Research demonstrates clear economic benefits for students who continue education beyond high school (NCES, 2001). Yet the transition from high school to college is an unsuccessful one for many. Of those high school graduates who entered postsecondary education for the first time in the 1995-1996 school year, 37 percent had left two years later without having earned a degree or certificate. This slippage results from a variety of causes. Some students are unsure how to apply for college or how to pay for it; some are academically unprepared for higher education; some face a frustrating task of balancing school and work. As postsecondary education becomes increasingly necessary to gain access to most reasonably well-paid jobs, the sharp division between high schools and colleges becomes more problematic.
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