Promoting Access and Diversity in a Competitive Environment Ted Spencer Associate Vice Provost and Director of Admission Chris Lucier Director of Recruitment and Operations

Agenda Demonstrate how Descriptor PLUS ™ can help identify underrepresented populations during the evaluation process Potential impacts of using DP Next steps –Descriptor PLUS™ for recruitment and outreach Employing other tools to simplify the application process to enhance access –Electronic submission of transcripts

Geodemography Drives consumer marketing “people with similar cultural backgrounds, means, and perspectives naturally gravitate toward one another or form relatively homogeneous communities.” Does not consider college-bound behavior Source: Descriptor PLUS ™ : An Educationally Relevant Geodemographic Tagging Service. The College Board

Descriptor PLUS ™ Educational Neighborhoods (EN) –Educationally relevant geodemographic clusters (30) –Begins with socioeconomic data and includes academic and curricular interest data –Unique and relevant characteristics of prototypic college- bound students and their behavior related to college-choice –30 clusters =>180,000+ neighborhoods High School Clusters –College choice is driven by characteristics of the student within their neighborhood, but also within the context of their high school –Academic/curricular indicators, historical patterns of college choice, student interests, as well as socioeconomic and mobility factors –30 clusters =>27,000+ schools 150 attributes, or individual pieces of information, now exist for both Educational Neighborhoods and High Schools Source: Descriptor PLUS ™ : An Educationally Relevant Geodemographic Tagging Service. The College Board

Identify “represented” and “underrepresented” clusters Tag ’04 and ’05 enrolled classes Enrolled because that defines your academic community Certain trends clear Define the difference between represented and underrepresented

Educational Neighborhoods Educational Neighborhood 2005Educational Neighborhood % (1,477)127.5% (1404) 725.1%720.0% 49.9%410.2% 236.1%168.7% 165.6% (74.5%)238.0% (74.5%) 133.7% (194)223.4% (172) 253.5%133.2% 223.3%282.8% 202.7%252.6% 21.9%32.0% 31.8%2

High Schools High School2005High School % (2514)1246.9% (2607) %2310.8% 178.5%179.4% 258.3%258.7% 106.1%106.8% 275.9% (88.6%)275.9% (88.5%) 265.2% (270)265.5% (305) 112.7%112.4% 241.0%240.9% 80.6% %150.6%

Do we treat all underrepresented clusters the same? Some underrepresented clusters reflect high SES – access and opportunity not a problem Define high priority underrepresented clusters –Access is important –Socioeconomic factors Not the sole factor – should tie with other information about the student or school

High Priority Educational Neighborhood Clusters EN IS CLUSTER UR AT UM? PARENT'S AVG INCOME AVG PARENTAL EDUC. LEVEL % OF ADULTS IN PROF. JOBS INTEREST IN FIN. AIDCOMMENTS 1N72424NEIGHBORHOOD IS YOUNG AND PREDOMINANTLY PROFESSIONAL 2Y84827PARENTS ARE WELL-EDUCATED AND MODERATELY AFFLUENT 3Y INCOMES IS ABOVE AVERAGE AND INTEREST IN FIN. AID IS BELOW AVERAGE 4N11330 HIGHEST INCOME OF ANY CLUSTER. YOUNG, MOBILE, AND HIGHLY EDUCATED PROFESSIONALS 5Y ALMOST HALF OF THE HS GRADS WILL GO DIRECTLY INTO THE WORK FORCE OR MILITARY 6Y ED LEVEL FOR PARENTS IN AVG. BUT INCOME LEVEL IS BELOW AVG. 7N PARENTS ARE TYPICALLY MIDDLE CLASS AND ARE INTERESTED IN FIN. AID 8Y INCOME AND ED LEVELS FOR PARENTS ARE VERY LOW AND FIN. AID WILL BE REQUIRED TO SUPPORT COLLEGE ENROLLMENT 9Y PARENTAL HAVE AVG. INCOME, ED. EXPERIENCES, AND INTEREST IN FIN. AID 10Y PARENTS HAVE LOW INCOME AND ED. LEVELS. COST IS THE PRIMARY DRIVER BEHIND SELECTION OF A COLLEGE 11Y PARENTS ARE TYPICALLY MIDDLE INCOME SUBURBANITES WITH A MODERATE LEVEL OF EDUCATION AND INTEREST IN FIN. AID 12Y PARENTS HAVE LOWER INCOME AND ED. LEVELS AND STRONG INTEREST IN FIN. AID 13Y53129 PROFESSIONAL FAMILIES. INCOME AND ED LEVELS ARE HIGH AND FIN. AID IS NOT A SIGNIFICANT FACTOR IN COLLEGE CHOICE 14Y PARENTS HAVE MODERATE INCOME AND ED. LEVELS 15Y PARENTAL INCOME IS SLIGHTLY ABOVE AVG. AS IS INTEREST IN FIN. AID

High Priority High School Clusters HS IS CLUSTER UR AT UM? % GRADS ENTERING COLLEGE AVG PARENTAL EDUC. LEVEL PARENTS AVG. INCOME INTEREST IN FIN. AIDCOMMENTS 1Y PARENTS HAVE LOWEST INCOME AND SECOND LOWEST ED LEVEL OF ANY HS CLUSTER. INTEREST IN FIN AID IS HIGH 2Y231821PARENTS HAVE ABOVE AVG ED LEVELS AND HIGHER INCOME 3Y PARENTS TEND TO HAVE LOWER INCOME AND ED LEVELS 4Y PARENTAL INCOME IS ABOVE AVG. 5Y PARENTS HAVE A MODERATE INCOME LEVEL AND ARE INTERESTED IN FIN AID 6Y PARENTS TEND TO HAVE A VERY LOW INCOME AND ED LEVEL. FIN AID INTEREST IS VERY HIGH 7Y ONLY ABOUT HALF OF ALL GRADUATES WILL PURSUE POST- SECONDARY EDUCATION. PARENTS HAVE A LOW INCOME LEVEL 8Y PARENTS HAVE A LOWER THAN AVERAGE INOCME LEVEL. INTEREST IN FIN AID IS HIGH 9Y HIGH SCHOOLS TEND TO BE PUBLIC AND OFFER LIMITED SUPPORT FOR POST SECONDARY PREPARATION 10N TARGET A VARIETY OF REGIONAL INSTITUTIONS, INCLUDING CCs 11Y PARENTS HAVE LOWER INCOME AND ED LEVELS AND WILL REQUIRE FIN. AID TO SUPPORT THEIR CHILDREN'S COLLEGE ENROLLMENT 12N THEY WILL TARGET INSTITUTIONS KNOWN FOR GRAD AND PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL PREPARATION 13Y PARENTS HAVE BELOW AVERAGE INCOME BUT HIGHER ED LEVELS 14Y PARENTS TYPICALLY HAVE AN ABOVE AVG. INCOME LEVEL AND LESS INTEREST IN FIN. AID 15Y PARENTS HAVE SLIGHTLY BELOW AVG. INCOME AND ED LEVELS, AND ABOVE AVG. INTEREST IN FIN. AID

EN and HS Cluster Tagging available to reviewer

Ties together with 1 st gen., low SES

Potential Impacts of utilizing Descriptor PLUS ™ Yield –Their behavior will have to be different than other students in that cluster – “going against the grain” –Increase number of admitted students with financial need Does not replace affirmative action –Treat high priority clusters the same Public Relations –Enroll more students in underrepresented areas –Change perceptions

Next Steps Tag prospects –Tagging strategy - timing –Null files –Inaccuracies – student generated errors Recruitment –Targeted communications at underserved populations –Focused programming –Financial aid information

Link to electronic transcript GPA recalculated Electronic Transcripts - Make it easier to apply and speed decision

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