Education and Class

• For Striving Students, a Connection to Money – NYTimes.com

  Getting past the challenges of students needing, but not getting basic financial support as they take a run at college: Single Stop as one solution.

  “About 45 percent of college-goers in America attend community colleges. But six years after starting community college, only a third of students have completed (pdf) a degree or certificate, or transferred to a four-year college. By far the most important reason students quit is that they can’t afford it — not just tuition, but the opportunity cost of work hours lost to studying. (Low-income students with top grades and SAT scores have college completion rates similar to high-income students in the bottom third of grades and SAT scores.)

  And community colleges are increasingly becoming the schools of the poor (pdf) — and the black and brown. The average age of a community college student is 29. They are largely second-chance schools for striving low-wage workers — an engine of economic mobility (if America still has such things).

  “Community college administrators have always known students leave, and their No. 1 job has been keeping them,” said Sara Goldrick-Rab, an associate professor of educational policy studies and sociology at the University of Wisconsin, who is carrying out evaluations of Single Stop. “They’ve always wanted to do more — but the issue is: with what resources?””

  tags: social class

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.