Substantiation of Need

The educational challenges facing disadvantaged youth are of grave concern in Colorado – only six states have worse high school dropout rates in the nation according to the U.S. Census.  Approximately 10% of teens ages 16-19 in the state are neither enrolled in school nor high school graduates, and almost half of these youth are unemployed.1  This college access gap is often closely associated with intergenerational cycles of poverty and its myriad consequences:

• Colorado’s high dropout rate equals at least $3.4 billion in lost earning potential each year.1  
• A Bachelor’s degree will net an individual 40% more in earnings versus a high school diploma. [Institute for Higher Education and the Economy] 
• Poverty in households headed by college graduates is one-tenth that of households headed by high school dropouts. 2
• Teen dropouts are more likely to experience substance abuse, delinquency, injury, and unintended pregnancy; Adult dropouts face under- or unemployment, poverty, and poor health [U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Healthy People 2010 report, 2007] 3
• 29% of children live in poverty in the Denver area (compared with the national average of 18%).68% of imprisoned Americans do not complete high school and 86% have no college experience.4
• Children from families with annual incomes below $15,000 are over 25 times more likely to experience abuse/neglect than children from families with annual incomes above $30,000.5

Many College Summit-Colorado student participants live in communities with high rates of poverty and low levels of educational attainment. Most college-capable students in these communities do not believe they are “college material” because they lack a culture with the inherent expectation of college attendance. Such circumstances perpetuate poverty and create barriers to college enrollment.

According to a recent study, the number one reason students gave for dropping out, is that they did not believe high school was relevant to their job goals. From another angle, the Chicago Consortium of School Research looked at high schools with the best academic outcomes and found two common features: supportive relationships between teachers and students, and a perception among students that the work they were doing in high school was preparing them for the future.

By equipping high schools with a system that places college access information, tools, and support within reach of every student and enables students connect the dots between the work they do and their future goals, College Summit is helping to:

• Develop a new generation of college-educated workers—by 2010 an estimated two-thirds of new jobs will require at least some postsecondary education.6 
• Contribute to economic vitality—each student who is the first in his/her family to go to college contributes an estimated additional $300,000 in lifetime taxes.7
• End intergenerational cycles of poverty—each college graduate will earn approximately $23,000 more per year than his/her non-college-educated counterpart, totaling $1 million more in lifetime earnings.8
• Create healthy and vibrant communities—while college graduates are less likely to rely on government assistance programs, they contribute more to fund these programs (the unemployment rate for college graduates is less than half the jobless rate for those with no college experience)9

1. Colorado Children’s Campaign, 2007 Kids Count.
2. Institute for Higher Education and the Economy
3. Kids Count 2008
4. U.S. Department of Justice
5. The Third National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect
6. Carnevale, Anthony P. and Donna M. Desrochers, Standards for What? The Economic Roots of K-16 Reform, Educational Testing Service, 2003.
7. U.S. Census; U.S. Bureau of Labor, various years
8. Ibid.
   
9. Ibid.