Research by Public Agenda, prepared for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
With Their Whole Lives Ahead of Them News Release
Contact:
(206) 709-3400
media@gatesfoundation.org
Samantha DuPont
Phone: 212-686-6610, ext. 37
media@publicagenda.org
National Survey Finds Work, Family Responsibilities Fueling Low College Completion Rates
Most students who fail to graduate don’t get financial help from family or the system itself
NEW YORK – Most young adults who started college but didn’t finish left because they needed to work more to make ends meet, according to a recent survey of more than 600 individuals aged 22 to 30 by Public Agenda. Managing work, school, and family was their biggest challenge.
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. The national survey, which also included focus groups in five cities, was underwritten by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
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. For 56 percent of the survey participants, their need to work full-time was a “major” factor preventing them from going back to school. Family commitments were also cited as “major” factors for more than half of those surveyed. More than one third of former students who said they wanted to return also said they wouldn’t be able to even if their tuition and books were fully covered.
“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.”
For 40 years, the United States has worked to ensure all young people have access to college, and over that time enrollment has increased by 13 million students. But nationwide, less than half of all college students graduate within six years, according to the U.S. Department of Education. At public community colleges, the numbers are even more grim: only 20 percent graduate within three years.
Last February, President Obama set a goal to again make America first in the world in the percentage of adults with a postsecondary credential. “With Their Whole Lives Ahead of Them” provides insight into the lives of those students, and helps identify solutions that could help solve the nation’s college completion problem.
For example, those who failed to complete a degree said financial aid for part-time enrollees, more classes at night and on weekends, steep tuition reductions, and child care assistance, and would be most beneficial to helping them reenroll and graduate.
“Getting more and more students into college means nothing if we don’t also provide them with the support they need to graduate,” said Hilary Pennington, the director of Education, Postsecondary Success and Special Initiatives at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “This report is another piece of evidence that our college-going students today are nothing like those that the system was built to serve.”
The survey results 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.
About the survey:
“With Their Whole Lives Ahead of Them” is based on a survey including a nationally-representative sample of 614 22- to 30-year-olds who have at least some postsecondary education, including 200 who did not finish their degree. Interviews were conducted via landline and cellular telephone from May 7 to June 24, 2009, and respondents had the choice of completing the interview in English or Spanish. The margin of error for the report is plus or minus 4.8 percentage points. The survey was preceded by five focus groups conducted in St. Louis, Seattle, Erie, Pa., New York and Phoenix.
Join the conversation:
Hear what students are saying about their college experience, and join the conversation at www.GetSchooled.com.
Want more?
View the full report and more at www.publicagenda.org/theirwholelivesaheadofthem.
###
Public Agenda
For over 30 years, Public Agenda has been providing research that bridges the gap between American leaders and what the public really thinks about issues ranging from education to foreign policy to immigration to religion and civility in American life. Public Agenda is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that was founded by social scientist and author Daniel Yankelovich and former Secretary of State Cyrus Vance.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Jeff Raikes and Co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.
REPORT 1: Quick Links
Contact:
Samantha DuPont
Phone: 212-686-6610, ext. 37
media@publicagenda.org
High School Counselors Get Low Marks from Students on College Advice
National survey from Public Agenda finds six in ten who go on to further education give high school counselors low grades; nearly half say they were just "a face in the crowd"
NEW YORK—Most young adults who go on to college believe that the advice they got from their high school guidance counselors was poor or fair at best, according to a recent survey by Public Agenda for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Asked about their experiences with their counselors in high school, nearly half (48%) say that they felt like “just another face in the crowd.”
The national study, “Can I Get A Little Advice Here?” compared the responses of 614 individuals aged 22 through 30 who completed at least some college; the survey also included focus groups in five cities. It is the second in a series of reports underwritten by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation describing young Americans' views on college selection, higher education and college completion.
In the eyes of the students themselves, 48% said they felt like “just another face in the crowd” in dealing with their guidance counselor, with 62% rating their guidance counselors as fair or poor with helping them find ways to pay for college (e.g. financial aid and scholarship programs). Over two-thirds give them fair or poor ratings for helping them decide which school to go to, and 60% give their high school guidance counselors fair or poor ratings for helping them think about different careers.
“We’ve set up a system that is simply not giving most students the help and attention they deserve. The counselors are often over-worked, and many are under-prepared when it comes to helping students think through the wide variety of college and career choices open to them,” said Jean Johnson, Executive Director of Education Insights at Public Agenda.
Young people who characterized their interactions with guidance counselors as impersonal were more likely to delay college by a year or more and were less likely to say that they had chosen their college or university based on specific criteria such as its academic reputation, the availability of financial aid or because it would help them get a good job after graduation. More than 4 in 10 young adults who believe that they were poorly counseled in high school say that they would have attended a different school if money were not an issue (compared with 35% of those who said that their counselors really made an effort to get to know them).
While “Can I Get A Little Advice Here?” found that advisers at higher education institutions get better ratings, there’s still room for improvement: 59% of those surveyed gave their college advisers good or excellent ratings for helping them decide what classes to take and half of the respondents gave their counselors good or excellent ratings for helping them understand how to get loans and scholarships. Previous research by Public Agenda suggests that 78% of young adults say that they had a teacher or mentor who really took an interest in them personally and encouraged them to go to college.
About the survey:
“Can I Get A Little Advice Here?” is based on a survey including a nationally representative sample of 614 22- to 30-year-olds who have at least some postsecondary education, including 200 who did not finish their degree. Interviews were conducted via landline and cellular telephone from May 7 to June 24, 2009, and respondents had the choice of completing the interview in English or Spanish. The margin of error for the report is plus or minus 4.8 percentage points. The survey was preceded by five focus groups conducted in St. Louis, Seattle, Erie, New York and Phoenix.
Public Agenda
For over 30 years, Public Agenda has been providing research that bridges the gap between American leaders and what the public really thinks about issues ranging from education to foreign policy to immigration to religion and civility in American life. Public Agenda is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that was founded by social scientist and author Daniel Yankelovich and former Secretary of State Cyrus Vance.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Jeff Raikes and Co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.
REPORT 2: Quick Links
With Their Whole Lives Ahead of Them News Release
Contact:
(206) 709-3400
media@gatesfoundation.org
Melissa Feldsher, Public Agenda Communications Manager
Phone: 212-686-6610, ext. 50
mfeldsher@publicagenda.org
National Survey Finds Work, Family Responsibilities Fueling Low College Completion Rates
Most students who fail to graduate don’t get financial help from family or the system itself
NEW YORK – Most young adults who started college but didn’t finish left because they needed to work more to make ends meet, according to a recent survey of more than 600 individuals aged 22 to 30 by Public Agenda. Managing work, school, and family was their biggest challenge.
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. The national survey, which also included focus groups in five cities, was underwritten by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
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. For 56 percent of the survey participants, their need to work full-time was a “major” factor preventing them from going back to school. Family commitments were also cited as “major” factors for more than half of those surveyed. More than one third of former students who said they wanted to return also said they wouldn’t be able to even if their tuition and books were fully covered.
“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.”
For 40 years, the United States has worked to ensure all young people have access to college, and over that time enrollment has increased by 13 million students. But nationwide, less than half of all college students graduate within six years, according to the U.S. Department of Education. At public community colleges, the numbers are even more grim: only 20 percent graduate within three years.
Last February, President Obama set a goal to again make America first in the world in the percentage of adults with a postsecondary credential. “With Their Whole Lives Ahead of Them” provides insight into the lives of those students, and helps identify solutions that could help solve the nation’s college completion problem.
For example, those who failed to complete a degree said financial aid for part-time enrollees, more classes at night and on weekends, steep tuition reductions, and child care assistance, and would be most beneficial to helping them reenroll and graduate.
“Getting more and more students into college means nothing if we don’t also provide them with the support they need to graduate,” said Hilary Pennington, the director of Education, Postsecondary Success and Special Initiatives at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “This report is another piece of evidence that our college-going students today are nothing like those that the system was built to serve.”
The survey results 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.
About the survey:
“With Their Whole Lives Ahead of Them” is based on a survey including a nationally-representative sample of 614 22- to 30-year-olds who have at least some postsecondary education, including 200 who did not finish their degree. Interviews were conducted via landline and cellular telephone from May 7 to June 24, 2009, and respondents had the choice of completing the interview in English or Spanish. The margin of error for the report is plus or minus 4.8 percentage points. The survey was preceded by five focus groups conducted in St. Louis, Seattle, Erie, Pa., New York and Phoenix.
Join the conversation:
Hear what students are saying about their college experience, and join the conversation at www.GetSchooled.com.
Want more?
View the full report and more at www.publicagenda.org/theirwholelivesaheadofthem.
###
Public Agenda
For over 30 years, Public Agenda has been providing research that bridges the gap between American leaders and what the public really thinks about issues ranging from education to foreign policy to immigration to religion and civility in American life. Public Agenda is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that was founded by social scientist and author Daniel Yankelovich and former Secretary of State Cyrus Vance.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Jeff Raikes and Co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.
