Resources

Below you will find downloadable resources and links to other organizations’ sites that are of interest to admission and financial aid officers and school counselors.

Recruitment and Retention

Opens in a new windowCan Applying to More Colleges Increase Enrollment Rates? is a new research brief that examines two nationally representative cohorts of students as they plan for and engage in college-preparatory activities. The brief documents improvements in lower-SES students’ plans and actions associated with successfully navigating the path to college both over time and relative to their higher-SES peers. The brief also discusses the role of programs that provide students with information and guidance and offers recommendations for continued growth in the number of lower-SES students who successfully form and implement college-going plans.

Presentation on Opens in a new windowBigFuture Update: Task Force on Admissions in the 21st Century

Presentation on Opens in a new windowResearch Matters: Exploring the Foundational Issues Associated with Complexity in the College Admissions Process

Presentation on the Opens in a new windowEight Components of College and Career Readiness Counseling

The report Opens in a new windowHow Four-Year Colleges and Universities Organize Themselves to Promote Student Persistence provides a comprehensive account of what a wide range of four-year institutions are doing to address their persistence and graduation rates and whether or not such practices are actually effective. The comparative data from this study offers campus officials and policymakers tools to guide efforts to improve student persistence and graduation rates.

The report Opens in a new windowHow Colleges Organize Themselves to Increase Student Persistence: Four-Year Institutions presents findings from a survey of four-year postsecondary institutions in five states and offers insights into the efforts of these colleges and universities to improve the persistence and success of their students.

Read Opens in a new windowWinning the Skills Race and Strengthening America’s Middle Class, the January 2008 report of the National Commission on Community Colleges.

Decision Making and Process

See the Complexity in College Admissions reports below in the Diversity and Access resources.

See the Action Commitments below in the Strategic Planning, Organization and Leadership resources.

Visit NACAC to review its annual Opens in a new windowState of College Admission report.

Assessments

College Board’s Opens in a new windowStandardized Admissions Exams: Statement of Responsible Use

Demographics

Opens in a new windowThe College Admission Landscape, 2012

Opens in a new windowLandscape of Higher Education: Human Capital

Opens in a new windowExploring Financial Aid Implications of Changing Demographics – Part I: Forecasting the Future

Opens in a new windowSelected Data on P-20 Education in America

Visit the Opens in a new windowWestern Interstate Commission for Higher Education for Opens in a new windowKnocking at the College Door: Projections of High School Graduates.

Read the latest Opens in a new windowEducation at a Glance 2012: OECD Indicators, the Opens in a new windowOrganization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s annual report series on the state of education around the world.

Diversity and Access

A new research study conducted by the College Board Advocacy & Policy Center, Opens in a new windowComplexity in College Admission: The Barriers Between Aspiration and Enrollment for Lower-Income Students, explores the special challenges facing lower-income students as they navigate the school-to-college transition. Through telephone interviews with over 600 lower-income students and 100 of their parents, the research focuses on the questions of complexity in the college application process, barriers to applying or enrolling, and the issues or people that have the biggest influence on lower-income students’ decisions. Read also the Opens in a new windowExecutive Summary of the report.

The report Opens in a new windowComplexity in College Admission: Fact or Urban Myth explores the topic of complexity in the admission process. Through a survey of approximately 1,000 students and parents who had recently undergone the college application process, the research focuses on questions of transparency in the application process, overall perceptions of applying, parent experiences in securing good information about college choice, and the review process.

Visit the Opens in a new windowCollege Board Advocacy & Policy Center to learn more about the work of the Commission on Access, Admissions and Success in Higher Education in its report Opens in a new windowComing to Our Senses: Education and the American Future.

Financial Aid

The report Opens in a new windowCracking the Student Aid Code presents research on parent and student perspectives on paying for college.

View the Opens in a new windowWebinar and Opens in a new windowPowerPoint presentation on Cracking the Student Aid Code.

Presentation on Opens in a new windowThe Get Schooled College Affordability Challenge: My College Dollars Facebook Application

Read Opens in a new windowFulfilling the Commitment: Recommendations for Reforming Federal Student Aid, the full report of the College Board’s Rethinking Student Aid study group.