Nonacademic Interventions for Postsecondary Enrollment and Success with Rural and High-Poverty Populations: A Systematic Evidence Review

Student success in postsecondary education depends on academic preparation and on having the nonacademic knowledge, skills, and behaviors to successfully navigate the demands of postsecondary study. While nonacademic competencies are important for all students, rural and high-poverty populations face unique nonacademic challenges, such as access to adequate college counseling and mentoring. They also have lower postsecondary enrollment and completion rates than their nonrural or low-poverty peers (Adelman, 2006; Byun et al., 2012; Hu, 2003). This review sought to identify nonacademic interventions with evidence of positive effects on postsecondary enrollment, academic performance, persistence, and completion, particularly with rural and high-poverty populations. Results identified five interventions with potentially positive effects for all students: Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) interventions, the Facilitating Long-term Improvements in Graduation and Higher Education for Tomorrow (FLIGHT) program, college counseling, summer counseling, and summer bridge programs. Of these five interventions, two (FLIGHT and summer counseling) showed positive effects with high-poverty populations. In addition to these five interventions, Upward Bound showed positive effects for rural and high-poverty students, but not for the overall study population. Additionally, the Upward Bound study took place between 1992 and 1994. The program has changed substantially since that time, and thus the findings of the study may not be generalizable to current conditions. These results indicate a need for additional high-quality research with rural and high-poverty populations so that education leaders can select and implement interventions that work in their contexts. Key findings: (1) There is a medium to large extent of evidence for the effect of FAFSA interventions on postsecondary enrollment. Additionally, there is a small extent of evidence for the effects of FAFSA, FLIGHT, college counseling, summer counseling, and summer bridge programs on at least one metric of postsecondary enrollment or success; (2) Only one study found positive effects for rural populations, and three found positive effects for high-poverty populations. Upward Bound reported positive effects for students in rural and high-poverty schools, and Upward Bound, summer counseling, and FLIGHT reported positive effects on high-poverty populations. Based on our review of research from key databases, there appears to be a gap in rigorous evidence about nonacademic interventions with rural and high-poverty populations; and (3) The information available on the effects of nonacademic interventions on postsecondary enrollment and success appears to have significant gaps. Our search of the published literature returned only 17 studies (across nine interventions) that used well-designed and well-implemented experimental or quasi-experimental designs, and only eight of these studies (across six interventions) found statistically significant positive effects of nonacademic interventions on postsecondary outcomes.