An estimated 86,000 low-income high school graduates annually score high enough on ACT and SAT tests to get into the most selective universities and colleges, according to a new study by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. But these low-income students often end up at community colleges and regional public universities with low graduation rates, instead of more selective institutions. This can greatly affect a student’s future: 78 percent of low-income students who do manage to get into selective colleges and universities eventually graduate, compared to 48 percent who go to community colleges and other open-access institutions.
As part of The Hechinger Report’s partnership with APM Reports, the national documentary and investigative unit of American Public Media, Hechinger Report higher-education editor Jon Marcus discusses the unexpected reasons this happens, and what an be done to change it, on this week’s episode of the Educate podcast.