the summer after graduation an opportunity or obligation?...the concept of summer melt •summer...
TRANSCRIPT
The Summer After Graduation
An Opportunity or Obligation?
Kristy Eagle and Scott Birkestrand
San Diego State University
May 25, 2016
The Concept of Summer Melt
• Summer melt is a term traditionally used by college admissions officers to
describe the phenomenon that students pay a deposit to attend a particular
college but do not matriculate at that college the following fall.
• Here, summer melt describes the phenomenon that college-intending students
fail to enroll in college at all in the fall following high school graduation.
Castleman and Page (2012)
Fulton County
22%
Fort Worth, TX
44%
Boston, MA
21%
Dallas, TX
28%
Albuquerque, NM
29%
Providence, RI
33%
Philadelphia, PA
32%
Percentages indicate the share
of college-intending students
that do not enroll anywhere in
the fall following high school
graduation
Austin, TX
31%Baltimore, MD
50%
Denver, CO
31%
Magnitude of Summer Melt Problem
A financial aid process stacked against low-income students
Confusion about paperwork/bureaucracy
Unique nudge-free time in students’ education
Lack of access to help during the
summer
Hard-working HS grads who’ve done everything they’re supposed
to fail to matriculate in college
Why do students
melt?
The Summer Melt Problem
Even after being accepted to college and choosing where to attend, low-income students face
many hurdles to college enrollment, but typically have little access to professional help
• FAFSA verification
• Financial Aid Award letter
review
• Orientation and placement test
registration
• Housing applications
• Tuition payment plan set-up
• Supplementary loan application
• Unanticipated fees (orientation,
housing, etc.)
• Health insurance applications
and waivers
Strategies to Reduce Summer Melt
Counselor Outreach:
Counselors reached out to students to offer help with
financial aid, required paperwork, and social-emotional issues
Peer Mentor Outreach:
Peers in college reached out to offer advice and help navigating
summer barriers
Text Messages:
Personalized text reminding students of tasks to complete at
their intended college
Urban School districts around the country over six years
Approximately 200,000 students
Participating across interventions
Text Messaging to Mitigate Summer Melt
• The text intervention consisted of 10 messages:
• FAFSA and financial aid award letter
• Orientation, placement test, and housing
• Tuition bill and health insurance
Text Messages: A Behavioral Multivitamin?
• Reduce complexity: Message provide students with consolidated and timely burst of information
• Reduce hassles: Task-specific web links allow students to complete a task in the moment
• Combat procrastination: Messages prompt students to deal with a task in the present
• Identity priming: Personalized college info makes students think of themselves as college material
• Reduced barriers to professional assistance: Getting help is as simple as responding to a text
Example Text Responses
July 2: “Awwww! Thank you so much!”
July 2: “Who’s this?”
July 8: “Oh hey! You couldn’t text me at a better time! I was wondering if I can make an appointment with you…I need to update my financial aid with the 2016 tax forms and I don’t know how to do it. I need your help!”
Fewer than four percent of students or parents opted out of the text messaging campaign
Qualitative Student Feedback on the Texts
The text messages… Percent of respondents who felt each
statement was true
Got me to complete a task I hadn’t yet done 86%
Informed me about something I hadn’t realized I
needed to do
86%
Helped me manage my time better 75%
Got me to reach out to a counselor/advisor for
help
72%
BRIDGIT
Adaptive online platform to increase counselors’
capacity to mitigate summer melt
Bridgit2college.com
Three Evaluation Sites
• Shelby County Schools – Memphis, TN
• College Connections Center – Kansas City, MO
• St. Louis Graduates and Ferguson Florissant School Districts – St. Louis,
MO
Graduate Student Participation
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• As graduate students, we traveled to Memphis, TN, St. Louis, MO, and
Kansas City, MO to interview principals, school counselors and college
advisors on their experience using Bridgit.
• We transcribed the interviews and participated in all aspects of the coding
and analysis
Memphis, TN
• Bridgit was implemented by site specific counselors and district counselors
in select high schools within the Shelby County School District
• During the spring semester, surveys were administered to students by
counselors. The results provided counselors with necessary information to
properly support students with their transition from high school to college
• Support was provided to students via phone or in person based on student
preference and need
College Connections Center
• Created to assist students who may fall victim of Summer Melt
• First summer melt center in the Kansas City Metro area
• Funding from The Greater Kansas City Community Foundation
• Space provided in-kind by the Metropolitan Community College System
• Model after the High School2College Center in St. Louis
College Connections Center 2014
• Located at MCC – Penn Valley Campus, Humanities Building 029
• Opened June 2 – August 1, 2014
• Monday – Friday 10AM-3PM, Wednesday 5PM-7PM, Saturday 11AM-2PM
• 30 hours per week
• No-cost to students and families
• Marketed to the 105 high schools (public, private, and charter) in a five-county area of Missouri and Kansas
Service Provided
• Students received FREE individualized assistance on the college-going process from certified high school counselors, college & university financial aid staff
• Students could meet with admission representatives from colleges and universities frequently attended by Kansas City metro students
• Center volunteers called MCAC advisees who recently graduated high school over the summer and provided assistant with the college going process over the phone
Service Provided - continued
• Assist students with the FAFSA
• Complete housing & orientation application
• Navigate through the financial aid award letter and identifying other possible financial assistance
• Provide information on financial aid and answer questions about types of aid
• Complete the admission process for those who have not applied yet
• Help students register for placement test for college; i.e. - COMPASS
• Answering general questions regarding college
Student Experience
• Holistic approach to college advising
• Complete Bridgit survey and receive individualized college tasks list
• College admission & financial aid advising
• Connecting with university representatives
• Follow-up with students throughout the summer
Volunteer Demographics
• 13 certified high school counselors worked at the Center
• 13 college access professionals from Kauffman Scholars and MCAC
• 11 campuses were represented among financial aid experts and admissions
reps who volunteered at the Center
Student Demographics
• 112 individual students utilized services at the Center
• 56.25% of students who came to the Center were female, 43.75% were male
• 69.4% of students who utilized the Center were on free or reduced lunch
• 80.73% of students who utilized the Center were first-generation-college
Student Demographics
Ethnicity # Students % of Total % Male % Female
Asian 4 3.58 50 50
Black/African-American 81 72.32 40.74 59.26
Hispanic 8 7.14 62.5 37.5
Middle Eastern 1 .89 0 100
Multi-Race 1 .89 100 0
White/Caucasian 17 15.18 47.06 52.94
1st Year Outcome
• 10 students came to the Center two or more times
• 128 individual one-on-one college advisement sessions occurred at the Center
• 43 unique high schools, both in KS and MO, were represented by students who came to the Center
• 21 colleges and universities were represented among student’s intended college of attendance
• 108 successful phone calls happened with students who had visited the Center
• 231 two-way texts occurred with students who visited the Center
1st Year Outcome
• 89 in-app messages were sent via Bridgit to students who had visited the Center; messages were responses to student seeking additional advisement
• 382 of 3,144 MCAC’s student advisees who graduated in May 2014 and were college bound were successfully engaged via phone (all were called but 382 responded and were advised via phone)
• 969 students from MCAC partner high schools who were college bound in fall 2014 were successfully emailed
• Nearly 75% of the issues students were facing were financial in nature
• Tuesday was the busiest day with Saturday being the slowest, with only 8 students visiting on a Saturday. An average 3.2 students per week came to the Center and on average, 2.51 students were advised per day.
Quantitative Findings
• Overall impact of Bridgit on on-time college enrollment between 3-4
percentage points
• 9 percentage point increase for 2-year institutions
• 5 percentage point decrease for 4-year institutions
How students heard about the center…
College Enrollment Trends in Participating
Schools (2010-2013)
Actual and fitted trajectories of overall college
enrollment in participating schools
Linear-regression predicted rates of on-
time college enrollment in participating
high schools
Preliminary Qualitative Findings
• Interviewed school counselors and college advisors
• Memphis, TN
• Kansas City, MO
• St. Louis, MO
• We have concluded preliminary analysis of the interviews
• Four key areas of focus
• Implementation
• Tool Function
• Marketing of the tool
• Future Recommendations
Implementation
• Timing – start early• Allow for prep time to get everything up and running
• Training - adequate for most –• Many learned by using the tool
• Training needs to occur close to the roll out of the tool
• Consider level of trainee (computer savvy or novice)
• Context• Most felt scope of work was in line with their role
• College Centers utilized the tool different than the school sites
• Buy-in is important for all staff
Bridgit Tool
• Overall very user friendly
• Counselors found themselves inputting students tasks and updates
• Student Checklist – prioritize for students so they will update tasks
• Texting – school counselors reported this as an important form of communication
• Use with other forms of communication (calling, etc.)
• Texting feature in Connections Center - how is it utilized?
• Hard to know if student ever received the text messages
Bridgit Tool - continued
• Sorting and completion rates were helpful
• High, Medium, Low may not always be accurate for each student
• Resource library very helpful but may have been underutilized
Marketing
• Centers and Schools used flyers, social media, phone call, text, emails and
postcards to market Bridgit to students
• Questions about who the marketing was targeting (parents, students,
community partners, etc.)
• Accessibility and awareness of centers should be considered
• Updated student contact information is essential
Recommendations
• Use Bridgit all year
• Collaborate with parents and administration
• Find out what students think about the tool
• Marketing and Implementation of tool should happen earlier in the school
year
• Use Bridgit to follow into post secondary
Recommendations
• Make sure a “no” answer does not limit students from answering more
questions on the survey
• Publicize through class presentations
• Be able to adjust the priority list
• Consider a mobile version of Bridgit or multiple summer sites
• Work with Community Partners
San Diego Summer College Center
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• Graduate Students volunteered 10 hours each last summer (2015)
• This summer (2016) Graduate students will work 40 hrs each
• Student are now placed in High School Fieldwork Assignments and
recognize the tasks that students need help with earlier in the year
Resources
http://bit.ly/1WBSwCi
Discussion
In your experience, what factors are students
weighing when they make a late-stage decision to
attend college?
Discussion Continued
• What did you learn about summer melt that you will take back to your organization or school?
• Who will you share it with?
• What concrete action will your school take to help students to not fall victim of summer melt?
• What will it take to implement it?
• Who needs to be involved?
• When will you implement it?
Contact Information
Scott Birkestrand
Kristy Eagle
Laura Owen