Expanding College Opportunities is a research project directed by Professors Caroline Hoxby of Stanford University and Sarah Turner of the University of Virginia. The project is funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the Smith Richardson Foundation, a number of non-profit organizations, college and universities. Any high school student in a well-heeled suburban community around the United States the best strategy for applying to college, and chances are you'll hear something like this, apply to several schools, most with students whose grades and test scores are similar to your own. But be sure to include one or two "Safeties" at which the admissions is all but guaranteed and a couple of "reaches". The data on the colleges to which high-achieving, high-income students apply and that they attend suggest that they are paying attention. A central goal of the project is to learn whether families have all the information they need about college scholarships, and financial aid. Additionally, the results of this project will help policy makers understand how they can improve life after high school for high-achieving students. By sharing your experience the college application process and the transition to college, jobs, and other activities, you can improve policies targeted to students like you in years to come.
The situation for low-income student appears to be quite different. The vast majority of even very high achieving students from low-income families do not apply to a single selective college or university. In other words, having worked hard in high school to prepare themselves well for college, they do not even apply to the colleges whose curriculum is most geared toward students with their level of preparation.
One potential explanation for this pattern of behavior is that high-achieving, low-income students do not have access to good information about college quality and costs. These students are quite dispersed throughout the country and are often the only high-achieving student or one of just a few such students in their school. Thus, their high school counselor is unlikely to have much expertise regarding selective and likely to be focused on other issues. In short, traditional information channels may bypass high-achieving, low-income students, even if counselors and admissions staff conscientiously do everything that they can for these students.
