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.)