COLLEGE BOUND IN MAINE

In the five years since the Mitchell Institute released its first study on barriers in Maine to postsecondary education, the percentage of high school students who aspire to college has risen – but the percentage who actually attend has dropped. Maine families, business owners and the students themselves should have a strong interest in seeing this gap closed by helping more students choose higher education, a challenge that mostly does not involve more money.

For instance, in the Mitchell Institute’s second edition of “From High School to College: Removing Barriers for Maine Students,” which was presented yesterday, researchers note that the greatest influence on college-going rates is academic tracking, with the effect noticed most clearly in the top track. This suggests several things – perhaps most obviously that students who perform well enough academically to be placed in the top tier welcome further academics and that students who struggle are less likely to. But it may also be that students who are in a classroom and peer atmosphere in which postsecondary education is expected raise their expectations about themselves.

Encouraging those expectations is crucial to students’ long-term financial security – someone with a bachelor of arts degree earns on average 62 percent more than one with a high-school diploma, worth about $1 million more over a lifetime of work. In 1950, 60 percent of jobs in Maine were blue collar; now only 25 percent are while the percentage of white-collar jobs have more than doubled and two-thirds of the state’s fastest-growing economic sectors require education beyond high school. But only one Maine resident in four holds at least a bachelor’s degree, ranking the state 39th nationally and last in New England.

The purpose of the second barriers report is to examine what keeps students from going on to college and what Maine could do about it. In thousands of telephone and online surveys with students, educators and parents as well as student interviews at 19 high schools statewide, the institute staff found an overwhelming number of students (and their parents) with college aspirations, but a substantial number were not taking the steps necessary to lead to college enrollment. One telling statistic: 78 percent of students reported that they believed their parents had a strong understanding of the financial aid process; only 58 percent of parents agreed with that statement.

Colleen Quint, the institute’s executive director, says to improve Maine’s college-going track record, it must do “several things simultaneously that all reinforce each other, in the schools and increasingly among families.” The Mitchell Institute report has recommendations for parents, students, colleges, high schools, elementary and middle schools and businesses. (“Think of employees as the parents of the next generation’s work force and provide them with information and services to ensure that they can effectively help their children prepare for success.”)

The encouraging news in the institute’s report is that more Maine families are aware of the importance of a college education. Now, they need help to start preparing to make it happen.

And for the parents who aren’t confident about their ability to navigate through financial-aid information, the institute has a college-planning guide with step-by-step advice at http://www.mitchellinstitute.org/.