Fostering a Holistic Path to College

Next month, thousands of high school students will dash to their mailboxes, looking for college-admissions letters. Some will celebrate; others will be disappointed. But thousands more won't look in their mailboxes at all, because they have not applied to, or in many cases even considered, higher education. Students in the latter group are more likely than their peers to have lower family incomes and education levels, be members of ethnic minorities, or come from immigrant families. While college is not the only pathway to postsecondary success, too many young people are missing out on the chance to even consider the goal and the benefits it can afford.

To address this inequity, a large and growing number of college-readiness services provide middle and high school students with tutoring and academic preparation, financial awareness, and assistance with completing applications. But an important component of the college-readiness equation has been largely overlooked.

To set and achieve the goal of a college degree, young people need to be developmentally ready, as well as academically and financially prepared. They need to be interested in and committed to a college-going future and convinced that college is possible for them; to be motivated with clear goals and a sense of self-direction; to get and stay focused and to be tenacious enough to do what it takes, even when the going gets tough. Young people who have these capacities are more likely than their peers to attend and graduate from college.

They are also more likely to sign up for college-readiness programs. This means that many of the young people who most need enrichment and preparation programs do not have the ability or inclination to take advantage of that support. Consider the young man who doesn't explore any of his high school's college-preparation programs because he thinks that "people like me don't go to college." Or the group of students who sit for the SAT as part of a schoolwide requirement, but haven't developed the planning and study skills to prepare for it. To read more of this commentary, visit Education Week.