9. Results from the Class of 2004

A frequent query made of nonprofit organizations, particularly by foundations and other prospective funders, remains “How effective is your program?” As it relates to college access programs in Ohio, results can be expressed in a number of ways--most simply, perhaps, as the percentage of advisees which matriculates to post-secondary education and the percentage that graduates (with either a 2- or 4-year degree.)

To determine the impact of advising by our Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP), we submitted names from our electronic database (in the software Prep HQ) of former advisees in the Class of 2004—the first we had loaded online—to the Ohio College Access Network (OCAN) to check matriculation and graduation rates with the National College Clearinghouse data. OCAN Vice-President Mayme Patthoff and Dan Valerian, computer consultant for OCAN, facilitated this analysis.

Of the 568 advisees in that class, 389 (68.49%) matriculated. (This figure is consistent with the approximately 70% of students which indicated a desire to pursue higher education in the self-reported Senior Survey on Prep HQ we have collected from advisees in graduating classes over the last three years.)

From the total number of advisees, 78 (13.73%) had already graduated college in 4 years: 73 had earned 4-year degrees, while 5 completed two-year degrees. Furthermore, of the 17 students who received an MVCAP Last-Dollar Scholarship of $1,000 on August 11, 2004, 7 (41.17%) had graduated four years later. The largest number of our advisees had graduated from Youngstown State University (20), with 14 others receiving degrees from The Ohio State University and 8 from Kent State.

Other colleges from which more than one Class of 2004 MVCAP advisee had graduated included the following:
Miami University (4);
Bowling Green State University (3);
Hiram College (3);
the University of Toledo (3); Mount Union College (2);
Walsh University (2); Westminster College (2); and
the University of Northwest Ohio (2).

In addition, one former MVCAP advisee graduated from each of these colleges:
Davis and Elkins;
Elgin Community College; Howard University;
ITT;
John Carroll University; Morehouse College;
Ohio Dominican University;
Ohio University;
Point Park University;
Stark State College of Technology;
the University of Akron;
the University of Kentucky; and the University of Phoenix.

Importantly, many of the other matriculants continue working toward their degree. Indeed, another 190 MVCAP advisees from the Class of 2004 were enrolled during the most recent, completed calendar year of 2008. (Eighty-one advisees were still enrolled at Youngstown State, 29 were students at Kent State, and 13 were yet in residence at Ohio State.) Therefore, the sum of 2004 advisees who had already received degrees (78) plus those still enrolled in 2008 (190) was 268--47.18% of the total number of 568 advisees. Therefore, the likelihood that MVCAP advisees from the high school graduating class of 2004 would have graduated or still be in college four years later approached 1 in 2.

Other statistical analyses examined certain high school data (including grade-point average and ACT composite score) for both the college graduates and the non-degreed former MVCAP advisees from the Class of 2004 who were still enrolled in college during 2008.

For those 78 students who had already earned their two- or four-year degree in 2008, the average GPA was 3.58; the average ACT composite score was 23.47. (Indeed, for these graduates, only 5 had GPAs lower than 3.0 and but 9 had ACT composites lower than 20.) For those students who had not yet earned their two- or four year degree in 2008, but who were still enrolled in college, the average GPA was 3.08; the average ACT composite score was 20.68.

These findings seem to suggest what might be viewed as a “common-sense” hypothesis: those high school graduates who matriculate and continue in pursuit of their degree will have been “good students” in high school; those who graduate from college in four years will have been even stronger students in high school.