Education Week - August 5, 2015 - 13

Push Is On to Turn Down Temperature on 'Summer Melt'
college plans never make it to campus in the fall.
Cost, anxiety about leaving home, and difficulty understanding all the college forms and requirements are
among the most common reasons that students drop
off the college track over the summer. Researchers
Benjamin L. Castleman and Lindsey C. Page recently
reported that the summer melt can be as high as 40
percent in some urban districts and 10 percent to 15
percent for students nationwide.
High school counselors have long known that summer
was a "crazy time" to close their doors since students
can hit so many barriers before enrolling in college, said
Laura Owen, an assistant professor in the department
of counseling and school psychology at San Diego State
University. "Counselors intuitively knew that some of
their students didn't show up in the fall, but they didn't
realize how pervasive the issue was."
With the new data and the push to get more students
from disadvantaged backgrounds to and through college, counselors from K-12, higher education, and nonprofits are trying different strategies to make sure high
school graduates matriculate to college. They are expanding summer office hours, hosting transition workshops, reaching out with technology, and even providing
luggage and transportation to campus.
But, according to Ms. Owen, what students crave the
most over the summer is "connection to a human being."
While communicating with social media and other technology can be effective, many need a caring adult to help
navigate what can be a scary and complex transition
from high school to college.

Connecting With Students
In Chicago, Ms. Fitzpatrick attempts to contact all her
recent graduates with college plans-some 90 percent-
and, using an online spreadsheet, goes though a list of
detailed questions to see if they have done everything to
enroll. "Sometimes, they don't realize what they need,"
she said. Plus, tracking the students gives the district
some hard numbers to help figure out what works.
Lindsay K. Brown, a school counselor at John Hope
College Preparatory High School in Chicago where
about half of graduates go on to college, said her students are so mobile that it can be hard to locate them
over the summer to walk them through the college process. Some are tempted to put off going because they are
earning "real money" for the first time, she said. Others
get tripped up over transportation.
Ms. Brown said she builds a relationship of trust with
her students so they are able to tell her what they need
and work through potential barriers. She has pooled her
money with other teachers' to drive students to college or
buy bus or plane tickets. At a send-off celebratory party
every August, she gives needy students donated luggage
so they don't have to bring their belongings in trash bags.
"You have to keep encouraging them," said Ms. Brown.
"Take whatever steps that you can take within your
power to make sure they are successful stepping on that
campus in August."
Although awareness of summer melt is growing, efforts to address it are still too isolated and not reaching
enough low-income and students of color to level the
playing field, said Christina L. Theokas, the director of
research for the Education Trust, a nonprofit advocacy
group in Washington. College-transition and -bridge
programs are useful, but a huge gap still exists for lowincome and first-generation students.
"We need to think about coherence across K-12 and
higher ed. in terms of where responsibility is going to be
placed," said Ms. Theokas, noting that each sector often
thinks the other is doing the programming. "This leaves
all these kids unsupported who could be successful in
college," she added.

Pop-Up Advising
To stem summer melt in the Kansas City metropolitan
area, Victor A. Bradford, a college-transition and -retention coach for the University of Missouri, helps operate
the College Connection Center, in the second year of providing free advising to college-bound students from June
through August.

Justin T. Gellerson for Education Week

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

The center uses in-kind space at Metropolitan Community College and receives support from the Greater
Kansas City Foundation. High schools that have partnered with the project provide lists of seniors (1,343 this
year), and where they intend to enroll in the fall, for the
center staff to call. Mr. Bradford also gets the word out
about the center's services through social media and announcements on a local hip-hop station.
"The main hang-up is financial aid. They don't understand the extra paperwork that needs to be submitted,"
said Mr. Bradford of the income- and tax-verification pro-

Counselors intuitively knew
that some of their students
didn't show up in the fall. They
didn't realize how pervasive
the issue was."
LAURA OWEN
San Diego State University

cess required to get government grants. When needed,
counselors work to explain to students, who are often
fearful of loans, that borrowing for education can be a
good investment.
The center maintains a small emergency fund to give
students up to $500 for such expenses as orientation fees
or housing deposits. "Last-minute financial needs can
keep them from going to college," said Mr. Bradford of
the students, about 80 percent of whom qualify for free
or reduced-price lunch.
Greyson Norcross,who works with high school students in a rural area of southern Pennsylvania through
the College Advising Corps, made a series of You Tube
videos to provide practical information on topics such as
study strategies and staying healthy in college for recent
high school graduates.
Through an exit survey of about 550 seniors, Mr.
Norcross got about 200 students to sign up for his new
summer transition program. He sends out emails and
short messages on social media to keep students on
track and meets with any who need help on nearby
college campuses.
"My goal is to promote the overall preparedness of
the kids so they don't feel sidelined during the first

week of classes," said Mr. Norcross.
Julian Lopez, a graduate of Biglerville High School
in Pennsylvania, credits Mr. Norcross with helping him
obtain a full-ride scholarship to Georgetown University in Washington and sitting down for more than two
hours this summer to help him schedule his fall classes.
"Neither of my parents went to college, so I've relied on
friends' parents or Greyson," said Julian.

Local Workshops
Other organizations, such as the DC College Access
Program, a privately financed nonprofit organization
in Washington, host large workshops on the precollege experience covering everything from time management to roommate issues to how students from
diverse backgrounds can adapt to life at a predominately white university.
DiLexxus Mathis, a graduate of McKinley Technology High School in the District of Columbia, was among
about 800 students who attended a DC-CAP workshop in
mid-July that was partly a pep rally, of sorts, to motivate
recent graduates to make it to college in the fall. (About
30 percent of participants melt over the summer for a
variety of reasons, and the number has been fairly consistent since the program began 16 years ago.)
Although DC-CAP advisers are off six weeks in the summer, adviser Schelly Mitchell said she continues to help
her high school students. "In education, your job just
doesn't stop," she said. "If you aren't physically on the
phone or on the computer, they are always on your mind.
You want the best for your kids."
DiLexxus, who has no family financial support and
is living with a friend, has leaned on Ms. Mitchell and
counselors in the DC-CAP main office to help find the remaining dollars needed to pay for $40,000 in tuition for
Temple University in Philadelphia.
"She is my confidant," said DiLexxus of Ms. Mitchell,
who has been her adviser since she was a freshman. "I
can't describe how amazing she is and how grateful I am.
She wouldn't allow me to give up."
The admiration is mutual.
"She has a drive to succeed despite her circumstances and despite her lack of support and despite
her living situation," Ms. Mitchell said of DiLexxus.
"The gift that she will give back to me is that I will
come to her graduation."

FROM LEFT: Students
and parents sit in on
the "Surviving Your
1st Year & Beyond"
workshop during a
conference held last
month by the District
of Columbia College
Access Program.
Conference
offerings cover
everything from time
management to how
students from
diverse backgrounds
can adapt to a
predominantly
white university.

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Education Week - August 5, 2015

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