August 6, 2007
Missed chances | More Maine high school students want to go to college but fewer are enrolling. What can be done?
By Sara Donnelly
On July 18, the Sen. George J. Mitchell Scholarship Research Institute in Portland released its second report on the challenges facing Maine students who aspire to attend college. Their findings contained some good news, and some bad.
Titled "From high school to college: Removing barriers for Maine students," the report continues research released in the institute's first "Barriers" study in 2002.
The institute surveyed students at 19 high schools around the state and conducted online and telephone interviews with over 3,000 Maine teachers, parents, students and young adults to track not only whether high school students intend to go to college, but also whether they actually enroll.
The institute found that interest in college has increased, but enrollment in college has dropped. While communities encourage college attendance more than in previous years, students still struggle with enrolling in and paying for college. Fewer students complete federal financial aid applications than are eligible to receive aid, and many families remain confused by the financial aid process.
The study, which was sponsored by Bank of America and the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, includes eight "ways to make a difference," including specific directives for employers, to turn around this trend hindering the Maine economy.
Mainebiz spoke with the study's author, Lisa Plimpton, about what she found, why she thinks it's happening and what businesses can do to help. The following is an edited transcript.
Mainebiz: Please briefly explain the study's major findings.
Lisa Plimpton: The first big thing is that we saw the intention to enroll in college at the time that students graduate from high school has been steadily going up each year, but the actual enrollment within a year after graduation stayed flat for a few years and actually fell a little bit in the last two years.
According to the study, you found that in 2005, 70% of seniors graduating from Maine high schools planned to attend college, up from 64% in 2001. Good news. But only 60% of those college hopefuls enrolled within a year. Last year's figures were even more disheartening -- only 57% of the high school class of 2006 enrolled in four-year colleges within a year of graduation, a rate below New England and national averages. Did you expect this result?
No, I was surprised. About two years ago, using the national snapshot data of enrollment in the fall, we noticed that it seemed actually not to be going up and seemed to be going down a little. And I was really surprised, and that's why we decided to do this study ˆ to get some better data on whether it was really happening and if it was to find out why.
Why do you think this is happening?
We're getting to the point where we're raising the aspirations of students who face more barriers to college. So actually translating that into going to college isn't as easy for students who are from a family that doesn't have a tradition of college-going or are from a low-income family or who may not have as good academic preparation.
What specifically are the barriers aspiring first-generation college students face?
Part of it is not having good information on financial aid and not being prepared to do the steps. It seems like almost a third of people or so who go to college don't even apply for the federal financial aid system and that's where most of the aid comes from ˆ from the federal government, the state government. And eligibility for institutional aid from the colleges too is usually, in the first step, determined by that [federal] financial aid application, so if people don't apply they're not getting the aid they're eligible for. And that can be really daunting if you feel like you have to pay the full sticker price for college.
You mention in the study that academic tracking in high school could make students in the general and technical levels feel they are not prepared for college.
There was a big difference depending on what track students were in terms of how confident they were that they could realize their college aspirations and whether or not they had taken the kind of courses you need to be ready for college. And whether or not they just in general felt they had been prepared well for the future. And that was true among the young adults that we surveyed too who had already graduated from high school.
How does this trend affect Maine's economy?
Well, I think for our economy to sustain and to grow, we need a highly educated workforce. So, [we need] to make sure that all students are being prepared to go on to college, whether it's right after high school or not. Research we've seen also shows that the skills you need in the workforce for the kind of jobs that have some upward mobility to them, even if [employers] don't require college in the entry level, they expect the same kind of skills that colleges expect from their entering students in terms of reading and writing and math. So that's kind of a good reason for schools to be providing that to all students.
What kind of role can businesses play in reversing this trend?
I see two strands to it. First of all, they can kind of open their doors to young people in the community. We hear a lot about how much job shadowing and mentoring, even just one visit to area businesses, really kids love it. To see what kind of jobs are happening in their community. When you go into a business a lot of times you see jobs going on that you don't really realize are happening in that business.
Also, it's just letting educators know, letting students and parents know, what kind of skills they expect and what kind of things they value. It seems like if students can connect their interest now to a possible job in the future, understanding what kind of education they need to get to that goal gives them a reason to kind of buckle down in school and be engaged more than just, you know, their teachers tell them to do the work. It gives them a reason to invest in their education. And [in] some families that's not coming from their parents, so if it could come from the school and from businesses in the community, that might really help the situation.
What else can businesses do?
The other area we kind of suggest is that businesses think of the employees they have now as the parents of the next generation's workforce. So to help them help their children prepare for success, to kind of realize that parents are dealing with college preparation, some pretty difficult things in the financial planning and financial aid area, so they could have sessions on financial aid, like filling out the applications, or sessions on how to save for college during the workday to make sure that everybody learns about those things. And also to maybe give people a day off if they've got a kid whose a junior or senior in high school, give them one day off a year so they can go to visit colleges with their students.
Are Maine business owners taking your advice?
Some of the things we suggested [in the current study] were similar to things we suggested five years ago and that was the area where I really didn't find promising practices happening. We've talked to a few businesses within those five years but nothing has really panned out that we know of [in terms of] them doing the kind of things that we're talking about in a systematic way. I know there are places where they have mentoring programs at the local schools. Maybe we need to do a little bit more too to partner with some businesses to create those models.
What kind of response have you received when you approach business owners with these suggestions? Any idea why they're not warming to them?
I don't know. Maybe they focus their community efforts on other things. We're working a little bit with a couple of colleges to try to create some of the programs we're talking about and we'd be interested in partnering with businesses to get some things off the ground.
What would that partnership with businesses look like?
We haven't quite figured out how that would work but we'd be interested in helping them figure out what they could do and how they could make it happen.
Titled "From high school to college: Removing barriers for Maine students," the report continues research released in the institute's first "Barriers" study in 2002.
The institute surveyed students at 19 high schools around the state and conducted online and telephone interviews with over 3,000 Maine teachers, parents, students and young adults to track not only whether high school students intend to go to college, but also whether they actually enroll.
The institute found that interest in college has increased, but enrollment in college has dropped. While communities encourage college attendance more than in previous years, students still struggle with enrolling in and paying for college. Fewer students complete federal financial aid applications than are eligible to receive aid, and many families remain confused by the financial aid process.
The study, which was sponsored by Bank of America and the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, includes eight "ways to make a difference," including specific directives for employers, to turn around this trend hindering the Maine economy.
Mainebiz spoke with the study's author, Lisa Plimpton, about what she found, why she thinks it's happening and what businesses can do to help. The following is an edited transcript.
Mainebiz: Please briefly explain the study's major findings.
Lisa Plimpton: The first big thing is that we saw the intention to enroll in college at the time that students graduate from high school has been steadily going up each year, but the actual enrollment within a year after graduation stayed flat for a few years and actually fell a little bit in the last two years.
According to the study, you found that in 2005, 70% of seniors graduating from Maine high schools planned to attend college, up from 64% in 2001. Good news. But only 60% of those college hopefuls enrolled within a year. Last year's figures were even more disheartening -- only 57% of the high school class of 2006 enrolled in four-year colleges within a year of graduation, a rate below New England and national averages. Did you expect this result?
No, I was surprised. About two years ago, using the national snapshot data of enrollment in the fall, we noticed that it seemed actually not to be going up and seemed to be going down a little. And I was really surprised, and that's why we decided to do this study ˆ to get some better data on whether it was really happening and if it was to find out why.
Why do you think this is happening?
We're getting to the point where we're raising the aspirations of students who face more barriers to college. So actually translating that into going to college isn't as easy for students who are from a family that doesn't have a tradition of college-going or are from a low-income family or who may not have as good academic preparation.
What specifically are the barriers aspiring first-generation college students face?
Part of it is not having good information on financial aid and not being prepared to do the steps. It seems like almost a third of people or so who go to college don't even apply for the federal financial aid system and that's where most of the aid comes from ˆ from the federal government, the state government. And eligibility for institutional aid from the colleges too is usually, in the first step, determined by that [federal] financial aid application, so if people don't apply they're not getting the aid they're eligible for. And that can be really daunting if you feel like you have to pay the full sticker price for college.
You mention in the study that academic tracking in high school could make students in the general and technical levels feel they are not prepared for college.
There was a big difference depending on what track students were in terms of how confident they were that they could realize their college aspirations and whether or not they had taken the kind of courses you need to be ready for college. And whether or not they just in general felt they had been prepared well for the future. And that was true among the young adults that we surveyed too who had already graduated from high school.
How does this trend affect Maine's economy?
Well, I think for our economy to sustain and to grow, we need a highly educated workforce. So, [we need] to make sure that all students are being prepared to go on to college, whether it's right after high school or not. Research we've seen also shows that the skills you need in the workforce for the kind of jobs that have some upward mobility to them, even if [employers] don't require college in the entry level, they expect the same kind of skills that colleges expect from their entering students in terms of reading and writing and math. So that's kind of a good reason for schools to be providing that to all students.
What kind of role can businesses play in reversing this trend?
I see two strands to it. First of all, they can kind of open their doors to young people in the community. We hear a lot about how much job shadowing and mentoring, even just one visit to area businesses, really kids love it. To see what kind of jobs are happening in their community. When you go into a business a lot of times you see jobs going on that you don't really realize are happening in that business.
Also, it's just letting educators know, letting students and parents know, what kind of skills they expect and what kind of things they value. It seems like if students can connect their interest now to a possible job in the future, understanding what kind of education they need to get to that goal gives them a reason to kind of buckle down in school and be engaged more than just, you know, their teachers tell them to do the work. It gives them a reason to invest in their education. And [in] some families that's not coming from their parents, so if it could come from the school and from businesses in the community, that might really help the situation.
What else can businesses do?
The other area we kind of suggest is that businesses think of the employees they have now as the parents of the next generation's workforce. So to help them help their children prepare for success, to kind of realize that parents are dealing with college preparation, some pretty difficult things in the financial planning and financial aid area, so they could have sessions on financial aid, like filling out the applications, or sessions on how to save for college during the workday to make sure that everybody learns about those things. And also to maybe give people a day off if they've got a kid whose a junior or senior in high school, give them one day off a year so they can go to visit colleges with their students.
Are Maine business owners taking your advice?
Some of the things we suggested [in the current study] were similar to things we suggested five years ago and that was the area where I really didn't find promising practices happening. We've talked to a few businesses within those five years but nothing has really panned out that we know of [in terms of] them doing the kind of things that we're talking about in a systematic way. I know there are places where they have mentoring programs at the local schools. Maybe we need to do a little bit more too to partner with some businesses to create those models.
What kind of response have you received when you approach business owners with these suggestions? Any idea why they're not warming to them?
I don't know. Maybe they focus their community efforts on other things. We're working a little bit with a couple of colleges to try to create some of the programs we're talking about and we'd be interested in partnering with businesses to get some things off the ground.
What would that partnership with businesses look like?
We haven't quite figured out how that would work but we'd be interested in helping them figure out what they could do and how they could make it happen.
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