Reducing Undermatching: The Experience of Students and Advisors in a Virtual Advising Intervention

• In Event: 41.033 - Beyond College Aspirations: Credit Transfers, Advisement, and College Readiness

Abstract

This paper reports the qualitative component of a two-year national intervention experiment designed to reduce college undermatching. The program under study offered individual college application and financial aid advising that was delivered remotely via cell phone and computer. Study participants were 300 advisors and 9,600 high-achieving low- and moderate-income high school juniors and seniors. Findings from focus groups, interviews, and surveys demonstrated that virtual advising is a feasible means of delivering scalable assistance for college access and affordability. Engaged advisees developed relationships with advisors, using remote communications for organization, information, emotional support, and decision-making. Most importantly, personalized virtual advising helped many high-achieving students understand that highly selective colleges were a realistic and affordable choice for them.

Authors

• Karen D. Arnold, Boston College

• Denise Deutschlander, University of Virginia

• Jonathan Lewis, Boston College