 |
|
|
The Need for a College Degree
College has long been heralded as the key to true social mobility, and with 9 out of 10 new jobs in our economy requiring a college degree, the power of higher education is greater than it ever has been.
However, with the rising cost of college and a serious lack of support throughout the college process, there is a wide gap in the United States between the rates of college graduation for our wealthiest and poorest students.
>>> By age 24, 75 percent of students from the top income quartile receive college degrees, yet less than 9 percent of students from low-income families reach that same pinnacle.
The Need for College Access Advising
In order to increase the rates of college graduation, low-income and first-generation students in urban areas need steady guidance and support as they navigate an increasingly complex college application and financial aid process.
>>> 79 percent of high-income students immediately go to college while only 49 percent of low-income students do the same. In fact, of all 18 to 24 year old students from low-income families, only 1 in 4 are enrolled in college.
The gap in college-going rates based on parental education is just as stark. 86 percent of high school graduates whose parents have a bachelor's degree immediately go to college, whereas 55 percent of high school graduates whose parents have a high school diploma and 40 percent of high school graduates whose parents have less than a high school diploma immediately go to college.
The Need for College Success Advising
College access advising is necessary if we can expect disadvantaged students with no other support systems to reach a college campus; however, too often those same students drop out of college without graduating because they face a new set of obstacles once they arrive at college. The number of low-income students that begin college compared to the number that graduate tells a dismaying story.
One recent study tracked eighth-graders who were high achievers in math over a 10-year period. Among those from high-income families, 99 percent went to college and 74 percent graduated. Among similarly high-achieving students from low-income families, 75 percent went to college but only 29 percent graduated. Even these high-achieving students were faced with obstacles throughout college that they did not have the means to deal with.
>>> In fact, graduation rates at most colleges drop at least 9 percentage points at each successive low-income level, meaning that the less money a student has, the less likely they are to graduate from college.
The demands on first-generation college students are also a factor in the high-dropout rate of disadvantaged youth. Aside from work-related demands, the Boston Higher Education Partnership Study found that students frequently cited the impact of family and life issues on their academic careers. Students indicated a great deal of stress and anxiety about the conflict they experienced in having to choose between the pursuit of their educational goals and providing childcare and/or financial support for their families, a challenge with which many first-generation students must deal.
The Need for Bottom Line
For students from low-income households, or without college-educated parents, a college degree can be the ticket to a successful life and can be the way to pull their families out of poverty; however there are many obstacles that stand between them and a college degree. These obstacles cause many disadvantaged students to avoid college altogether, and the majority to drop out once there. What these students really need is a knowledgeable guide who can take on the role of a guidance counselor, mentor, parent, or friend, and devote the personal attention needed to help a student understand their situation, their options, and help them make smart decisions.
Whether a student has financial, academic, professional, or personal barriers to overcome, the one-on-one guidance and the network of support that Bottom Line provides gives our students the tools to graduate from college at high rates.
>>> A college degree can be transformative in a student's life, and with a graduation rate close to 80%, Bottom Line is helping hundreds of students transform their lives every year.
|
|
