Reconnecting Recent High School Graduates With Their Education Aspirations

Disruption, Deferral, and Challenges

Before deciding to change their education plans, most students had made some progress toward enrolling. More than three-quarters of the disrupted students in the Class of 2020 and nearly that many in the Class of 2021 had spoken to an adult at their high school, such as a teacher or counselor, about getting more education. Not surprising given the timing of the pandemic, those from the Class of 2020 made it further on the journey toward enrollment than did their peers in the Class of 2021. More than half of surveyed disrupted students from the 2020 graduating class had applied to college, and 4 in 10 had received an acceptance letter and applied for financial aid, while for the Class of 2021, 35 percent applied for admission, 23 percent received an acceptance letter, and 29 percent had applied for financial aid.

Students of color made greater progress toward enrollment than white students did. Among these disconnected high school graduates, Black and Latino students were about 10 percentage points more likely than their white peers to have applied to a college and applied for financial aid. Black students were also nearly 10 percentage points more likely than white students to have been accepted to a college or program.

These results mirror previous Strada research, which has found that Black and Latino students are more interested in enrolling in education, but also more likely to have had to step away due to the pandemic.

With so many students having made it as far as receiving an acceptance letter, what happened that caused them to choose not to enroll in college? When asked about the largest influence on their decision not to get more education right away, the two biggest factors far outweighing the others were stress, anxiety, or uncertainty (39 percent) and financial pressure or affordability (26 percent). Stress and anxiety and financial pressures are also the largest challenges identified by currently enrolled college students in the fall of 2020. Just as the pandemic led to intertwined health and economic crises, these factors can be exacerbated by one another.

Potential Solutions

What will it take to reconnect these learners to education pathways? The insights that disrupted students shared in their survey responses point toward solutions in the areas of guidance, affordability, and connecting education to career. These areas are reflected in the highest-ranking solutions, as chosen by these recent high school graduates.¹

Having an advisor to help with financial aid, choosing classes, and finding a career path was the most helpful solution. Second-most important was the ability to get an education while still earning money, and third-most important was an easier process to get financial aid to pay for school. Fourth was clear information on the jobs people can get with different education options.

Guidance

Having more guidance could potentially help alleviate students’ No. 1 barrier: stress, anxiety, and uncertainty. Students ranked having an advisor as the most helpful support they could have in their pursuit of further education, as seen in the chart above. Most of these students (58 percent) would be the first in their families to pursue any type of post-high school education, and only about half say they know people who could help them find a way to get the education after high school that is right for them. Guidance from an advisor could fill in these knowledge gaps with information students are not receiving from their families or communities.  Lack of social capital is more acute for Black and Latino students; only 42 percent of Black students and 46 percent of Latino students say they know people who can help them in this way.

Furthermore, students believe COVID-19 has made it more difficult to find information about options for education, how to apply, and how to pay for education after high school. This feeling is particularly strong among low-income graduates, 61 percent of whom believe it has become more difficult to find information about how to pay for education, compared to 45 percent of graduates who do not identify as low-income.

Both students and higher education leaders are pointing toward the same solutions. In a panel of experts convened by Strada in March, key solutions identified for supporting learners were: providing as much clarity and consistency as possible to make enrollment easier to navigate for students and reduce stress; making a greater investment in advisors to support prospective and current students; and training faculty to advise students in their postsecondary pathways and connect them to resources to support their mental health. Clearly providing navigation and guidance is key to re-engaging learners on their education pathways.

Affordability

At the same time that many students find it harder than ever to find information about how to pay for school, a majority name financial pressure as an extremely or very influential factor in causing them to delay their education.

Concerns about cost carried over into the ways in which some students have revised their education plans. Among those still likely to enroll in additional education in the future, 35 percent said they would choose a less expensive program. Almost as many (31 percent) said they would choose a program closer to home than what they originally had considered.

Black students were most likely  to have changed their plans in these ways, with 40 percent of Black students indicating they would choose a less expensive program, compared to 33 percent of white students. Likewise, 37 percent of Black students said they would attend a program that was closer to home, compared to 29 percent of white students.²

Finally, students say that ways to earn money while learning and easier access to financial aid would be among the most helpful supports to their future enrollment. Finding ways to alleviate financial barriers is essential to helping these students achieve their education aspirations.