Middle School Students Need College Boost
The Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP), with support from the Sallie Mae Fund, has just published a report titled From Aspirations to Action: The Role of Middle School Parents in Making the Dream of College a Reality, which examines the stage at which middle school students and their parents need to begin making choices about college. This study was based upon the premise that, while parents of middle school students may have expectations that their children will move on to college, they may not be taking the steps necessary during middle school to help prepare their children for that path. Approximately 1,800 parents of students in grades six through eight throughout the nation participated in the surveys that provided the basis for this report.
The study found that 87% of parents expected their middle school child to go to college, and that 75% of parents believe that a college degree is very important to their child’s future. However, when parents were asked what steps they had taken to help prepare their child for college—such as gathering information on admissions or the academic steps required for college, talking with teachers or counselors about college, and/or planning financially for college—less than 20% of parents reported taking any of these steps. When asked about when their child should begin taking the academic courses that are needed for college, 66% of parents responded realistically by indicating the ninth grade, while about 2% of parents indicated later than ninth grade.
As far as planning financially for college, most parents—81%—believe that it is their responsibility to pay for college. Of that 81%, there were 43% of parents reporting that paying for college is a shared responsibility with their child, while 38% of parents indicated that it is their responsibility alone. However, approximately two-thirds of parents had not yet started saving for their child’s college expenses. And parents of children who are most likely to need financial aid knew the least about financial aid programs.
The report makes a number of recommendations, some of which are:
· Provide more outreach to inform students and parents of the steps that need to be taken to prepare for college, as well as the options for financial aid. More focus is needed on specific groups, such as English learners, low-income families, African Americans, Latinos, and immigrants.
· Provide parents of middle school children with information on what it costs to go to college and how to prepare financially.
· Early intervention programs, with career, academic, and financial planning, are needed to help children get on a path toward college.
· Middle and high school staff need to help prepare students with college options and mapping academic coursework, and by including college information in life skills curriculum.
The full report can be found at: http://www.ihep.org/.
—Sheila G. Vickers