Promise Lost: CollegeQualified Students Who Dont Enroll in College

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Promise Lost College-Qualified Students Who
Dont Enroll in College
Ann Coles, Sr. Advisor, College Access Programs,
TERI NCHELP College Access Conference Call March
9, 2008
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Study Preview

• Research question Why do some college-qualified
  students not enroll in college
• Three part design
• - National survey of college-qualified students
• - National survey of high school counselors
• - Roundtable discussion of college access
  researchers, policy shapers practitioners
• Conducted by Institute for Higher Education
  Policy with support from TERI

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Who is College-Qualified?

• Graduated from high school
• Completed a college preparatory curriculum
• Took Algebra I or II, Pre-calculus, Calculus, or
  Trigonometry
• Earned a GPA of 2.5 or better

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National Survey of College-Qualified Students

• Random sample of 50,000 college-bound 2006 high
  school graduates
• Phone interviews with 1,000 graduates who did not
  attend college and 800 who did
• Stratified to ensure enough statistical power for
  comparisons between the groups
• Focus on questions re the decision to attend or
  not attend college

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Characteristics of Non-college Goers

• Race 52 White, 29 Black, 13 Hispanic, 3
  Asian American, 2 American Indian
• Gender 53 female, 47 male
• Low-income 38
• Parents education 37 HS diploma, 13 some
  college, 34 bachelors degree, 16 graduate
  degree

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Key Findings re Non-College Goers

• College cost financial aid availability key
  concerns
• Cost too high
• Unwilling to borrow
• Did not take the steps necessary to enroll in
  college - complete applications, take SAT/ACT
• Unsure they were academically well prepared for
  college course
• Felt they needed to work
• Some did not view college as necessary to have
  the things they wanted, e.g. car or comfortable
  home

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Steps Necessary to Enroll in College
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National Survey of HS Counselors

• Paper survey mailed to counselors at 5,364
  schools
• Public schools with high percentage of low-income
  students (30 urban, 2 rural, 45 South, 8
  Northeast)
• All other public schools (26 suburban, 60
  rural, 45 Midwest, 22 South)
• Private schools (40 suburban, 43 South)
• 604 (11.3) completed surveys returned

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Key Findings from Counselor Surveys

• Perceive finances as the primary reason
  college-qualified students dont go to college
• Counselors at low-income schools more likely to
  consider preference to work and family
  obligations more important than other counselors
• Rural counselors viewed distance from home as
  more important than others
• Few counselors rated uninformed about college
  admissions or financial aid as important

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Roundtable Key Findings

• Importance of opportunity costs - foregone income
  and time required to attend college
• Financial aid is necessary but not sufficient by
  itself - college knowledge also important
• Understanding the role that cultural backgrounds
  play in attitudes toward borrowing, living away
  from home, other college-related issues
• Effective and timely communication re
• Conveying accurate information to students
• Parent, teacher, and community expectations about
  who should attend college

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Policy Implications of Findings

• Financial Aid Introduce aid programs that
  provide early commitments to students who
  finishes h.s. college ready
• Opportunity Costs Implement policies related to
  work aid that would help non-college goers
  enroll succeed in college
• Expectations Promote college-going by
  establishing early expectations about academic
  requirements college planning tools

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Directions for Future Research

• Why do college-qualified students fail to take
  steps needed to enroll in college
• Why are high achievers more likely to be
  skeptical about the benefits of college than
  others?
• Why do students place more importance on
  opportunity costs than counselors? What is the
  origin of these difference of opinion and what
  impact do they have on the advice counselors
  provide students?