Blog #4

 Richa Patel

Professor Goeller

Research in Disciplines: College

February 26, 2021

Working title: College completion gap between high and low-income students

Topic

         The topic that has been chosen for this proposal is to assess the contribution of financial aids on the academic establishment of the students from low-income groups. This is a very significant topic among the educational sector since low-income students lack the affordability towards availing the courses. They can attend part-time courses, which is not a permanent solution, as they drop these courses for their financial conditions. This situation has to be changed at any cost because this gap will determine the rates of unemployment in the country (Bjorklund-Young: 24). This gap has to be reduced to promote income equality and better employability among youth throughout all communities whether their income is high or low. Proper investigations are needed in terms of assisting the students from low-income groups students and ensuring that their needs are properly fulfilled.

Research question

·   How can the gap between high- and low-income group students in college affect their professional careers? What role does the government need to play in covering the tuition costs for the students from the low-income groups?

Theoretical frame

The article was named "Family income and the college completion gap.” Written by Alanna Bjorklund-Young in 2016 has highlighted the concepts of the college completion gap and different factors that provide an overall impact on this. It has been found throughout this article that the impact of college dropouts among youths of poorer communities has a significant impact on the job markets of the country (Bjorklund-Young: 24). The National Center for Education Statistics (NCSE) has always been keeping a proper track of the situation to understand the dropout rates of young students. Both the completion rates of college and enrolments have been compared by thence to get an idea of the scenario.

According to the critics, it is a very complicated one and has to be addressed on top priority. This data has been compiled based on all the economic levels. It has been found throughout the research that families from the lower-income groups were very unlikely to complete their education (Flores, Park, and Baker: 901). According to the sources, it has been found that only around 14% of the students from lower-income groups have been able to complete their graduation or get higher degrees within 6-8 years for their professional careers. This is a very common aspect and debated over a long period within society. It has been acclaimed that the completion of the college courses can only be implemented properly if the government-funding process is associated with it.

The implementation of the general equilibrium theory will be the most important feature to analyze on this topic. This theory talks about the tuition subsidies for the students and it must result positively in this entire scenario. The education policies will be determined on three types of subsidies that are significant for the successful completion of the projects. These three types of tuition are merit-based, flat tuition, and broad-based. Furthermore,  most of the merit aid goes to more affluent students which results in low-income students paying more for education subsidies. All of these policies will help to support the lower-income families with sufficient aid (Flores, Park, and Baker: 911). This will allow the poor students to complete their college courses and come out as a graduate. As a result, he will develop his skills and look forward to gaining the skills to contribute to the GDP of the country.

Case(s)

         The plan of the research has to be done according to the resources that could be achieved in this scenario. Throughout the previous research works, it has been found that lower-income students with a high amount of proficiency in education have a higher amount of dropout rates in the colleges (Duke-Benfield and Saunders: 117). This has proven to be quite alarming for the college authorities and the Department of Education at the same time. According to the sources, it has been confirmed that only some students from the lower-income groups have performed at the highest levels (Dynarski et al., 17). The alarming rate of dropouts is quite problematic for society and this is a big concern for the future development of the society in the perfect measures.

         Some secondary resources like books and articles will be used in this paper to show that it has been very important. This will undermine the knowledge about the college dropout rates and look to provide some suggestions on how this might be stopped. Both the qualitative and quantitative analysis will have to be done in this context (Evans et al., 934). These suggestions or advice from other authors will improve the situation if the government wishes to implement some new policies in this regard. Apart from the Department of Education, other stakeholders in the education sector should come forward to mitigate this challenge. The research will take place on the opinions of the teachers, professors, school authorities, publication houses that supply the books, and parents (Whistle and Hiler: 28). The research will be done from the core factors in this regard.

The use of general equilibrium theory ( general equilibrium can be defined as a way of meeting in the middle and figuring ways to benefit both [ college institutes and income-students] ) can help to understand the gravity of the situation to the highest degree. Otherwise, the percentage of dropout rates will continue to go higher. According to the revelations of Collegeforamerica.org, (2021), after graduation, only 14% of low-income group college students received a bachelors’ degree within 8 years, as compared to the 29% of the middle-income group students, who received the bachelor’s degree. The rates of academically proficient low-income group students, who completed college, are also low. The source reveals the results established by the National Center for Education Statistics, which reveals the alarming rates of 10% for the low-income group students reaching the highest quartile. Among those who completed the high quartile, only 41% received a bachelor’s degree, and that too 10 years later.  The economic disparity is the biggest reason behind all of these alarming rates, reflecting challenges for attaining economic development through equality in the education sector (Goldrick-Rab: 1769). The research will undertake a quantitative survey on the income levels of these students and their families. It is quite sure that students pursuing higher education through regular courses will not be able to take up any jobs for their fees. Broton and Sara (p.20) highlight the unaffordability of low-income families to send their children to college. Strategic college leaders play an important role in ensuring that these students from the low-income groups get equal facilitation so that they can complete their higher studies. Typical evidence of this lies in changing the policies, short term interest-free loan programs, counselor interactions, partnership with the local food bank and housing authorities, and free tax preparation services, which are organized for supporting the students from low-income groups (Cox p. 15). The total income of their parents must be supportive towards them so they can achieve this. Herein lays the duty of the government towards ensuring that the low-income group students and their families are financially stable. The negative approach from their parents will rather demotivate them in their quest to complete their education (Cox: 17). Typical examples can be cited of the students from low-income groups living in subsidized houses. They are ill-treated by the landlords, which results in the compulsion of dropouts from the full-time courses. The immediate impact of this is not completing the courses in the college, reflecting affectation in the academic establishment in the higher studies. These students are to be provided with more facilities, mainly financial, which would help them to complete their college courses. The negativity is the repulsion from the parents. This is because they lack the financial flexibility for paying the fees of the college. Even the amount, which the parents receive, is spent on meeting the household requirements (Duke et al. p.123). This is on the condition of whether the parents are working. In the case of only one working member, the strain is heavy for fulfilling the survival needs of the self and family members. This negativity is reflected in the form of resistance, which is because of the fear of draining all of the financial resources. As a result of this, they take the children into the business, which is detrimental for securing the future in terms of the academic establishment. In such a case, sending the children to college is something which strains the budget. This can be catered through the provision of working schemes for their parents, effective accommodation, flooding, and lodging in reasonable pricing (Dynarski et al. p.213).

Proper communication with the higher authorities may also prove to be a great thing for the future of the students. To ensure their future, courses must be completed to take up better jobs. The college authorities must remember that their responsibilities are that they can scholarships to those economically poor students. Transparency is needed in the programs, which are decided for the low-income group students, This transparency would reduce the fear of the parents in terms of financial security. Involvement of the students from the low-income groups would be effective for the college authorities in terms of improving the customer relationship management (Evans et al. p.945). Therefore, effective communication channels like social media channels can be adopted for increasing the customer base. Along with this, it is also to be assessed that the customers from the low-income group families are able to access the resources and channels to share their opinions regarding the programs planned. Feedback sessions would be effective for ensuring that the stakeholders are properly availing of the services.

One of the other aspects that the research would investigate is that of cross-cultural communications, which would diversity the culture of the college authorities. Diversity and inclusion policies are needed to be revised for ensuring equality among the college (Flores et al., 900). Consciousness in this approach would be effective for averting the instances of discrimination, conflicts, and harassment for the students and staff. The managers are to expose an assertive cooperative style for inducing collaboration towards ensuring the academic establishment of the students, irrespective of their caste, creed, color, religion, and race. Group sessions are to be conducted for the students from low and high income groups, which would increase the compatibility between the students (Goldrick et al., p.1800).

Thus, the research will be done after consulting the suggestions of different previous authors ((Cox: 23). The mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods will provide ample opportunities to discover several other perspectives of the topic. The opinions of the professors will also be recorded in this research work because it might encourage the poor students to somehow stick to the courses and get a job afterward. They will also get various new opportunities. Mixed method research would expand the scope and arena of the research, explorative and descriptive designs would be used for exploring the factors which affect the college education of the low- and high-income students. Collecting primary and secondary data would provide practical examples of the extent to which the low-income students receive financial assistance (Whistle, Wesley, and Tamara Hiler p.321). In this process, it would also be assessed what is the impact of the assistance on meeting their survival needs. In the data collection, ethical considerations of the Data Protection Act, acknowledge of the sources used are to be followed by the researcher for averting the instances of plagiarism and collusion. This consciousness would be effective for gaining trust, loyalty, and dependence from the samples. The sampling technique would be a probability, testing the genuineness of the low standards in terms of financial flexibility (Bjorklund p.421). This method is apt in terms of securing the future of the students from low-income group students in the college. In the future, low tax education scholarships can attract more students into the college.

 References

Bjorklund-Young, Alanna. "Family income and the college completion gap." (2016).

Broton, Katharine, and Sara Goldrick-Rab. "The dark side of college (un) affordability: Food and housing insecurity in higher education." Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning 48.1 (2016): 16-25.

Collegeforamerica.org (2021). Addressing the College Completion Gap Among Low-Income Students. Retrieved 25th Feb 2021 from https://collegeforamerica.org/college-completion-low-income-students/#:~:text=After%20graduating%20high%20school%2C%20only,showed%20lower%20college%20completion%20rates.

Cox, Rebecca D. "Complicating conditions: Obstacles and interruptions to low-income students' college “choices”." The Journal of Higher Education 87.1 (2016): 1-26.

Duke-Benfield, Amy, and Ellen Katherine Saunders. "Benefits access for college completion: Lessons learned from a community college initiative to help low income students." (2017).

Dynarski, Susan, et al. Closing the gap: The effect of a targeted, tuition-free promise on college choices of high-achieving, low-income students. No. w25349. National Bureau of Economic Research, 2018.

Evans, William N., et al. "Increasing Community College Completion Rates Among Low‐Income Students: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial Evaluation of a Case‐Management Intervention." Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 39.4 (2020): 930-965.

Flores, Stella M., Toby J. Park, and Dominique J. Baker. "The racial college completion gap: Evidence from Texas." The Journal of Higher Education 88.6 (2017): 894-921.

Goldrick-Rab, Sara, et al. "Reducing income inequality in educational attainment: Experimental evidence on the impact of financial aid on college completion." American Journal of Sociology 121.6 (2016): 1762-1817.

Whistle, Wesley, and Tamara Hiler. "The Pell divide: How four-year institutions are failing to graduate low-and moderate-income students." Retrieved from Third Way website: http://thirdway. imgix. net/pdfs/the-pell-divide-how-four-year-institutionsare-failing-to-graduate-low-and-moderate-income-students. pdf (2018).