The “summer melt” is a term many students in Texas are familiar with, particularly impacting those who come from low-income households.
High school graduates who have already been accepted into colleges and plan to enroll are often steered away from attaining their dreams if they cannot secure funding to support their education, such as obtaining financial aid, or if they miss administrative deadlines.
Who is impacted by the “summer melt?”
According to the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University, 10-40% of students intending to attend college, especially those coming from low-income backgrounds, fail to enroll in college the fall after their high school graduation. Despite completing the steps to get into college, like being accepted and college-intending, and applying for financial aid, they still fail to attend college successfully.
This phenomenon remains a concern for leaders in education because of the number of students who cannot attend higher educational institutions because of the gap.
In Texas, the United States Department of Education estimates that 44% of high school graduates who come from low-income households will not be attending college during the fall but instead “melt away” in summer.
How the “summer melt” impacts students of color
A report from Rice University’s Houston Education Research Consortium from June 2020 connected Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) verification with the “summer melt” phenomenon and that racial and ethnic minorities were more likely to be flagged for FAFSA verification than white students.
Black students (34%), Hispanic students (33%), Asian or Pacific Islander students (28%) students, and students from other racial and ethnic backgrounds (36%) comprised a higher rate of FAFSA verification than white students (21%).
The study also found that one-third of Houston Independent School District’s college-intending students were flagged for FAFSA verification. Moreover, minority students were at a higher risk of verification. Moreover, one in four college-intending students went through the “summer melt” did not attend college by the fall after graduating high school.
Why do students “melt?”
Students with acceptance letters and a decision to attend college still need to complete several tasks to matriculate successfully. These steps might be particularly difficult for those who do not have access to high school counselors, are unaware of the resources available at their intended college, and whose families do not have experience with the enrollment process.
Students also need to anticipate acquiring funding to support higher education, paying term bills, and creating budgets for books and healthcare. Moreover, they also need to keep in mind registering for orientation, taking placement tests, finding housing, registering for classes, opting for food plans, and responding to correspondence. The information, which is provided through the institution’s portals, can be challenging to navigate at times.
How to prevent the “melt”
The Harvard study lists some solutions at the school level to help students and increase college enrollment rates:
- Hire counselors who can reach out to students during summer and provide advice on a student-to-student basis,
- Assign a peer mentor for students with staff supervision,
- Provide a summary of tasks for students to complete,
- Opt for a digital campaign with reminders for task completion,
- Explain the post-acceptance and enrollment processes in a simple way,
- Create a space for students to connect with one another and ask questions,
On the other hand, students can do the following:
- Peruse the college website to check financial aid status and other important information,
- Apply for financial aid and complete FAFSA, and
- Register for orientation, complete placement test if required, secure housing, check dates for term bill due dates, secure health insurance, and submit high school transcript and graduation certificate to the admissions office
What some colleges are doing to address the issue
The Lone Star College aims to address the issue of “summer melt” by offering affordable programs and providing resources to help students.
“Lone Star College has numerous resources (academic, financial and student support) to help you make a sustainable plan toward earning a college degree, transferring to a four-year institution or entering the workforce,” said Jamie Posey, associate vice chancellor of student success and completion at Lone Star College.
The college offers more than 200 program options for its 80,000 students every semester, and courses can be availed in face-to-face, online, or hybrid formats.
The college’s summer registration period started on March 4, 2024, for students intending to start, continue, or complete their college education at an “accelerated pace.” Its mini-terms runs from May 13 through June 9, June 3 to July 9, and July 11 to Aug. 19.
What this school district did many years ago
During the summer of 2012, the Dallas ISD implemented a text message system that informed college-intending students and their parents about the important steps they needed to complete to matriculate successfully in college like registering for freshman orientation and placement tests.
It targeted students who started or completed FAFSA before their graduation, offering to rectify errors or their forms or interpreting financial aid award letters and tuition bills, according to the Harvard report.
The district also included web links to make the completion of these steps easier and more accessible to students on their phones. It used a high school exit survey to collect information like phone numbers and intended institutions and then identified around 15 colleges most frequently attended by the district graduates to create the tasks.
It impacted the students greatly, especially those who qualified for free or reduced-price lunch and those in the middle of the academic achievement distribution. The campaign also increased the overall enrollment by over 5 percentage points for students in mid-distribution of their senior year GPA.
