Understanding the accessibility of selective and expensive private four-year institutions of higher education

Abstract

Low-income students enroll at private, selective, and expensive four-year institutions of higher education at lower rates than students from families at the top end of the income distribution, hindering these students' abilities to gain social, cultural, and economic capital needed for social mobility. As the University of Miami (UM) strives to achieve the many goals of its "Roadmap to Our New Century," the enrollment management division turns its focus to one specific initiative set by President Julio Frenk: Access to Excellence. The purpose of this interpretative phenomenological analysis was to understand how low-income students perceive their experience with the college enrollment process and how private, selective, and expensive four-year institutions can utilize this knowledge to become more accessible to this type of student. The main question the researcher sought to answer was: How do low-income students who successfully enroll in a selective, private four-year institutions explain their experience with the college admission and enrollment process? Data was collected through interviews with eight low-income, first-time, first-year student who shared stories about their college admission and enrollment process. Results indicated that successful low-income students at the UM explain that their college admission and enrollment process as a time-consuming, stressful, goal-oriented process, where they felt they lacked the necessary help to be as successful as they could have been. This research demonstrates the need for private, expensive, and selective four-year institutions to ease the stress of the process for the student, help students understand how college will meet their goals, and encourage and educate students' support systems.