> Skip to content
FEATURED:
  • Student-Success Resource Center
Sign In
  • News
  • Advice
  • The Review
  • Data
  • Current Issue
  • Virtual Events
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
Sign In
  • News
  • Advice
  • The Review
  • Data
  • Current Issue
  • Virtual Events
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
  • News
  • Advice
  • The Review
  • Data
  • Current Issue
  • Virtual Events
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
Sign In
ADVERTISEMENT
Innovations-Small Icon

Innovations

Insights and commentary on higher education.

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Show more sharing options
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Copy Link URLCopied!
  • Print

Making Invisible Students Visible

By  Richard D. Kahlenberg
December 3, 2010

Last night, I spoke at a reception for an innovative group called CollegeTracks, a Montgomery County, Maryland organization that seeks to help low-income, first generation and minority students navigate the complex college financial aid and admissions processes. Several extraordinary students spoke—the type of talented “strivers” on whom the Century Foundation has focused

We're sorry. Something went wrong.

We are unable to fully display the content of this page.

The most likely cause of this is a content blocker on your computer or network.

Please allow access to our site, and then refresh this page. You may then be asked to log in, create an account if you don't already have one, or subscribe.

If you continue to experience issues, please contact us at 202-466-1032 or help@chronicle.com

Last night, I spoke at a reception for an innovative group called CollegeTracks, a Montgomery County, Maryland organization that seeks to help low-income, first generation and minority students navigate the complex college financial aid and admissions processes. Several extraordinary students spoke—the type of talented “strivers” on whom the Century Foundation has focused research, those who’ve done fairly well despite serious obstacles. A video was presented about one remarkable pupil, Oscar Portillo, the son of parents from El Salvador with grade-school educations. Oscar, with the help of CollegeTracks, is now attending Middlebury College in Vermont.

CollegeTracks began in 2002 when three middle-class parents at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School realized that as they advised their own children on how to apply for college, many of the low-income and minority students in the same high school were not getting sufficient support.

The mission of the organization, says executive director Nancy Leopold, is to help make kids who are invisible to college admissions officers visible. Students need advice (and nagging) to make sure they hit the deadlines for taking the SAT’s, for getting applications in, and for applying for financial aid. Many low-income students, whose parents did not themselves attend college, can benefit from extra support. The program now serves not only Bethesda-Chevy Chase students but those at a second school, Wheaton High School, which has much higher levels of poverty. The program aids 550 students each year, with plans to expand in the future.

There are a lot of great organizations across the country that help low-income students apply to college and seek out financial aid, but a couple of features struck me about the CollegeTracks approach that seem worth emulating.

  • The organization moved from a system of volunteers to one with full-time paid staff (supplemented by volunteers) after recognizing that having an all-volunteer corps come into school periodically still left some students falling through the cracks. Having full-time staff on campus means that CollegeTracks officials are a constant presence in school who can carefully track data about who has taken the SAT, filled out the FAFSA, and finished their applications. At first, the presence of paid staff concerned the existing high school counselors, but Leopold says those difficulties were smoothed over when counselors realized that CollegeTracks staff were there to augment what counselors are doing, not replace them. The cost of the program is about $1,000 per student served, she says.
  • The organization has a strong bias toward helping students get into four-year colleges rather than community college programs. While some students will do better at a two-year institution, Leopold says the research on “under-matching” makes clear that all things being equal, students are more likely to graduate from four-year institutions, the more selective the better. Studies find that only 10 percent of students who begin a community college ultimately receive a bachelor’s degree; and that students within a given SAT range are more likely to graduate if they attend a more selective institution. Over 50% of CollegeTracks students are admitted to a four-year college. If students do choose to attend a community college, College Track counselors try to encourage them to apply for honors programs where they are more likely to have success.
  • CollegeTracks now follows students and continues to support them once they’re in college. This approach is consistent with a large body of research on the importance of addressing college persistence as well as access, and groups like CollegeTracks try to help in ways large and small. For example, Oscar Portillo, the Middlebury student, received a Gates Millennium Scholarship, but there are still missing pieces in his package, including transportation costs to visit his family in Maryland, which CollegeTracks tries to address.

The program is making an enormous difference in the lives of the students who benefit; Portillo credited the “angels” who were watching over him for breaking what had been generations of poverty in his family. But the beneficiaries are broader. As it happens, I have a daughter at Middlebury, and she and her classmates will benefit a great deal from being in a college with someone with the life experiences that Portillo brings. Most of all, our society will be immeasurably enriched by tapping into the talents of a group of students who could easily remain invisible.

ADVERTISEMENT

Richard D. Kahlenberg
Richard D. Kahlenberg is an education- and housing-policy consultant and author of The Remedy: Class, Race, and Affirmative Action (Basic Books, 1996).
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
  • Explore Content
    • Latest News
    • Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Chronicle Intelligence
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    Explore Content
    • Latest News
    • Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Chronicle Intelligence
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
  • Know The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • Write for Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • Our Reporting Process
    • Advertise With Us
    • Brand Studio
    • DEI Commitment Statement
    • Accessibility Statement
    Know The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • Write for Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • Our Reporting Process
    • Advertise With Us
    • Brand Studio
    • DEI Commitment Statement
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Account and Access
    • Manage Your Account
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Institutional Subscriptions
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
    Account and Access
    • Manage Your Account
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Institutional Subscriptions
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
  • Get Support
    • Contact Us
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • User Agreement
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
    Get Support
    • Contact Us
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • User Agreement
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2023 The Chronicle of Higher Education
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin