It is easy to assume that once high school seniors apply to and get accepted by colleges, complete the FAFSA and then deposit at the institution of their choosing having reviewed and accepted the proffered financial aid award, the hard work is done. Not so.
For many first-generation and low-income students, this is not how the “real life” college progression process works. As poignantly noted by Castleman and Page (C&P) in their valuable book Summer Melt, the summer months are deeply stressful for vulnerable students. Between high school graduation and the start of college, there are college forms to be completed and decisions to be made (related to financial aid, housing and course selection); there is student and family rethinking of choices made (or not made); there are intervening life events within the family; there is anxiety about leaving home, incurring debt; personal doubts surrounding capacity (both fiscal and psychosocial) creep in. Summer employment becomes a necessity but the use of the monies is complicated by family needs, personal needs and college costs that appear seemingly out of nowhere in the students’ world — for books, health insurance, orientation, an IT fee, a student life fee, course fees, lab fees.
Importantly, some of what derails vulnerable students may seem self-evident or easy for higher-income families who have the experience and expertise to navigate the myriad of issues regarding college progression. Those who have been to college know there are added fees. Those who have been to college know that pre-college anxiety is normal and not a sign that a student does not belong in postsecondary education. For first-generation, low-income students, it is like being in a new nation with a foreign language they do not yet know.
C&P report that 1 in 5 students never show up on their chosen college’s doorstep. For minority, low-income students, that number is higher ― in some locations, rising to 40 percent or more in some location. The excellent paper by Lindsey Daugherty at Rand provides key data points on this issue.
For these students and their families, this creates a distressing detour from a chosen pathway toward a higher education degree. For colleges, this results in diminished enrollment numbers, which for tuition-dependent institutions can have a sizable impact. Course sections are not needed; housing placements are disrupted; meal counts are off. For the federal government, this means that the goal of improving college completion rates falters and the use of federal student loan program decreases. For state governments and school systems, these data demonstrate that students or counselors “checking the box ‘yes’ for college admission” as graduates leave high school is not an assurance that college attendance will occur. This means the reporting of college progression as measured by high schools is flawed. There is a chasm between acceptance and attendance; it is the difference between desire and action.
For all these reasons, addressing and reducing summer melt is important. At present, there are a host of relatively small efforts in spots across the nation, some showing measurable success to bridge the gap between high school and college. C&P report on a series of effective approaches, including Summer Link and Summer PACE. There are similarities among the existing programs including some combination of summer outreach to prospective students including through social media outlets; peer and professional counseling at both the high school and college level; peer mentoring, telephone hotlines and in-person guidance. Some institutions have created incoming cohorts to improve bonding before college even begins.
Identifying the realities
