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What makes a student ready to go on to college? Right now, perspectives differ among high schools and postsecondary institutions. When no one assumes responsibility for college preparation, students fall between the cracks. Too many of Vermont’s students lose hope of attending college somewhere between ninth grade and 12th. And while college preparation options exist, their impact is compromised by disincentive, stigma, and lack of awareness.

 Students Aren’t Ready

• A disconnect exists between what college professors and high school teachers perceive as college readiness. Nationwide, 44% of college faculty members say incoming students are not well-prepared for college-level writing, compared to 90% of high school teachers who believe they are.
• Remediation costs, estimated at $1 billion annually nationwide, place a burden on postsecondary institutions and students. Forty percent of all college students require some remediation in English or math.

Spending Doesn’t Translate to Achievement

• Vermont public schools spent $2,268 more per pupil in the 2005-2006 school year than did public schools in New Hampshire. Despite the disparity in spending, Vermont and New Hampshire students posted nearly identical scores on math and reading tests widely accepted as national benchmarks.
• An assessment of 11th-grade students found that one in three Vermont students was not proficient in reading, seven in 10 were not proficient in math, and six in 10 were not proficient in writing.
• Vermont has one of the ten highest expenditures per student in the nation, Vermont students perform close to or on par with the national average for SAT scores but lag in achieving college readiness, as determined by the College Board that administers the tests.
• While Vermont’s high school graduation rate exceeds the national average, just 45% of Vermont students attend college immediately after graduation, compared to 57% nationally.

Aspirations Suffer

• In Vermont, as in the rest of the country, middle school students are optimistic about higher education but lose momentum as they progress through high school. Nationwide, 92% of middle schoolers say they will definitely or probably attend college, compared to 66% who eventually begin studies at a two-year or four-year institution.
• Nearly 18% of Vermont high school students who decide not to attend college say they made that decision before ninth grade.

Developing Skills and Strategies for Success

An Introduction to College Studies course at Community College of Vermont, offered to all Vermont high school students, seeks to build student aspirations for postsecondary education by exploring the skills and expectations necessary at the college level. Students develop time management, test-taking, communication, and study skills. The focus is on stress management and goal-setting, as well as learning to seek and use available informational resources.

The Community College of Vermont’s Access to Success program helps students identify areas where they need improvement, and builds those academic skills prior to enrolling in college level courses.

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Improving Readiness and Affordability

College Connections offers opportunities to explore postsecondary education options for students in their sophomore, junior and senior years of high school, as well as those in alternative education programs or who may have dropped out of school. Developed by Linking Learning to Life, a Burlington-based nonprofit that provides school-to-career opportunities for youth, the dual enrollment program allows students to take college courses at area institutions, while earning both high school and college credit for successful completion.

College Connections targets students facing significant barriers to college success, including those who would be the first in their families to attend college, those from low-income families, students learning English as a second language, minority students, and those with disabilities.

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Transforming Aspirations and Achievement

College for Every Student, a national nonprofit based in Cornwall, Vermont, works to raise student aspirations and performance so that they can prepare for, gain access to, and succeed in college.

With a focus on underserved students in urban and rural areas, College for Every Student develops partnerships between schools and colleges to provide mentoring and student leadership programs. Emphasis is placed on improving academic performance and attendance, developing personal and academic goals, and ensuring that students graduate from high school and attend and succeed in college. College for Every Student seeks to offset the perceptions in many low-income families that often deter students from considering or pursuing college attendance.

• Download the entire report



• Download the data supplements on the need for guidance and preparation

• The Benefits of Higher Education
  The benefits of and demand for higher education



• The Realities of Cost and Debt
  Financial barriers students, families, and institutions face and readiness barriers students encounter



• Postsecondary Options for Vermont Students
  The field of higher education comprises many organizations, institutions and options that students, families and other stakeholders—including philanthropists—must understand and navigate to be successful.



• Promising Approaches
  Vermont organizations employing promising approaches to make college more accesible and affordable and to prepare students for postsecondary success.