With nearly two-thirds of job openings in Central Texas requiring education beyond high school, eliminating higher education enrollment barriers is essential to preserving economic opportunities for recent high school graduates.

Researchers have identified one major barrier as “Summer Melt” – the gap between student college aspirations and actual enrollment immediately following high school graduation. The data shows that obstacles related to financial aid, unanticipated costs (health insurance, transportation, books), information barriers, and lack of guidance over the summer are key causes of Summer Melt. About 30% of Central Texas high school graduates encounter obstacles to enrollment during this timeframe.[1]

The Austin Chamber, in partnership with nine independent school districts, The University of Texas Ray Marshall Center, and Austin Community College are working to help students overcome the summer enrollment barriers. It’s part of a regional effort to increase direct-to-college enrollment rates. The Summer Melt Aversion Program makes counselors available to students on an extended basis. This timely safety net allows counselors to send text message reminders to help students meet college enrollment deadlines and troubleshoot obstacles related to transcript processing, registration for orientation/classes, financial aid, and other enrollment processes.

In a recent front-page story on education, the Austin American-Statesman quoted Chamber Vice President Gilbert Zavala about the importance of helping students understand and meet deadlines from financial aid applications to general admission paperwork. Zavala noted college enrollment is a time-sensitive process and missing any one deadline could put college out of reach.

Results from earlier Summer Melt pilots showed improvements in college going rates on the order of 4 to 10 percentage points for first generation, low income and underrepresented students who received summer college transition support versus those who did not receive support over the summer. [2]

With implementation of the Summer Melt Aversion Program through a greater portion of Central Texas, tailored text-messaging around college specific deadlines, and a wider network of counselors ready to help with complicated paperwork throughout the summer, Zavala is hopeful the initiative will improve regional direct-to-college enrollment rates and more importantly, connect students with the education and training they need to compete for future jobs.

[1] Summer Melt: Supporting Low-Income Students Through the Transition to College (Harvard Education Press; October 2014) by Benjamin Castleman and Lindsay Page.; Castleman, B. L., & Page L. C. (2010). A Trickle or a Torrent? Understanding the Extent of Summer Melt among College-Intending High School Graduates. Paper presented at the Annual meeting of the Association for the Study of Higher Education. , Indianapolis, IN. See also, Benjamin L. Castleman, Karen Arnold & Katherine Lynk Wartman (2012): Stemming the Tide of Summer Melt: An Experimental Study of the Effects of Post-High School Summer Intervention on Low-Income Students’ College Enrollment, Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 5:1, 1-17; University of Texas at Austin, Ray Marshall Center, 2005-2014. Central Texas Student Futures Project data. Accessible at www.centexstudentfutures.org ;

[2] University of Texas at Austin, Ray Marshall Center, Outcomes and Impact Estimates for the Summer Melt Program in Central Texas, April 2014. Accessible at www.centexstudentfutures.org.