By SHANNON DOYNE
Chi Birmingham Results of a study released last week suggest that many high-achieving, low-income students are unaware of the full range of college options available to them. Go to related Opinion piece »
But when did it start? And who helps students navigate the path from high school to higher education?
In the Opinion piece “A Simple Way to Send Poor Kids to Top Colleges,” David Leonhardt writes about an experiment in which 40,000 packets of information about colleges were mailed to high-achieving students from low-income families:
The new research shows that large numbers of talented, well-prepared low-income teenagers exist. And many of them want to attend selective colleges, once they understand their options.Students:
Ms. Hoxby and Ms. Turner designed the 40,000 information packets they mailed — as well as follow-up material — as a low-cost, customized version of the college counseling that upper-income students take for granted. The packets explained application deadlines and student qualifications at a range of colleges. Students also received coupons to waive application fees — which had a particularly big effect. “We wanted students to find schools for themselves,” Ms. Hoxby said.
Perhaps most important, the packets presented a series of tables making clear that college is often not as expensive as many students and parents fear. Selective colleges frequently cost less for low-income students than local colleges, because the selective ones have the resources to offer bigger scholarships.
At the less-selective campuses in the University of Wisconsin system, for example, the average net annual cost for a year of tuition, room, board and fees in 2010-11 was almost $10,000 for families making less than $30,000, Ms. Turner said. At the flagship campus in Madison, by contrast, the equivalent net cost was $6,000. And at Harvard, such students paid only $1,300 a year.
Given all of the well-publicized scare stories about student debt, these comparisons can be surprising to adults who attended an elite college — let alone to 17-year-olds who don’t know anyone who has. No wonder that the information packets had an effect. Students who saw a packet submitted 48 percent more applications than the control group. They were about 40 percent more likely to apply to a college matching their academic qualifications.
- Does anything in the excerpt above surprise you? If so, what?
- Would being a recipient of one of those 40,000 packets help you with your college search? Or do you feel you have all the resources you need already?
- Who has helped you in your search for the best college or university for you? If college isn’t, or wasn’t, your post-high school plan, who helped you with finding a job, military service, training program or other opportunity?
- What advice do you have for students just starting to contemplate life after high school?
Students 13 and older are invited to comment below. Please use only your first name. For privacy policy reasons, we will not publish student comments that include a last name.
Teachers and Students: The Choice is a New York Times blog about college admission and aid.
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