Beyond Awareness: Financial Aid and College Access

CHEPA’s Financial Aid and College Access project continues its focus on college access, postsecondary enrollment, and financial aid awareness by low-income, urban high school students. What are the kinds of information, communication, and activities related to financial aid that need to take place between schools, postsecondary organizations, and educational agencies? By the end of 2005, the research team--William Tierney, Mari Luna De La Rosa, Kristan Venegas, Zoe Blumberg Corwin, Paz Maya Olivérez, Jarret Gupton, and Brianna Kennedy--completed 300 student interviews and observations at nine Los Angeles area, low-income high schools and a survey of 5,288 11th and 12th grade students at seven of these nine high schools. Based on this data, the team has defined seven statements, including: Click here to read the article

Note from Bill Tierney, CHEPA Director

Our research over the last several years has taken us into high schools where fewer than 10% of a graduating class will go on to a four-year institution. When we factor in the attrition rate from 9th grade, the number of students who go on to college in America's poorest communities is abysmal. Those who work in college access programs struggle mightily to increase the percentage of college-going. These programs come in myriad shapes and sizes. Some are 'one-shot' inoculations that provide youth with a particular skill; others begin in the 9th grade and invest in a small number of students the 'college knowledge' needed to navigate the admission process. Some programs focus on mentoring and others on out-of-class academic activities. Some programs work in the schools and others are on college campuses. Click here to read the article

Understanding the significance of the digital divide

The term "digital divide" refers to the discrepancies in computer access between different groups of people. These distinctions are important because the Internet is an important tool for learning, commerce, and communication. For example, low-income families are less likely to own and utilize Internet-connected computers in comparison to middle-income families. Recent research has also shown that disparities in computer ownership exist by race and ethnicity. White and Asian families are more likely to have home access to the Internet than Black and Latino families. The lack of computer access at home affects educational and job opportunities for these already disadvantaged groups. These differences can seem doubly troubling when paired with the notion that low-income people of color are also less likely to have computer and/or Internet access at work.
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Research on Video Games and Student Learning

Increasing the access of disadvantaged adolescents to higher education requires that we look for more compelling ways to provide such individuals with necessary information and strategies. Computer games are more popular with teens than movies. One attractive possibility in terms of improving college access is to draw on the extraordinary popularity of non-violent, interactive computer games. Click here to read the article

Increasing Access, One Student at a Time

The Increasing Accessing Mentoring program (I AM) is an action based intensive mentoring model developed by the Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis to increase the number of students from a Los Angeles area urban high school who go on to college. Belmont High School was selected from a pool of nine local high schools where CHEPA researchers have conducted multiple studies examining the significance of college preparation programs and financial aid services in college access for low-income urban students. Belmont was selected due to its size (over 5,000 students) and its low-college-going rate (less that 10% of Belmont graduates go on to a four-year university). The program addresses a major weakness present in many large urban high schools - a lack of individualized and sustained college counseling, particularly during the senior year.
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Write On! SummerTIME program transitions

Since hosting the Write On! SummerTIME program in July 2005, the Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis has continued to follow the participants in their first year of college. Twenty-one high-achieving students from urban, low-income high schools in the Los Angeles area participated in an extensive writing and college preparation summer program at the USC campus.Click here to read the article

How can technology improve college access?

A recent CHEPA survey of low-income, urban high school students found that over half would use financial aid information to decide about postsecondary enrollment. Students also indicated they were unclear about tuition costs and financial aid availability. We asked five scholars to consider how innovative uses of technology could increase college access for high school students. Click here to read the article