ABSTRACT
A college education is widely considered the key to achieving economic success and social mobility in American society. Higher levels of educational attainment are related to higher incomes and lower rates of unemployment, and the earnings gap between high school and college graduates only widens over time (College Board, 2004; Institute for Higher Education Policy, 2005). While access to higher education has expanded dramatically in recent years, students from low-income backgrounds remain at a distinct disadvantage. By age 24, only 12 percent of students from low-income families will earn a Bachelor’s degree, compared with 73 percent of their higher-income peers. Th is gap in college degree attainment is explained partly by lower college-going rates among low-income students. However, even low-income students who do enroll in college are less likely to persist through degree completion than their higher-income peers (Mortenson, 2007).
