ACCESS: INFORMATION & ENCOURAGEMENT
Latinos lack information about financial aid, study shows
Lack of information and financial need hinder postsecondary opportunity for hundreds of thousands of college-prepared students. A new study shows that many qualified Latino students will continue to miss out on postsecondary opportunity due to misinformation and misperceptions about financial aid eligibility and college costs. Read The Tomás Rivera Policy Institute survey, Perceptions of College Financial Aid Among California Latino Youth.
ACCESS: FINANCIAL AID
Financial inequity: Significant barrier for low-income students, researcher says
The cost of college has increased sharply, and low-income students have been hit hardest. Financial inequalities among college-prepared students need more attention, according to Edward St. John, professor of education at the University of Michigan. St. John argues that educational researchers need to consider the difficult situations and dire circumstances facing many low-income students.
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SUCCESS: COMMUNITY COLLEGES
Community college research and notes
Financial, family and academic pressures can be barriers to success for many community college students. MDRC's Opening Doors
project is experimenting with curricular reforms, academic advising, and financial aid in an effort to increase student success at six community colleges across the nation. Read the results of a study on the project, A Whole 'Nother World: Students Navigating Community College.
ACCESS: ACADEMIC PREPARATION
Students need learning opportunities for college success
Advanced Placement, dual enrollment, the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program, and Tech-Prep programs can help prepare high school students for college success. Accelerated Learning Options: Moving the Needle on Access and Success
is a 50-state survey that shows how states are adopting more policies to give high school students a jump-start on college-level courses.
ACCESS: ACADEMIC PREPARATION
Do career and technical education courses prepare students for college success?
What are the links between high school courses that prepare students for the world of work and students' postsecondary educational experiences and success? See selected findings and data on this topic in a recent National Center for Education Statistics report,
The Postsecondary Educational Experiences of High School Career and Technical Education.
ACCESS: INFORMATION AND ENCOURAGEMENT
Ambitious education reform program evaluated
Lumina Foundation supports a number of programs that focus on helping students and their families prepare for the college experience. One of those programs is Project GRAD
, an education reform initiative, which intervenes throughout an entire "feeder pattern" of elementary and middle schools that send students into each Project GRAD high school. A recent MDRC evaluation sheds light on the strategies that Project GRAD uses to improve student college access.
ACCESS: COLLEGE COSTS
Higher education price index: Highest rate in four years
The Commonfund Institute's Higher Education Price Index shows a 5 percent increase in inflation, the highest since 2002. For the past 10 years, annual HEPI inflation increases have averaged 3.6 percent, outpacing CPI annual average increases of 2.5 percent. More...
ACCESS & SUCCESS: RESEARCH TO INFORM PRACTICE
Research reports you won't want to miss
Pathways to College has compiled a list of summer reading materials. The list contains recent reports and articles on college access and success. | 
