Widening Participation in Higher Education in the United ...

Widening Participation in Higher Education in the United States of America

Report submitted to HEFCE and OFFA

October 2013

Dr Margaret Cahalan, Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education

For more information about this report please contact Lindsey Bowes: CFE Phoenix Yard, Upper Brown Street, Leicester, LE1 5TE T: 0116 229 3300 Lindsey.Bowes@.uk .uk

? HEFCE 2013

Established since 1997, CFE is an independent not-for-profit company specialising in the provision of research and evaluation services across a broad field of education, employment and skills.

Contents

1| Introduction

6

Equality of opportunity ? core United States (U.S.) constitutional and founding goal

6

The shift from widening participation (WP) to universal participation

6

Education as the engine of social mobility and increased inequality in wages 2| Elementary and secondary education in the U.S.

7 10

Number of schools and enrolment

10

Decentralized local and State governance

10

Implications of the secondary, elementary and pre-school education systems on access

to HE

10

High school graduation rate differences by income levels 3| Overview of Higher Education (HE) in the U.S.

12 14

Number, enrolment and types of institutions

14

Degrees conferred and major fields of study

15

Undergraduate fields of study

15

Admissions process and student mobility

16

Funding for HE 4| Widening participation (WP) statistics

18 21

Rates of attainment

21

Degrees earned

23

Differences in continuation, retention and completion

25

Retention and completion rates

26

Research on why U.S. students leave college 5| Widening participation policy

28 30

Elementary and secondary education policy

30

Postsecondary education policy 6| Target groups for WP

31 34

Target groups overview

34

Minority serving institutions 7| Widening pre-college access strategies

Pre-college access program overview Federal access program descriptions and evaluation results Examples of selected other private non-profit and State programs 8| Retention, completion and progression Federal access program descriptions and evaluation results Strategies to increase college completion Correlational and value added studies 9| Financial support Variation between institution types Student loan defaults The rise of for-profit educational institutions Studies of the effectiveness of financial aid 10| Critical review The universal participation concept Supplemental services strategies for college access Strategies for college support after entrance into college Financing HE strategies Evaluation methods 11| Conclusions Appendix 1 | References Appendix 2 | List of abbreviations

35 37

37 41 48 52 53 54 56 57 58 59 61 63 66 66 69 70 71 73 74 75 83

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