Low-income students who were coached and tutored by a nonprofit group during their last two years of high school were more likely to enroll in four-year colleges and to end up in more-selective institutions, according to the results of a study that will be released next month.
The study focused on College Possible, a group based in St. Paul that uses AmeriCorps mentors, most of them recent college graduates, to prepare students for college. It was conducted by Christopher N. Avery, a professor of public policy and management at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
The study drew on a trial involving 238 students in eight high schools in Minneapolis and St. Paul, 134 of whom were randomly selected for admission to the after-school program.
The study’s conclusions may be “the first statistically significant findings of positive effects of a nonprofit college-counseling program,” according to a report on the study.
College Possible mentors assist students with SAT and ACT preparation, advise them on college admissions and financial aid, and help them with the transition to college.
The study found that the program increased both applications to and enrollment at four-year colleges, but surprisingly found “little to no evidence” that it moved the needle on ACT scores or overall college enrollment.
One possible reason that students in the control group did just as well on their ACTs as those who had benefited from two years’ worth of support could be that some who weren’t admitted to the College Possible program sought other tutoring or support, the report suggests.
And while the overall collegegoing rate didn’t change much, the selectivity of the colleges the students ended up in did.
Overcoming Undermatching
College Possible’s founder, Jim McCorkell, said that finding is important because low-income students are more likely to “undermatch,” or to end up at colleges that don’t challenge them.
“We think it’s important for students to go as far as their talents will take them,” he said in an interview on Tuesday. “Kids who go to those schools are much more likely to graduate and to have higher earnings potential than if they earned a certificate from a community college.”
While 73 percent of upper-income American teenagers go on to earn a college degree, only 8 percent of low-income students do, the report says.
Mr. McCorkell said it’s also important to the nation’s economy for colleges to graduate more students capable of meeting work-force needs.
After participating in the program, students set their goals higher, enrolling in four-year rather than two-year colleges and shifting from less-selective to more-selective institutions, the study found. For instance, among students in the control group, 34 percent enrolled in four-year colleges and 30 percent in two-year colleges. For those who received the extra support, 45 percent enrolled in four-year colleges and 19 percent in two-year institutions.
College Possible is just one of many programs nationally that are experimenting with outreach to low-income students to increase enrollment numbers.
Interventions such as sending students text messages about steps needed to prepare for college or providing them with customized college information have been found to affect their choice of whether and where to enroll.
The effects of College Possible’s intervention seem to diminish with time, however. While enrollment in four-year colleges increased among program participants by 15 percent to 17 percent in the first semester, the increase was 10 percent to 15 percent in the second semester, which the report considers “only on the borderline of statistical significance.”
The researchers plan to continue tracking outcomes for students over the next several years, “to see if the outcomes for treatment- and control-group students converge or continue to diverge in the future.”
