adMISSIONPOSSIBLE

The Underserved’s College Admission Needs
(low income, first generation, foster youth, and underrepresented students of color)

The Problem
At a recent National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) national conference, very disturbing information was presented about the availability of college admissions counseling to public high school students. I then did my own research. The following is some of what I heard and found:

The American School Counselor Association says that a good student-counselor ratio is 100 to 1; however, actual student to counselor ratios in the U. S. are stunningly low.

• Due to budget cuts, the national student to counselor ratio is 488 to 1  (National Center for Educational Statistics)
• In California, the ratio of students to counselor is nearly 1000 to 1. California is last in the nation in this important marker!  (California Department of Education)
• 29 percent of California schools have no counseling programs at all (California Department of Education, 2011) This is particularly true for underserved schools in urban and rural areas.
• When counselors are available, students spend an average of 20 minutes per year talking with their counselors. (National Center for Educational Statistics)  In most large public high schools, counselors only spend 10% of their time talking with students about college. (Josh Boshoven, Director, NACAC, A Numbers Game for High School Counselors, US News)

The Implication
The lack of college admissions counseling for underserved high school students is nothing short of tragic. At the time when critical information, resources and support are needed for a successful transition from high school to college, there is little or none available. Students who receive no or perfunctory admissions counseling are less likely to

1) go directly to college after high school;

2) make good choices about the college they attend;

3) have critical information about financial aid (FYI: the lack of financial aid is the #1 reason for underserved students dropping out of college). (March, 2011, study by Jean Johnson, Public Agenda, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation)

4) 60% of students who fail to go onto college come from households where parents have not gone to college themselves. Equally important is the fact that young adults who fail to complete college are much more likely to come from families from poorer income groups and lower levels of education. (p. 8 Can I Get a Little Advice Here? Gates Foundation)

There is a direct correlation between educational level and unemployment at all ages, but among 18-24 year olds the rates of unemployment are:

• 30% for people with less than a high school diploma
• 22% for those with a high school diploma
• 13% for those with some college
• 10% for people with an Associates degree
• 9% for those with a Bachelor’s degree (State of Young America study, 2011, a joint publication of Demos and Young Invincibles)

According to the California Department of Education, “inadequate or nonexistent school counseling programs lead to the unanticipated stratification of low income and students of color as they bear the brunt of this problem.” In other words, the students who need college admissions information and counseling the most are the ones who get the least.

What To Do About This
College admissions and education professionals, if not the American public, must begin acting to rectify this admissions counseling crisis. Each person needs to think about what he or she can do, a little or a lot.

As an independent practitioner, I counsel underserved students on a pro bono basis. I have posted a special section for Underserved Students. I have also donated 30 copies of adMISSION POSSIBLE to The Preuss School UCSD (a school for first generation students), 20 copies to Just In Time (a program for foster youth) and 75 copies to New America Schools (for immigrant students) in Colorado. I have spoken with Dr. Mary Walshok at University of California, San Diego Extension about how her College Admissions Certificate might focus more on underserved students.

This is just a beginning. I am reaching out to other people and groups to see what else can be done. As I said, each of us needs to carve out a little or a lot of time (depending on what is going on in our lives) to bridge the gap between what the “have” students in our country get in terms of college admissions counseling and what the “have not’s” don’t get. I urge you to pull up your sleeves and join me in doing something, anything to help the cause.

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