Literature Review
The Effect of College Access Interventions on the Enrollment Rate of Underserved Populations
Those with a bachelor’s degree earn almost a million dollars more over their lifetime than those with only a high school diploma (Carnevale, Cheah, Rose, 2013). With a postsecondary credential becoming a necessity for obtaining gainful employment, the United States is quickly seeing the wealth gap widen. Underserved students live in a cycle of oppression and poverty. Most grow up in a family where neither parent is college educated resulting in a lack of familial knowledge in the college going process; the school they attend may not afford them the resources needed to understand the benefits of college, how to apply, or steps for enrollment. The result: these students turn into adults with no postsecondary education, with jobs and salaries that match their educational background. They then have children who are set-up with the same lack of education resources as they themselves experienced.
Access to more and better education can help combat this cycle of poverty in underserved communities. By no means is the suggestion that education will completely solve the issue of poverty in these communities, however, equitable access to education and corresponding resources is a huge step in the right direction. For this population, a postsecondary education could make all the difference in their ability to find and keep employment providing a wage to transcend classes.
The Condition of Education Report of 2018
Overtime, students of most underrepresented racial/ethnic groups have began to close the postsecondary enrollment gap; the exception is among black students, for which the gap has actually increased in recent years. In 2010, black high school graduates enrolled into postsecondary institutions at a rate of 65%; their white counter-parts enrolled at a rate of 70%. This 5% difference to grew to 12% by 2016. The same can be said for students with varying socioeconomic status; students from a low-income background, as of 2016, are enrolling into postsecondary institutions at the same rate as their high-income counterparts. Low-income postsecondary enrollment actually surpassed middle-income enrollment in 2015 (NCES, 2018).
However, students from a high socioeconomic status family have traditionally, and continue to graduate at a higher rate than their low-income peers. Likewise, the same can be said for the graduation rates of white students to underrepresented races, with white students graduating anywhere from 50%-100% more often than underrepresented races (NCES, 2018).
EasyAccess will help all students who wish to take advantage of the the app; however, as intervention that targets students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds, first generation students, and underrepresented minority students, it will have the most impact in these communities. Use of EasyAccess by these populations will help close the college-going resource gap between them and their more affluent peers.
Current proven interventions at the state and federal level, such as GEAR UP, are usually implemented at a regional level. GEAR UP focuses on college access and college success for underrepresented and under-resourced populations. Their interventions focus on large and small group counseling and curriculum, individual planning, and skill-building within students. GEAR UP population usually focuses on a region at a pre-college level and a specific university’s or college’s student body at a postsecondary level (Bowman, Ford, Ingleby, Kim, Sibaouih, 2018).
Bowman et al. (2018) evaluated the distal outcomes of GEAR UP, namely whether or not low-income students graduating from GEAR UP are enrolling in a postsecondary institution and are graduating. The study, that evaluates a sample size of 17,605 students from rural Iowa, finds that GEAR UP has a minor effect on college enrollment and no effect on postsecondary graduation. This is particularly interesting as this type of program is the main form of intervention currently in place in the U.S.
Even those students who have access to college-going resources are missing something when it comes to college success. EasyAccess will help them match with a university across multiple metrics, a key one being each universities support system for underrepresented populations.
Cultural Competence, Race, and Gender:
Portraits of Teaching in High School College Access Programs
Brooks (2018) argues that access to college preparatory programs across the U.S. is disproportionally unavailable to immigrants, ethnic minorities, and students with low socioeconomic status. Therefore, college access programs that partner with public schools are key to helping close the postsecondary enrollment gap among white and affluent students and their underrepresented counter parts.
By partnering with public schools, EasyAccess will be readily available to ALL types of students, not only those with the most financial resources. Additionally, it will be a tool for high school counselors to use to promote the college enrollment of their students.
