Unpacking the Factors Contributing to Summer Melt and Impacting College Readiness

• In Event: College Readiness and Implications for Student Success

Abstract

While non-middle-class non-white students are less likely to enroll in college and graduate compared to their middle-class white peers, we lack research that provides a more complete picture of a student’s experience to explain these findings. We seek to understand students beyond traditional indicators like attendance, behavior, and course-taking. We specifically focus on the summer melt phenomenon, with graduating seniors representing the above demographics who indicate they will go to college in the fall. Through bi-weekly surveys and in-person interviews from high school graduation to their potential first day of college, we see how more proximal patterns around self-efficacy, self-regulation, goal-setting, and financial concerns impact students’ college plans.

Authors

• Pamela L. Paek, ACT, Inc.

• Becky L. Bobek, ACT, Inc.