Overcoming Barriers to College Enrollment, Persistence, and Perceptions for Urban High School Students in a College Preparatory Program

Although research shows college preparatory programs' effectiveness regarding academic achievement and college awareness, much less is known about whether programs affect college attendance and persistence. GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) and other college preparatory programs claim that this is a primary outcome, yet very few studies on persistence in higher education have been done. Through the use of an explanatory sequential mixed methods design, our study found that significantly more students (including low-socioeconomic background) from a GEAR UP college preparatory program showed greater college attendance and persistence outcomes over those who did not participate and also provides potential explanations why this may be the case. Mixing quantitative and qualitative data allowed for meta-inferences about the isolation of poverty, goal setting, resilience, and program impacts on minorities to be drawn.