Navigating College Opportunity: The Impact of School-Based Counseling on Postsecondary Enrollment

• In Event: Factors Affecting College Enrollment

Abstract

Given the need to improve postsecondary participation in the United States (Lumina Foundation, 2009) and the ability of counselors to facilitate college application (Bryan et al, 2011) and choice (Plank and Jordan, 2001), this study aims to determine whether school counselors influence the likelihood of student enrollment in postsecondary education. Using data provided by NCES’s Educational Longitudinal Survey (ELS:2002/2006), this study incorporates logistic regression analysis to find that students who visit their counselor for college-related information and who attend schools with relatively low student-to-counselor ratios have a greater likelihood of enrolling in postsecondary education and at four-year institutions in particular.

Author

• Andrew Steven Belasco, University of Georgia