An initiative targeted toward helping high school students and their families explore options for post-secondary education has helped increase the college-going rate in the state of Tennessee.
This news comes as researchers found that post-secondary enrollment rates have lowered nationwide. As of May 2023, the National Center for Education Statistics showed that participation in higher education decreased by 15 percent from Fall 2010 to Fall 2021. However, they also note that enrollment is expected to climb 9 percent from Fall 2021 to Fall 2031.
Advise TN is a statewide program implemented by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) that has placed college advisors in up to 30 high schools in the state. The schools that participate in the partnership have contributed to a 6 percent increase in the state’s college-going rate.
In August, the commission announced that Tennessee high school graduates were headed to college at an increasingly high rate, with the largest “year-over-year” increase since 2015.
THEC’s college-going rate shows the percentage of public school students who enroll in post-secondary education after high school, officials said. 56.7 percent of the class of 2023 would attend college in this fall, a 2.4 percent increase from 2022.
THEC said the advisors meet one-on-one with students and their families and help with the college application process, financial aid navigation, and exploration of apprenticeships and work-based training.
“By providing stable, professional advisors and focusing on a range of college-preparation activities, Advise TN is helping to ensure that more Tennessee students have the opportunity to pursue higher education and achieve their goals,” Steven Gentile, executive director of THEC said in a statement.
Through the initiative, THEC partnered with researchers from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, which found Advise TN to have had immediate effects on those enrolling in postsecondary education after graduation. Researchers compared high schools who used their services to those who did not and focused on “students’ immediate college enrollment outcomes, including whether they enrolled after graduation. … While enrollment rates have fallen across the nation and in Tennessee, Advise TN services kept students’ college-going behaviors at higher rates than they would have been without the program,” THEC said in a statement.
Students who attended schools in rural areas saw more pronounced growth, with their college-going rates increasing by 8 percent. Female enrollment was up by 7 percent and Hispanic student enrollment rose 16 percent. The students enrolled in a variety of post-secondary programs, including community colleges, universities, and career and technical schools.
Officials said the program’s purpose is to help a variety of student populations, specifically targeting schools that have a college-going rate below state average. This program serves first-generation students, those from low-income households, and those eligible for pell grants.
Researchers also found that students that worked “frequently” with advisors from Advise TN were more likely to enroll in college or technical training.
“Students who met with an advisor four or more times, or just once per semester during 11th and 12th grade, were 31 percent more likely to pursue postsecondary education than students who met with an advisor only once,” officials said. “These findings underscore the importance of sustained and personalized advising in promoting college enrollment.”
THEC it hopes to explore long-term outcomes such as college retention and completion in the future.
