1. College Enrollment Patterns for Rural Indiana High School Graduates
- Author
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Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness (SREE), Burke, Mathew R., Davis, Elizabeth, and Stephan, Jennifer L.
- Abstract
Postsecondary education is a fundamental tool for achieving upward mobility and economic growth. Students with an associate's or bachelor's degree earn substantially more in a lifetime and experience better working conditions and job benefits than students with only a high school diploma. This study examines differences in public college enrollment rates as well as the usefulness of previously identified early college success predictors in predicting presumptive college eligibility for 2010 graduates of Indiana public rural and nonrural high schools. The report also presents methodologies that could be useful for examining rural-nonrural college enrollment patterns outside Indiana. The study explored five research questions on 2010 graduates of Indiana public rural and nonrural high schools who enrolled in Indiana public colleges: (1) What proportion of graduates of rural and nonrural high schools enrolled in college, enrolled in different types of colleges (two- or four-year colleges of varying selectivity), and enrolled full-time?; (2) Did graduates of rural and nonrural high schools differ in their academic preparation or eligibility for the school lunch program (a proxy for low-income status)?; (3) Where are two- and four-year colleges located, and how does distance from high schools to colleges vary for graduates of rural and nonrural high schools who enrolled in Indiana public colleges?; (4) What proportion of rural and nonrural high school graduates who enrolled in college had academic characteristics that made them "presumptively eligible" (see box 1) for two- or four-year public colleges of varying selectivity? What proportion who enrolled in a college undermatched with their level of presumptive eligibility?; and (5) After student- and school-level characteristics were controlled among high school graduates who enrolled in a public college, did any rural-nonrural differences remain with respect to enrolling in a two-year program? Study used administrative data from the Indiana state longitudinal data system and the Indian Commission for Higher Education. A similar proportion of graduates of rural and nonrural Indiana public high schools enrolled in college. However, rural graduates were more likely than nonrural graduates to enroll in a two-year college and less likely to enroll in a very selective four-year college.
- Published
- 2016