Do College-Ready Students Benefit When High Schools and Colleges Collaborate? Experimental Evidence from Albuquerque, New Mexico

In this article, the authors address what is called the "summer melt," where academically-accomplished, college-intending high school graduates fail to enroll anywhere in the year following high school, or do not attend the quality of institution (measured, for instance, by graduation rates) at which they have the academic credentials to be admitted. The authors' research focused on investigating whether college-ready, college-intending recent high school graduates benefit when high schools and universities collaborate to support their transition to college. Some questions included: (1) Do students who receive proactive outreach from a high school- or college-based counselor during the summer enroll in college at higher rates than students who do not receive outreach?; (2) Are students differentially responsive to outreach from counselors stationed at a university versus counselors stationed at their high school? ; and (3) Are student groups less represented on the University of New Mexico campus more responsive to proactive outreach than students that are more represented on campus? The study demonstrated that student groups traditionally underrepresented in higher education, such as Latino males, are more susceptible to having their college plans fall apart during the summer after high school graduation. In addition, the study also showed that concentrated and targeted outreach to underrepresented groups during the summer months can have a profound effect on whether they successfully matriculate, increasing their enrollment by 13 percent. Outreach from counselors stationed at the college side was particularly effective, suggesting that proactive communication and the offer of support from students' intended college may helpfully reinforce students' sense of belonging at and welcome from higher education institutions. The following are appended: (1) References; and (2) Tables and Figures.