Students who are at the bottom half of the socioeconomic pool make up only 10 percent of the student population at the 146 most selective colleges. Despite that seemingly dismal statistic, high-achieving, low-income students are more numerous than statistics indicate.
The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation’s report, the “Achievement Trap,” found that high-achieving, low-income students tend to fall into a trap in which educators and policy makers figure these students can fend for themselves. While they can overcome significant hurdles, they may still need support to obtain a college degree.
Several organizations have worked to have either a national or local reach to specifically give support to these talented students. At “Opening Doors and Paving the Way,” a forum in which 22 educators gathered to discuss how best to support high-achieving, low-income students, they found that strivers need four kinds of support for getting to and through college: academic services, personal development services, college advising, and mentoring. QuestBridge and the Princeton University Preparatory Program (PUPP) are offering many of those necessary services.
QuestBridge, a nonprofit organization based out of Palo Alto, Calif., is known for its National College Match program. High school seniors can apply to QuestBridge by filling out the program’s application. Students who are selected as QuestBridge finalists can then chose up to eight schools for an Early Action-like round of admissions. If there is a match and the school accepts the applicants, they are guaranteed a full scholarship. Students can also choose to apply to all 33 of QuestBridge’s partner schools through the regular decision process.
QuestBridge takes the burden of application fees and college tuition off the shoulders of its finalists and gives them room to really concentrate on their studies. With a web-based application, QuestBridge is able to reach thousands of high-achieving, low-income students each year.
CEO David Hunter declares joyously that he enjoys going through the applications each year. “So many of these students have such great stories,” he says.
Dr. Jason Klugman and his team have a more local focus with PUPP, which works with high-achieving, low-income high school students in the vicinity of Princeton, N.J., to impact their college prospects.
