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Promoting Access and Diversity in a Competitive Environment
Ted SpencerAssociate Vice Provost and Director of Admission
Chris LucierDirector of Recruitment and Operations
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Agenda
• Demonstrate how Descriptor PLUS ™ can help identify underrepresented populations during the evaluation process
• Potential impacts of using DP• Next steps
– Descriptor PLUS™ for recruitment and outreach
• Employing other tools to simplify the application process to enhance access– Electronic submission of transcripts
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Geodemography
• Drives consumer marketing• “people with similar cultural backgrounds, means,
and perspectives naturally gravitate toward one another or form relatively homogeneous communities.”
• Does not consider college-bound behavior
Source: Descriptor PLUS ™ : An Educationally Relevant Geodemographic Tagging Service. The College Board
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Descriptor PLUS ™
• Educational Neighborhoods (EN)– Educationally relevant geodemographic clusters (30)– Begins with socioeconomic data and includes academic and
curricular interest data– Unique and relevant characteristics of prototypic college-
bound students and their behavior related to college-choice– 30 clusters =>180,000+ neighborhoods
• High School Clusters– College choice is driven by characteristics of the student
within their neighborhood, but also within the context of their high school
– Academic/curricular indicators, historical patterns of college choice, student interests, as well as socioeconomic and mobility factors
– 30 clusters =>27,000+ schools• 150 attributes, or individual pieces of information, now exist for both
Educational Neighborhoods and High SchoolsSource: Descriptor PLUS ™ : An Educationally Relevant Geodemographic Tagging Service. The College Board
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Identify “represented” and “underrepresented” clusters
• Tag ’04 and ’05 enrolled classes• Enrolled because that defines your academic
community• Certain trends clear• Define the difference between represented and
underrepresented
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Educational Neighborhoods
Educational Neighborhood
2005 Educational Neighborhood
2004
1 28% (1,477) 1 27.5% (1404)
7 25.1% 7 20.0%
4 9.9% 4 10.2%
23 6.1% 16 8.7%
16 5.6% (74.5%) 23 8.0% (74.5%)
13 3.7% (194) 22 3.4% (172)
25 3.5% 13 3.2%
22 3.3% 28 2.8%
20 2.7% 25 2.6%
2 1.9% 3 2.0%
3 1.8% 2 1.8%
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High Schools
High School 2005 High School 2004
12 48% (2514) 12 46.9% (2607)
23 11.8% 23 10.8%
17 8.5% 17 9.4%
25 8.3% 25 8.7%
10 6.1% 10 6.8%
27 5.9% (88.6%) 27 5.9% (88.5%)
26 5.2% (270) 26 5.5% (305)
11 2.7% 11 2.4%
24 1.0% 24 0.9%
8 0.6% 8 0.6%
15 0.4% 15 0.6%
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Do we treat all underrepresented clusters the same?
• Some underrepresented clusters reflect high SES – access and opportunity not a problem
• Define high priority underrepresented clusters– Access is important
– Socioeconomic factors
• Not the sole factor – should tie with other information about the student or school
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High Priority Educational Neighborhood Clusters
ENIS CLUSTER UR AT UM?
PARENT'S AVG
INCOME
AVG PARENTAL
EDUC. LEVEL
% OF ADULTS IN PROF.
JOBSINTEREST IN FIN. AID COMMENTS
1 N 7 2 4 24 NEIGHBORHOOD IS YOUNG AND PREDOMINANTLY PROFESSIONAL
2 Y 8 4 8 27 PARENTS ARE WELL-EDUCATED AND MODERATELY AFFLUENT
3 Y 6 11 9 23INCOMES IS ABOVE AVERAGE AND INTEREST IN FIN. AID IS BELOW AVERAGE
4 N 1 1 3 30HIGHEST INCOME OF ANY CLUSTER. YOUNG, MOBILE, AND HIGHLY EDUCATED PROFESSIONALS
5 Y 24 20 23 5ALMOST HALF OF THE HS GRADS WILL GO DIRECTLY INTO THE WORK FORCE OR MILITARY
6 Y 22 17 23 14ED LEVEL FOR PARENTS IN AVG. BUT INCOME LEVEL IS BELOW AVG.
7 N 20 9 19 9PARENTS ARE TYPICALLY MIDDLE CLASS AND ARE INTERESTED IN FIN. AID
8 Y 28 26 27 4INCOME AND ED LEVELS FOR PARENTS ARE VERY LOW AND FIN. AID WILL BE REQUIRED TO SUPPORT COLLEGE ENROLLMENT
9 Y 16 12 14 18PARENTAL HAVE AVG. INCOME, ED. EXPERIENCES, AND INTEREST IN FIN. AID
10 Y 26 25 26 13PARENTS HAVE LOW INCOME AND ED. LEVELS. COST IS THE PRIMARY DRIVER BEHIND SELECTION OF A COLLEGE
11 Y 12 13 10 20PARENTS ARE TYPICALLY MIDDLE INCOME SUBURBANITES WITH A MODERATE LEVEL OF EDUCATION AND INTEREST IN FIN. AID
12 Y 23 24 25 10PARENTS HAVE LOWER INCOME AND ED. LEVELS AND STRONG INTEREST IN FIN. AID
13 Y 5 3 1 29PROFESSIONAL FAMILIES. INCOME AND ED LEVELS ARE HIGH AND FIN. AID IS NOT A SIGNIFICANT FACTOR IN COLLEGE CHOICE
14 Y 15 22 18 11 PARENTS HAVE MODERATE INCOME AND ED. LEVELS
15 Y 11 15 11 12PARENTAL INCOME IS SLIGHTLY ABOVE AVG. AS IS INTEREST IN FIN. AID
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High Priority High School Clusters
HS
IS CLUSTER
UR AT UM?
% GRADS ENTERING COLLEGE
AVG PARENTAL
EDUC. LEVEL
PARENTS AVG.
INCOMEINTEREST IN FIN. AID COMMENTS
1 Y 29 29 30 10PARENTS HAVE LOWEST INCOME AND SECOND LOWEST ED LEVEL OF ANY HS CLUSTER. INTEREST IN FIN AID IS HIGH
2 Y 2 3 18 21 PARENTS HAVE ABOVE AVG ED LEVELS AND HIGHER INCOME
3 Y 28 20 26 14 PARENTS TEND TO HAVE LOWER INCOME AND ED LEVELS
4 Y 9 16 11 20 PARENTAL INCOME IS ABOVE AVG.
5 Y 12 17 16 13PARENTS HAVE A MODERATE INCOME LEVEL AND ARE INTERESTED IN FIN AID
6 Y 23 30 29 3PARENTS TEND TO HAVE A VERY LOW INCOME AND ED LEVEL. FIN AID INTEREST IS VERY HIGH
7 Y 27 26 22 10
ONLY ABOUT HALF OF ALL GRADUATES WILL PURSUE POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION. PARENTS HAVE A LOW INCOME LEVEL
8 Y 7 22 24 8PARENTS HAVE A LOWER THAN AVERAGE INOCME LEVEL. INTEREST IN FIN AID IS HIGH
9 Y 15 21 23 15HIGH SCHOOLS TEND TO BE PUBLIC AND OFFER LIMITED SUPPORT FOR POST SECONDARY PREPARATION
10 N 17 18 13 18 TARGET A VARIETY OF REGIONAL INSTITUTIONS, INCLUDING CCs
11 Y 25 27 28 2
PARENTS HAVE LOWER INCOME AND ED LEVELS AND WILL REQUIRE FIN. AID TO SUPPORT THEIR CHILDREN'S COLLEGE ENROLLMENT
12 N 16 11 8 13THEY WILL TARGET INSTITUTIONS KNOWN FOR GRAD AND PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL PREPARATION
13 Y 5 15 27 1PARENTS HAVE BELOW AVERAGE INCOME BUT HIGHER ED LEVELS
14 Y 20 14 9 25PARENTS TYPICALLY HAVE AN ABOVE AVG. INCOME LEVEL AND LESS INTEREST IN FIN. AID
15 Y 18 23 19 4PARENTS HAVE SLIGHTLY BELOW AVG. INCOME AND ED LEVELS, AND ABOVE AVG. INTEREST IN FIN. AID
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EN and HS Cluster Tagging available to reviewer
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Ties together with 1st gen., low SES
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Potential Impacts of utilizing Descriptor PLUS ™
• Yield – Their behavior will have to be different than other
students in that cluster – “going against the grain”
– Increase number of admitted students with financial need
• Does not replace affirmative action– Treat high priority clusters the same
• Public Relations– Enroll more students in underrepresented areas
– Change perceptions
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Next Steps
• Tag prospects– Tagging strategy - timing
– Null files
– Inaccuracies – student generated errors
• Recruitment – Targeted communications at underserved populations
– Focused programming
– Financial aid information
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Link to electronic transcript
• GPA recalculated
Electronic Transcripts - Make it easier to apply and speed decision
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Display by year
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Display by course