examples of how dispositions are defined, developed, implemented, and assessed for service-learning projects through community engagement within graduate education courses are shared. The challenges of addressing dispositions, particularly as they relate to industry standards, are also discussed. Potential solutions to the challenges of student development of dispositions conclude the chapter.

The purpose of this nonexperimental quantitative correlational study was to examine the relationships between state appropriation decreases and the deregulated tuition cost increases in Texas public four-year higher education institutions.  State appropriation decreases are those decreases in the state’s financial investment in higher education.  Deregulated tuition is the tuition rate set by higher education institutions that is not regulated by the Texas Legislature.  By studying the decreases in state appropriations and the increases in institution tuition rates, an understanding can take shape of what impact, if any, the disinvestment by state legislatures has caused to the operations of higher education institutions. Findings from this study showed no evidence of a correlation existing between the decrease in state appropriations and the increase of Texas public higher education institution tuition costs, when the analysis reviewed the timeframe from fiscal years 2003 to 2016.