216.Unstack the Odds--Obstacles to Access & Success

Unstack the Odds: Help All Kids Access College—and Graduate!
by

Joe Rottenborn
Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

8. Obstacles to Access & Success

If the odds seemed stacked against some children when it comes to college access and success, what are hurdles they must confront? Harvard professor Bridget Terry Long and consultant Erin Riley summarized the obstacles such students face:
"Although there are many barriers to college access and success for low-income and minority students, most can be grouped into three major categories. The first set of major barriers [emphases added] relates to cost . . . . A second major set of barriers to college enrollment and persistence is academic preparation . . . . The third major impediment to higher education for many students, particularly those from low-income families, is the complexity of the college admissions process and financial aid systems, as well as a lack of accurate information about higher education costs. College attendance is the culmination of a series of steps and benchmarks, and this current landscape is too complex and difficult for many families to decipher and navigate." (Bridget Terry Long and Erin Riley, “Financial Aid: A Broken Bridge to College Access?” Harvard Educational Review, Vol. 77 No. 1, Spring 2007, pp. 40-42)

http://www.hepg.org/document/19/ )

Another view of the obstacles students face was expressed in the brief From Access to Success: A Funder’s Guide to Ensuring More Americans Earn Postsecondary Degrees, by Grantmakers for Education. The barriers cited “at the student level” included the following:
Inadequate academic preparation at the K-12 level
Incomplete information about college [and]
Difficulty understanding the costs and accessing adequate financial aid.
(From Access to Success: A Funder’s Guide to Ensuring More Americans Earn Postsecondary Degrees, Grantmakers for Education, 2010, p. 2) http://edfunders.org/downloads/GFEReports/GFE_FromAccessToSuccess_FundersGuide.pdf

Regarding the inadequacy of pre-college academic preparation for some students, a recent article posted by Lisa W. Foderaro illustrated this issue at the City University of New York (CUNY), which must “. . . take every student with a high school diploma or equivalency degree”; as she stated: “About three-quarters of the 17,500 freshmen at the community colleges this year have needed remedial instruction in reading, writing or math, and nearly a quarter of the freshmen have required such instruction in all three subjects. In the past five years, a subset of students deemed “triple low remedial” — with the most severe deficits in all three subjects — has doubled, to 1,000.” (“CUNY Adjusts Amid Tide of Remedial Students,” The New York Times, March 3, 2011.) http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/nyregion/04remedial.html?_r=1&hp

204. Unstack the Odds--Set at Birth? Part 3

Unstack the Odds: Help All Kids Access College—and Graduate!

by

Joe Rottenborn
Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

1. Are the odds being stacked at birth against some kids going to college and graduating?

According to the 2009 Education Trust report, data on students from low-income families and underrepresented minorities at Access to Success Initiative (A2S) universities included in the various state systems of higher education systems were telling:
“Only 26 percent of the students who earned bachelor’s degrees within six years in A2S systems came from low-income families, compared with 41 percent of 18-24 year-old high school graduates in these states. Only 22 percent of students who earned bachelor’s degrees within six years were underrepresented minorities, compared with 35 percent of 18-24 year-old high school graduates.” (Jennifer Engle and Mary Lynch, Charting a Necessary Path: The Baseline Report of the Access to Success Initiative, The Education Trust, December 2009, p. 7.) http://www.edtrust.org/sites/edtrust.org/files/publications/files/A2S_BaselineReport_0.pdf

Dr. Bridget Terry Long, professor of economics and education at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, and consultant Erin Riley highlighted the correlates of family income and race with matriculation and graduation. As they summarized the data:
“Unfortunately, the likelihood of attending college varies substantially by family income. Among high school graduates in 2004, only 43 percent of students from families who made less than $30,000 immediately entered a postsecondary institution. In contrast, 75 percent of students from families who made more than $50,000 did so. Even after accounting for differences in academic preparation and achievement, substantial gaps in college access still exist by income level. Low-income high school graduates in the top academic quartile attended college only at the same rate as high-income high school graduates in the bottom quartile of achievement (Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance [ACSFA], 2001 in Bridget Terry Long and Erin Riley, “Financial Aid: A Broken Bridge to College Access?” Harvard Educational Review, Vol. 77 No. 1, Spring 2007, pp. 40. http://www.hepg.org/document/19/

Focusing on the difference in graduation rates for students from different income and racial groups, Long and Riley cited these statistics: “For those who matriculate, the likelihood of persisting to a college degree also differs greatly by income. Only 36 percent of low-income students who were college qualified completed a bachelor’s degree within eight years, while 81 percent of high-income students did so (Adelman, 2006). Stark differences also exist by race. Graduation rates at four-year institutions among first-time, full-time, degree-seeking undergraduates were highest for Asian/Pacific Islander students (65%), followed by White, non-Hispanic students (58%), for cohorts entering in the fall of 1998. Black and Hispanic students in this cohort graduated at much lower rates (40% and 46%, respectively)” (Knapp, Kelly-Reid, & Whitmore, 2006 in Ibid.)

As Kevin Carey stated in a 2005 report for the Education Trust, “While less
than 57 percent of new students at four-year campuses get a degree from their first institution within six years, the graduation rate is below 50 percent for African-American and Latino students. These are the most academically prepared minority students our education system produces, and yet when they go to college, they are not likely to get their degree on time [emphasis added].” (One Step from the Finish Line: Higher College Graduation Rates are Within Our Reach, The Education Trust, January 2005, p. 2.) http://www.edtrust.org/sites/edtrust.org/files/publications/files/one_step_from.pdf

The singer and philanthropist John Legend put this issue starkly in his recent blog post:
“. . . I consider the education 'achievement gap' between those students who are receiving a quality education and those who are not the civil rights issue of our time. It is fundamentally unfair that Americans' educational opportunities are so heavily influenced by the conditions outside of their control.” (John Legend, “Education Reform: The Civil Rights Issue of Our Time,” The Huffington Post, January 18, 2010.) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-legend/education-reform-the-civi_b_426490.html

In his now classic book, writer Jonathan Kozol opined that “Poor people do not need to be reminded that the contest is unfair.” He quoted Elizabeth, “. . . a friend of mine who lives in a black neighborhood of Boston as saying ‘My children know very well the system is unfair. . . . They see it as a message: ‘This is to tell you that you don’t much matter.” (Jonathan Kozol, Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools, New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1991, pp. 178-179.)

146. MVCAP fyi

See free MVCAP e-books on college admissions and financial aid for sharing, printing, and downloading at our online resource library: http://issuu.com/mvcap

1. Financial Aid: A Broken Bridge to College Access? by Bridget Terry Long - http://www.hepg.org/document/19/

"Although there are many barriers to college access and success for low-income and minority students, most can be grouped into three major categories. The first set of major barriers relates to cost. . . . A second major set of barriers to college enrollment and persistence is academic preparation. . . . The third major impediment to higher education for many students, particularly those from low-income families, is the complexity of the college admissions process and financial aid systems, as well as a lack of accurate information about higher education costs. College attendance is the culmination of a series of steps and benchmarks, and this current landscape is too complex and difficult for many families to decipher and navigate."

2. Do Loans Increase College Access and Choice? by Bridget Terry Long - http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/neppc/wp/2007/neppcwp0701.pdf

"This paper attempts to provide additional information on the impact of loans on college decisions by focusing on the period during which college loans were made available to all families, regardless of financial need. The major shift in aid policy occurred due to the 1992 Higher Education Reauthorization Act (HEA92)."

3. Paying for College: The Rising Cost of Higher Education - http://www.massinc.org/Events/2006/06/Paying-for-College-The-Rising-Cost-of-Higher-Education.aspx

"College is the key gatekeeper to the middle class. If you can figure out how to make it to a degree, you can pretty much guarantee a middle class. So many are kept back from entering the gates."

4. Jobless rate up among those with at least bachelor's degree, by Paul Davidson - http://usat.ly/ghcUb8 - RT @USATODAY

‎"The well-educated have been insulated from the worst effects of the recession, which battered manufacturing and construction workers. And unemployment is still far lower for the college-educated than for high school graduates (10%) and those without high school diplomas (15.7%)."

5. When a College Student Loses a Parent, by Jacques Steinberg - http://nyti.ms/fpvnxx

"We particularly want to draw your attention to those that described a faculty member, counselor or roommate who rose to the occasion on behalf of a grieving student."

6. Using the Rankings, by Scott Jaschik - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/gu6PV6

"Of the 80 percent of colleges that believe their institutions appear "favorably" in the rankings, 71 percent promote their rankings results in marketing materials (although most of those say that they promote the rankings in only a limited way)."

7. Less Than 50% Attained Degrees In Last 6 Years, - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/03/49-percent-attained-degre_n_791655.html

‎"The report found that, within six years of enrollment, 49 percent of students attained a certificate, associate or bachelors degree from some institution."

8. Plan to Lift University Tuition Galvanizes British Students, by D. D. Guttenplan - http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/06/world/europe/06iht-educLede06.html?_r=1&hpw

"Under the latest proposals tuition fees, now capped at £3,290, or $5,150, a year, would be allowed to rise as high as £9,000. Universities, which currently have their teaching budgets financed largely by the government, would see 80 percent of that subsidy removed — the only exceptions being courses in science, technology, medicine, nursing and “strategically important languages.”

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145. MVCAP fyi

See free MVCAP e-books on college admissions and financial aid for sharing, printing, and downloading at our online resource library: http://issuu.com/mvcap

1. Grading Higher Education: Giving Consumers The Information They Need, by Bridget Terry Long: http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/papers/2010/12_thp_cap/12_higher_ed_long.pdf

"The problem is that going to college is an expensive investment. The cost of four years of college can exceed $100,000, and over a quarter of four-year college students graduate with over $25,000 of student loan debt. Moreover, the college investment is a high-risk proposition. While the average return on a postsecondary credential is substantial, justifying the cost in most cases, there is no guarantee that a person will benefit. Only half of college entrants complete a bachelor’s degree and so many students forfeit the potential returns of such a degree."

2. The Long Road to College Access - Bridget Terry Long - http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/features/long06012001.html

"Although the Georgia plan has cost $1.2 billion over the last seven years, it has only increased enrollment by about 100,000 students. That means that, in the end, 80 percent of the funds went to students who would have gone to college anyway. At the same time, the program boosted University of Georgia state schools' average incoming SAT scores by about 100 points, making it more difficult for lower-scoring students to gain admission."

3. Who Benefits from Financial Aid? Bridget Terry Long - http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/features/long10012002.html

"Low-income families depend heavily on government support in order to make college a reality. This support comes through need-based policies, such as Pell Grants and Perkins Loans. Unfortunately, there has been a national shift towards merit-based aid and support, both of which increase affordability for the middle class."

4. Remedial Requirements Bridget Terry Long Researches Remediation - http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/2005/0901_long.html

"Their findings suggest that students in remedial courses are more likely to graduate, or transfer from two-year schools to four-year schools, than students with similar educational backgrounds who did not take remedial classes. The problem is that remedial courses can also prolong the time it takes for a student to get a degree—which can be a source of discouragement for many."

5. Why Your Child Won't Graduate From College in Four Years, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/Wpet5p7

‎"According to the report, about half of students who started college in 2003, had managed to graduate within six years. Another 15% were still attending college and more than a third had dropped out.The figures were a bit brighter for those who started at four-year colleges and universities. Fifty eight percent of these students graduated within six years."

6. Hechinger Report Deliberate efforts help Minnesota’s private colleges create (and keep) diverse student body, by Beth Hawkins - http://t.co/LNys5RK

"They’d do well to pay a little attention to some Minnesota success stories. For almost the tenth consecutive year the number of minorities enrolled in the 17 four-year, liberal arts schools that belong to the Minnesota Private College Council has increased [PDF]. This year, 17 percent of incoming freshmen statewide are minorities, as are nearly 23 percent of transfers."

7. Community College Spotlight Costs drive college decisions, by Joanne Jacobs - http://t.co/27yOGi7

"Hit by the recession the Murrays are contributing less to college savings and seeing lower returns on their college fund. The availability of financial aid is becoming a larger factor in the decision of where to send children to school, according to a 2010 survey by college admissions counseling service ApplyWise.com and media company NextStepU."

8. Hechinger Report Early-college programs rethink high expectations, by Sarah Butrymowicz - http://t.co/fKQfXs9

‎"Still, only about 11 percent of early-college graduates nationwide received associate’s degrees, far below the original goal of 100 percent. And the average early-college student graduates with just 22 credits, less than a year’s worth of college coursework."

9. What Is a College Degree Worth in China? - Room for Debate - http://nyti.ms/fxgcSd

"According to recent statistics, the average Chinese college graduate makes only 300 yuan, or about $44, more a month than the average Chinese migrant worker. In recent years, the wages of college graduates have remained steady at about 1,500 yuan a month. Migrant workers' wages, however, have risen to 1,200 yuan."

10. College Grad Rates Stay Exactly the Same, by Kevin Carey http://chronicle.com/blogs/brainstorm/college-grad-rates-stay-exactly-the-same/29394

"All in all, this confirms what we already knew: College works well for the kind of student who has been going to college for a long time: white middle- and upper-class children of college graduates who enroll full-time directly after leaving high school."

• Follow the most important stories on college admissions and financial aid on Twitter at http://twitter.com/rottenbornj


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