9. Dropout Prevention and College Prep (original) (raw)

Making College Worth It: A Review of the Returns to Higher Education

The Future of Children, 2013

Despite a general rise in the return to college, likely due to technological change, the costbenefit calculus facing prospective students can make the decision to invest in and attend college dauntingly complex. Philip Oreopoulos and Uros Petronijevic review research on the varying costs and benefits of higher education and explore in full the complexity of the decision to invest in and attend college. Optimal college attainment decisions are different for all prospective students, who diverge in terms of what they are likely to get out of higher education and what specific options might be best for them. Earnings of college graduates depend in important measure on the program of study and eventual occupation they choose. Students uninterested in or unable to complete a four-year college degree appear to benefit from completing a twoyear degree. Prospective students may also face both financial constraints, which prohibit them from taking advantage of more education, and information problems and behavioral idiosyncrasies, such as reluctance to take on debt, which keep them from making optimal decisions about attending college. In their discussion of how student debt figures in the college investment, the authors note that some students borrow too little and, as a result, underinvest in their education. Carefully calculating the return on the college investment can help determine the "appropriate" amount of debt. Students are more likely to benefit from postsecondary education the more informed they are about the expenses associated with college and the potential options for financial aid, which can be extremely complex. To make the best college investment, Oreopoulos and Petronijevic stress, prospective students must give careful consideration to selecting the institution itself, the major to follow, and the eventual occupation to pursue. For any particular program at a particular school, anticipated future labor market earnings, the likelihood of completion, the costs, and the value of any student debt must all be factored into the assessment.

Work Less, Study More and Succeed: How Financial Supports Can Improve Postsecondary Success

2009

Just as a postsecondary education has become essential for getting a decent job and entering the middle class, it has become financially out of reach for many of America’s young people. The cost of going to school has increased exponentially, while financial aid policies have increasingly abandoned students with the greatest financial need. This means that students and their families now pay—or borrow—a lot more for a college degree. The result is that more young people from low- to moderate-income families are enrolling in college only to drop out because of financial constraints. In their search for an affordable education, growing numbers of young college students—those under age 24—are turning to community colleges; the vast majority of them enroll with the intention of transferring to a four-year institution. But only two in five young community college students complete a degree of any kind within six years of starting their studies. Although they face multiple obstacles to staying in school, financial constraints are a key barrier to their success. Even though tuition costs less at a community college, students must pay for books and other educational expenses in addition to their basic living expenses—rent, utilities, food, health care and transportation. Yet available financial aid covers only a fraction of the costs incurred by students. And those with the least financial means face the largest amounts of unmet financial need even after taking aid awards into account. To finance their educations, the majority of young community college students enroll in school only part time and/or work more than 20 hours per week. Although these strategies temporarily ease students’ financial burdens, part-time enrollment and excessive work hours extend the time it takes to complete a degree and greatly increase the likelihood that students will not graduate.