The SOURCE Demonstration Project: Helping Disadvantaged High School Students Enroll in College
Author: Bos, Johannes
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Control Groups,Intervention,Grade Point Average,Disadvantaged,Demonstration Programs,Program Effectiveness,Enrollment Influences,Student Recruitment,Low Income Groups,Admissions Counseling,Educational Counseling,Enrollment Rate,Graduation Rate,Counseling Effectiveness,Experimental Groups,College Applicants,Financial Aid Applicants,Grantsmanship,High School Students,Observation,Focus Groups,Mail Surveys,Student Participation

The primary research question for this project was whether a streamlined, relatively inexpensive, counseling-based program that assists low-income high school students with the college and financial application processes can significantly increase college enrollment rates. The intervention was designed to test the hypothesis that lack of information is a primary barrier to successful college application and enrollment among low-income high school students. The specific research questions included: (1) Are low-income students more likely to register for and take the SAT if counseled on how and when to register and prepare for the test?; (2) Are low-income students more likely to apply for college if they receive regular counseling and advice on how to navigate the application process? Are they more likely to apply to a larger number of colleges? To higher quality colleges?; (3) Are low-income students more likely to submit a completed FAFSA if instructed on how to complete and when to submit it?; (4) Are college-eligible low-income students more likely to enroll in a post-secondary program directly after high school if given regular advice and guidance on how to complete all of the aspects of the college application process?; (5) Are college-eligible low-income students more likely to receive financial aid if given regular advice and guidance on how to complete the college and financial aid application process? Are they eligible to receive financial aid? How much financial aid do they receive?; (6) Are college-eligible low-income students more likely to complete college credits if given regular advice and guidance on how to complete all of the aspects of the college application process? How many credits do they complete? The SOURCE program recruited 3000 high school students and LAUSD verified that 2500 were program eligible, i.e., were high school juniors, with a GPA of 2.5 or higher, enrolled in an LAUSD school, and had course-taking patterns t meet CSU enrollment criteria.  After randomly selecting a sub-sample of control group students to replace program group students whom advisors were unable to contact, the final sample consisted of 2,499 students: 1,051 assigned to treatment and 1,448 to the control group. (No original program group students were dropped from the study). While it is too early for the authors to offer mature conclusions and recommendations, their preliminary analysis has found positive program impacts on some of the program's primary goals: Their initial impacts appear to indicate that a program that provides students and their families with accurate information about the college application process and college costs, along with assistance in identifying and applying for college and financial aid, has the potential to make a significant difference on college application and enrollment for low-income students. In other words, their findings may suggest that a relatively modest college transition intervention can impact college-going among disadvantaged students. If these impacts prove to be statistically significant, the SOURCE program has the potential to serve as a model of how to employ scare resources to support a much larger group of disadvantaged students in their pursuit of college and financial aid than can current, more resource-intensive programs with similar goals