With Their Whole Lives Ahead of Them

A recent Public Agenda survey, "With Their Whole Lives Ahead of Them," reveals some eye-opening facts, but here’s one school leaders can do something about: Nearly two-thirds (62 percent) of students paying their own way through college report that their high school counselors did only a poor or fair job of helping them through the college application process.

Without good guidance from school counselors, youth like those surveyed are left to figure out how to prepare for, pay for, and succeed in college by themselves. As federal and state leaders are calling for more college graduates, students need good school counselors more than ever. But too many school counselors go underused in our middle and high schools, relegated to taking attendance or administering tests—rather than using their role as advisors and advocates to leverage a real shot at college for all students.

That’s just one of many surprising new realities facing America’s college students, according to “With Their Whole Lives Ahead of Them,” a report based on a new Public Agenda survey of more than 600 young adults. The study compared the views of students who started, but did not finish, their college education with those who received a degree or certificate.

It turns out that most young adults who started college but didn’t finish left because they needed to work more to make ends meet. Managing work, school, and family was their biggest challenge.

When it came time for these students to consider going back to college, it was again their work and family responsibilities that kept them from reenrolling.

“The conventional wisdom is that students leave school because they aren’t willing to work hard and aren’t really interested in more education,” said Jean Johnson, director of Education Insights at Public Agenda. “What we found was almost precisely the opposite. Most are working and go to school at the same time, and most are not getting financial help from their families or the system itself. It is the stress of this juggling act that forces many of them to abandon their pursuit of a college degree.”

The survey results also showed that while the college selection process is frenetic and unnerving for many college goers, those who failed to graduate faced more limited options and took a much more haphazard and uninformed route. Generally, they chose their college based on “convenience” factors, such as location, cost and how well classes meshed with their work schedules.

Moreover, those who failed to graduate were not getting financial support from their family and the system. Of those who did not graduate, 58 percent did not receive support from parents or other relatives, and 69 percent did not receive support from a scholarship or financial aid.

Despite that, 89 percent of those who failed to complete a degree said they have thought about returning to college, and nearly all (97 percent) said it is important that their own children attend college.

Visit: http://www.publicagenda.org/theirwholelivesaheadofthem