It’s fitting that graduation comes in the spring, a season of new beginnings.
Inherently, the completion of one level brings with it the challenges of the next. That’s the hope, at any rate.
These days, a high school education is but the first step if its graduates aspire to satisfying careers that pay well. Statistics show those who get a college degree have a much better chance at economic mobility.
Trouble is, college is not an equal playing field.
For first-generation college students, it’s harder to stay on track in part because they haven’t grown up in a college-bound culture.
Even with similar test scores, the poorer the student, the less chance she has of graduating from college. Of those with top college entrance exam scores, only about one-fourth of students from poor and lower middle class families will graduate with a bachelor’s degree, compared to almost 90 percent of students from the top income quartile.
Plain and simple, money buys access to:
• Tutors who help students with difficult subjects as well as prepare for college entrance examinations;
• Time to study. Students from poor families typically hold down jobs to help support the family, robbing them of time to be good students, and
• Experiences outside of school that broaden their horizons and pique their curiosity.
And the more our public schools require fees for field trips, extracurricular activities, books, technology, and sports, the bigger the gap between students prepared for college and those who are not.
Universities trying to change the outcome for struggling students are incorporating smaller classes with tutors and more group study. The results are impressive. With the right support, students are making good grades and staying in school.
A COLLEGE campus is a foreign world to students, and especially for first-generation. Without a helpful network of family and friends, many college students feel adrift. A bad grade on a test can make them self-doubt their abilities. Instead of telling their children it’s to be expected, some say perhaps they set their sights too high.
Studies show that if students knew their peers were also struggling, they could take the setbacks better.
