Assistance in the 11th hour

Despite decades of policy interventions to increase college entry among low-income students, substantial disparities in college participation by family income persist. Policy-makers have largely overlooked the summer after high school as an important time period in students' transition to college. During the post-high school summer, students must complete a range of financial and informational tasks prior to college enrollment (e.g. interpreting and acting on financial aid award letters and registering for freshman orientation), yet no longer have access to high school counselors and have not engaged yet with their college community. Moreover, many come from families with little college-going experience to help them with the process. Recent research documents summer attrition rates ranging from 10 – 40 percent among students who had been accepted to college and declared an intention to enroll in college as of high school graduation. Encouragingly, several experimental interventions demonstrate that students' postsecondary enrollment is quite responsive to additional outreach during the summer months. Questions nonetheless remain about how to maximize the impact and cost-effectivene