Helping Low-Income and First-Generation Students Make Good College Choices

Posted by on April 16, 2012

Matchmaker

A new policy brief from MDRC looks at the College Match Program in Chicago, which targets a population often overlooked by other college-success initiatives: moderately to high-achieving students who are prepared for college but need advice and support on choosing college wisely. Each year, many of these students choose to attend nonselective four-year colleges, where graduation rates are distressingly low. Others enroll at two-year colleges, where degree completion and transfer rates are even lower. Many more do not attend college at all. The research suggests that “under-matching” particularly affects students from families with low incomes or limited parental education. By placing advisers in high schools to help these students find colleges that meet their academic, social, and personal needs, the program tests the theory that students who enroll in a “match” college are most likely to thrive, persist, and graduate. Early results show students targeted by College Match attend more selective colleges and universities than a comparison group of academically similar students from recent graduating classes. Thirty-eight percent of College Match-targeted students enrolled in colleges in the “selective” category, a modest increase over earlier years. Only 23 percent of 2011 College Match–targeted students intended to enroll in two-year or proprietary colleges or had unknown plans after high school, compared with 30 to 40 percent of similar students in earlier years.

See the brief: http://www.mdrc.org/publications/623/overview.html