EFFECTIVENESS OF THE PRE-COLLEGE

OUTREACH PROGRAM AT WEBER STATE

UNIVERSITY

Kelsey Boyer, Shaylee Wheeler, Christopher Griffith

Research Objectives To investigate the success of pre-college outreach

programs in providing the following among traditionally non-college bound high school seniors: awareness of college access to college exposure to college and campus life academic preparation for college and assistance in transitioning to college

To investigate the strengths and weaknesses of the delivery of the pre-college outreach services

To investigate the influence of pre-college outreach programs on students’ decision to go to college

Research Questions

What did the pre-college outreach programs do to achieve the above listed outcomes?

Did the students find the delivery of the services to be effective in accomplishing the outcomes?

Did the provided services influence the students’ decision to go to college?

Background Information:Research from Literature

National survey conducted by College Board in 2001 Programs do in fact get traditionally non-

college bound students into higher education more so than without intervention

Programs proven to be effective in terms of college enrollment, although little research has been done to measure the impact of such programs on the students who participate in them Not much is known regarding the extent to

which they are helpful and how they can assist students more effectively

WSU Education and Outreach

Education Access and Outreach Office Mission: to increase educational opportunities and college

participation for underrepresented students who are traditionally non-college bound

Student to Student Provides academic support to students in Ogden city’s

middle and high schools through student tutors from WSU

Educational Talent Search Identifies qualified students and encourages them to

complete high school and to attend and graduate from college by providing them with the necessary information

Multicultural Youth Conference Conference designed for ethnic minorities that includes

workshop sessions on leadership, planning for student success, communication skills, diversity and inclusion, and applying to college

Effect of Pre-College Outreach Program in Ogden City School District

Study of six target schools The percentage of students who enrolled at

Weber State University was higher among outreach program participants than among the student body in general Of the 176 participants in the program, 80

enrolled at Weber State University with an enrollment rate of 45%, as compared to only a 17% enrollment rate among all students in the target schools.

Concepts Defined Awareness: increased visibility of WSU in local junior high

and high schools Access: providing step-by-step guidance to help students

enroll at college Exposure: interactive experience on college campus in

order to know available programs and opportunities Readiness: ensuring that students are prepared to handle

college-level coursework Transition: following through after enrollment into college

to assist the students in their first semester

Traditionally Non-College Bound (TNCB): students that are identified as being low income, first generation, and minority students

Pre-College Outreach Programs: Student to Student, Educational Talent Search, and Multicultural Youth Conference

Subjects for Study

Thirty 2009 high school graduates from both Ogden and Ben Lomond High Schools Participation in Student to Student, Educational

Talent Search, and Multicultural Youth Conference Twenty-two enrolled at Weber State during 2009

summer semester Made contact and received information from nine

students One student did not wish to participate

Eight students not included in study Six did not enroll at any educational institution

Were originally going to be comparison group Two enrolled at other educational institutions

Demographic Characteristics Gender

4 Female 5 Male

Race/Ethnicity 1 African American 3 Caucasian 5 Hispanic

Credit hours enrolled in current fall 2009 semester 1 not enrolled 1 six to eleven 7 twelve to seventeen

Hours of work per week 4 not employed 4 30-39 hours 1 40+ hours

Living Situation 7 in home with parents 2 off campus housing

without parents

Data Collection Methods

Focus Groups October 27th and November 4th in Student Service

Center Pizza and drinks provided

Phone Interviews November 10th

All participants received $5 on their Wildcard All participants were told that all the

information they provided would be kept confidential

Measurement of Concepts

Open-ended questions concerning effectiveness and influence of the pre-college outreach programs

Questions framed around five aspects of awareness, access, exposure, readiness, and transition Did the programs help accomplish each

aspect? What services did the program provide to do

so? Anything that could have been improved? Did it influence decision to go to college?

Results: Achieving the Outcomes Awareness Access Exposure Readiness Transition

Results: Effectiveness of Services Awareness

“I was into the idea that I wanna get out, I don’t wanna live here…but ETS helped me a lot. You realize that I will be living with my parents and everything will be a lot more affordable.”

Access “I don’t think without it I would…get any

scholarships…so it did help me a lot.” “I don’t even know how I got enrolled, so it was

pretty cool…. I loved the fact that…I was just enrolled.”

Results: Effectiveness of Services Exposure

“…I would see people going on trips and stuff and everything and [my friends and I] were like, ‘What’s going on? We wanna be in there! We wanna go places.’ That’s actually how I got enrolled. I had no idea what it was about or anything. All I knew is that they would go on field trips.”

Readiness A respondent who went on to participate with TRIO in his first

semester at Weber State said, “…they actually helped me with some stuff academically…they helped me out getting a tutor and now I’m actually doing kinda good.”

One respondent who utilized S-to-S while in high school then was a mentor for it in college said, “When I was in high school I’d say it would probably help me just a little bit…but then for, like, college and everything I don’t think that it…really did very much.”

Another respondent told us, “I felt kinda stressed ‘cause I didn’t do much in high school.”

Results: Effectiveness of Services Transition

“I actually got a lot of help from everybody.” “They still talk to me sometimes. Whenever I have

questions I just go talk to them.”

Overall Suggestions included starting the outreach at an

earlier age for the students and more communication between students and advisors, but overall the participants we interviews seemed to have a positive reaction to the outreach

Results: Decision to go to College It was evident that the programs

definitely had a positive effect on their decision Four already planning on going to college Two wanted to go but didn’t know if they

were going to be able to Two were not planning on going at all One did not answer

Results: Decision to go to College Made college a more attainable goal

College education seemed out of reach on several different levels

Respondent who did not know if she was able to go to college: “The whole college thing scared me for a while,” but “[the programs] made it a lot easier…[They] made me want to come more to college.”

Respondent who already knew he wanted to go to college: “…it made me realize that college isn’t really that bad – really isn’t as bad as you think it is.”

Results: Decision to go to College Being told that college would positively

affect their chances of getting a better job

Respondent who was not planning on attending: “They told me that without college, you basically can’t really get a good job after that, so that kinda pushed me to go to college too, ‘cause everyone wants a good job.”

Respondent who was already planning on attending: “They told me how it’s better to get a job if you go to college…you can get a better career. Yeah, it just makes my life easier to go to college.”

Conclusions

The Program was considered to be successful in the following areas:

Availability of financial assistance Any help in this area is invaluable Information regarding financial aid (FAFSA and

scholarship help) mentioned often

Excitement for on-campus experiences Great motivating factor

Conclusions

Program Success Continued:

Ease of the enrollment process Stress of enrolling was almost non-existent First big milestone to make college a reality

Affect on decision to attend college Programs do indeed have positive affect on students Although some felt as though there were minor

troubles, program came through where it was most important

Conclusions

The Program was considered to have fallen short in these areas:

Preparation for college academics Many did not feel overly confident in their preparedness However, some respondents had not participated in S-to-

S Program Advisors

Great influence on students and were held in very high esteem

Consistency very important Had strong desire for communication Needed that connection during time of change

Recommendations

Maintenance of positive aspects Availability of Financial Assistance On-Campus Experience Ease of Enrollment Affect on Decision to Attend College

Recommendations

More focus on academic preparation for college Encourage Student to Student More information regarding reality of college

coursework Consistency of program advisors

Students created a bond with their advisor Communication extremely important Students are going through a time of change and

uncertainty and crave that connection and stability with the person or persons who are guiding them through

Limitations of the Study

Small sample size Focus groups vs. phone interviews

Depth and length of answers Differences between focus groups

Social Setting Gender

Further research would enrich existing data Follow-up with respondents Interview other participants

“…Being in these programs really

opened my eyes and really showed me

that there are really good opportunities

for me to be able to go to college still.”