Why good students don't reach college

Support during the complex application process is key, a new Chicago study finds.

from the March 19, 2008 edition

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In addition to lack of adult guidance, the study found many students tripped up over complicated FAFSA applications. Yet those who completed the FAFSA form on time and were accepted into a four-year college were 50 percent more likely to enroll. Latinos – who are less likely to go to a four-year college than any other group the study looked at – were also least likely to report filling out a FAFSA.

"If there was some simplification of [FAFSA], or students were getting more support, we'd see more kids going to colleges," says Coca.

The study coincides with efforts CPS is making to help more students get to the appropriate college.

A year ago, for instance, the district introduced a system to track completion of FAFSA forms. Principals and counselors can keep a running tab on every student and let them know if they missed a question or two on the form.

"This is huge," says Greg Darnieder, director of postsecondary education and student development for the district.

His office has provided FAFSA workshops, and advocates for a simpler form. It also put college coaches in 27 high schools and, this spring break, it is sending 10 bus loads of qualified students to visit colleges around the country. "We know that this challenge is really about school culture and expectations," says Mr. Darnieder.

That college-going climate is key, say researchers and some principals.

At North Lawndale College Prep, a charter school that serves a low-income, minority population, each incoming freshman class gets a counselor who stays with them for five years, even through their first year of college. "They're the advocate, the social worker, the academic adviser," says Chris Kelly, chief operating officer of the school.

Some 85 to 90 percent of North Lawndale seniors currently go on to higher education, and 70 to 75 percent are still enrolled. Often, says Mr. Kelly, it's the support his school provides in those early, unsettling months of college that helps students stick it out.

In many ways, say experts, this is a new issue for schools to be tackling. Several decades ago, high schools just assumed that kids learned about colleges from their parents. "What our society is doing is suddenly telling everybody, all kids, that the rules have changed, you have to get further education," says James Rosenbaum, a professor of education and social policy at Northwestern University. "The question is what needs to be done in order to make it possible for these new groups of people, the first generation, to go to college."

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