Economy Alters College Plans
If your students are ratcheting down their college expectations because of the harsh economy, they’re not alone. A recent survey of 1,000 students ages 12 to 17 conducted for Junior Achievement and the Allstate Foundation found that 63 percent of respondents admitted that tight finances have forced them to change their college plans, the Los Angeles Times reports. How? By working more hours, opting for instate schools, delaying enrollment for a year or going to a community college.
Joyce Smith, head of the National Association for College Admission Counseling, told the paper that “we all know the benefits of an educated society,” so many students — and their parents, teachers and counselors — remain committed to education beyond a high school diploma. But, she added, the “reality is that more and more families are concerned about affordability.” Nevertheless, Smith also said that anecdotal evidence from her members indicates that applications are up.
Moreover, if more kids are looking at two-year schools, that may be no bad thing, Julie Hartline, who was the American School Counselor Association’s 2009 Counselor of the Year, told the Times. Hartline, who works at Campbell High School in Smyrna, Georgia, says that her counselors stress to incoming freshmen that they can all go to college, but that a four-year school isn’t necessarily the right choice for everyone.
Filed under: K-12 Education News
Tags: College, Research on Learning
