Lost in transition: the implications of social capital for higher education access.

• Author: Simmons, Omari Scott

The dearth of college counseling in the nation's public schools derails many students as they transition between high school and college. Compared to their more privileged peers with similar academic qualifications, low-income, minority, first-generation, and other vulnerable students are less likely to attend college. When these vulnerable students pursue higher education, they are more likely to attend vocational schools, community colleges, for-profit universities, and less selective four-year colleges. This phenomenon highlights a sorting process in the act of choosing among higher education options that further perpetuates socioeconomic inequality and limits the nation's global competitiveness.

Generally, policymakers employ two approaches to promote college access among vulnerable students: (i) focusing on K-12 academic preparation to close achievement gaps that have a downstream impact on college access; and (ii) preserving college discretion for diversity admissions as well as providing financial aid to needy students. These approaches, however, yield only marginal returns because they fail to address social capital deficits (SCDs). Social capital reflects the ability of individuals to secure benefits through familial and extra-familial networks. Vulnerable students overwhelmingly lack access to social networks that provide valuable information to navigate the complex college admissions and financial aid processes. And the nation's public schools exacerbate this problem by not providing adequate college counseling support to their most needy students. Nationwide there are approximately 460 students for every high school counselor. In larger school districts, this ratio can rise to more than 700 students per counselor. These alarming statistics threaten to undermine the Obama administration's goal to lead the world in college graduates by 2020. Reaching this ambitious target inevitably depends on increasing the college-going rates of vulnerable students.

In order to address the SCDs that limit higher education access for vulnerable students, this Article proposes an important solution that has been ignored by legal scholars--reforming the college counseling function in American public schools. This Article provides a framework to guide future legislation and reforms targeting SCDs, particularly the future reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act.

INTRODUCTION I. SOCIAL CAPITAL AND HIGHER EDUCATION ACCESS A. Under-examined Higher Education Access Challenges for Vulnerable Students 1. The Inadequate K-16 Bridge Between Secondary School Academic Achievement and College Enrollment 2. College Under-Matching Among High Achieving Vulnerable Students a. Lessons from Chicago Public Schools b. Lessons from North Carolina Public Schools 3. The Higher Education Sorting Pattern B. The Significance of Social Capital 1. Defining Social Capital a. Sources of Social Capital b. Relationship to Other Forms of Capital 2. The Impact of SCDs on Vulnerable Student College Choice II. LIMITATIONS OF EXISTING LEGAL APPROACHES A. A Critical Strategy and Policy Gap B. Legislation and Programs Targeting College Access for Vulnerable Students 1. The Pathways to College Act 2. The Coaching Our Adolescents to College Heights Act (COACH Act) 3. TRIO Programs III. A VITAL SOLUTION: REFORMS TAILORED TO ADDRESS SOCIAL CAPITAL DEFICITS A. Enhancing College Counseling Capabilities in Public High Schools Nationwide 1. Existing Impediments to Effective College Counseling a. Counseling Resource Restraints b. Competing Counselor Roles c. Counselor Professional Development and Expertise 2. An Integrated Self-Standing College Counseling Function B. College Access Data Tracking and Reporting C. Complementary College Advising D. Tapping Additional Pipelines: Community Colleges and Beyond CONCLUSION I want all our children to go to schools worthy of their potential--schools that challenge them, inspire them, and instill in them a sense of wonder about the world around them. I want them to have the chance to go to college--even if their parents aren't rich. And I want them to get good jobs: jobs that pay well and give them benefits like health care, jobs that let them spend time with their own kids and retire with dignity.

President Barack H. Obama (1)

INTRODUCTION

The dearth of college counseling in the nation's public schools derails many students as they transition between high school and college. Compared to their more privileged peers with similar academic qualifications, low-income, minority, first-generation, and other vulnerable students are less likely to attend college. When these vulnerable students pursue higher education, they are more likely to attend vocational schools, community colleges, for-profit universities, and less selective four-year colleges. (2) This phenomenon highlights a sorting process in the act of choosing among higher education options that further perpetuates socioeconomic inequality and limits the nation's global competitiveness. (3)

Existing legal and regulatory methods of addressing higher education disparities among vulnerable students, although helpful, merely preserve the status quo because they fail to adequately address structural inequality. (4) Generally, policymakers employ two approaches to promote college access for vulnerable students: (i) focusing on K-12 academic preparation to close achievement gaps that have a downstream impact on college access; and (ii) preserving college discretion for diversity admissions as well as providing financial aid to needy students. These approaches, however, fail to provide an adequate bridge between high school and college because their effectiveness depends on the happening of a single act--the submission of an application for college admission--which should not be taken for granted. More specifically, existing approaches inadequately address social capital deficits (SCDs).

Social capital reflects the ability of individuals to secure benefits through familial and extra-familial networks. (5) Vulnerable students overwhelmingly lack access to social networks that provide valuable information to navigate the complex college admissions and financial aid processes. Yet the nation's public schools exacerbate this problem by not providing adequate college counseling support to their most needy students, particularly academically successful students who demonstrate college potential. Nationwide there are approximately 460 students for every high school counselor. (6) In larger school districts, this ratio can rise to more than 700 students per counselor. (7) These alarming statistics threaten to undermine the Obama administration's goal to lead the world in college graduates by 2020. Reaching this ambitious target inevitably depends on increasing the college-going rates of vulnerable students. (8) Existing academic reform proposals targeting college readiness, as reflected in curriculum enhancements and test scores, will only have a modest impact if significant numbers of vulnerable students either fail to attend college or select higher education settings that do not match their academic potential. (9)

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan acknowledges that college access disparities "are actually worsening." (10) Only a fraction of students from the bottom half of the socioeconomic distribution attend the nation's top colleges. (11) Even "[s]tudents from low-income families who score in the top testing quartile are no more likely than their lowest-scoring peers in the wealthiest quartile to attend college." (12) In addition, Duncan notes, "gaps in college participation by ethnic [and racial] groups have grown wider, rather than shrinking [over the past two decades]." (13) This stratification is both a function of general college attendance rates among various demographic groups and the type of higher education setting in which students enroll. These disparities in higher education outcomes form a significant dimension of the achievement gap that cannot be ignored. (14)

In order to address the SCDs that limit higher education access for vulnerable students, this Article proposes a vital solution that has been ignored by legal scholars--reforming the college counseling function in American public schools. (15) Specifically, this Article provides a framework to guide future legislation and reforms targeting SCDs, especially reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary School Act, otherwise known as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). (16) If effectively implemented alongside extant reform efforts, this Article's proposed reforms will function as a catalyst, markedly expanding higher education access among vulnerable students.

Part I of this Article explores the vital connection between social capital and higher education access. First, this Part examines higher education access challenges facing vulnerable students, namely: (i) the inadequate K-16 bridge, (ii) college under-matching among vulnerable students, and (iii) the higher education sorting pattern. Second, this Part explores the significance of social capital and how the failure to address social capital deficits limits vulnerable students' access to selective higher education institutions and to higher education altogether.

Part II examines how existing reforms inadequately address SCDs, weakening their effect on higher education stratification. First, this Part describes a critical legal strategy and policy gap. Existing legal reforms promoting college access are focused either at the K-12 or the college level, an approach which fails to provide a comprehensive K-16 bridge. This piecemeal approach makes it especially difficult for vulnerable students to convert academic achievement into college access and completion. Second, this Part analyzes proposed federal legislation and existing government programs targeting college access for vulnerable students, including: (i) the Pathways to...