This brief is part of the Affirming Equity, Ensuring Inclusion, and Empowering Action initiative. The brief describes the emerging practice of direct admissions, including how the practice has been designed, what outcomes it has produced, and considerations for policymakers debating the implementation of a direct admissions program in their state…

The need for a larger labor force in Southwest Minnesota is at peak heights and employers are looking for strategies that keep local high school and college graduates in the region. The analysis of 38,154 southwest high school graduates shows that their post-high school paths and plans are related to whether an individual has meaningful workforce…

We describe the online summer portion of a quantitative skills bridge program focused on helping students prepare socially and academically for the transition to college. College students are increasingly asked to employ quantitative skills across the curriculum, but students arrive at college with varied preparation. Further, those with the least…

Financial aid has helped millions of students pay for their education beyond high school. This document provides information about federal and Minnesota financial aid programs, including the following sections: (1) How do I apply for financial aid?; (2) Five basic steps to apply for financial aid; (3) What types of financial aid are available?;…

Community colleges have made great strides in advancing student success and completion during the last decade. But not all students have benefited from these efforts equally. According to the Lumina Foundation, the postsecondary attainment rate for adults in the United States is around 40 percent. Yet, there are still large gaps in attainment…

This topic paper details how dual and concurrent enrollment programs can help states overcome workforce readiness and postsecondary access and completion challenges and how governors can strengthen these programs by using their bully pulpit, agenda setting authority and budgetary authority to do so. It concludes with a number of examples of how…

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is a form prepared annually by current and prospective college students (undergraduate and graduate) to determine their eligibility for student financial aid. Completing the FAFSA creates opportunities for more equitable access to higher education because it is a gateway for receiving the Pell…

Dual credit and exam-based credit programs are increasingly popular options for high school students who hope to earn college credit during their high school career. These programs provide college-level content for students seeking a head-start on college and promote college-going among high school students. As their popularity grows, dual credit…

Acceleration programs are academically challenging courses in which high school students can simultaneously earn credit toward a high school diploma and a postsecondary degree (dual credit). These programs include Advanced Placement courses, concurrent-enrollment courses, Postsecondary Enrollment Options courses (a dual-enrollment program in…

Acceleration programs are challenging courses in which high school students can simultaneously earn credit toward a high school diploma and a college degree (dual credit). This study examined participation rates in acceleration programs and early college outcomes for the 2011 cohort of Minnesota high school graduates. Nearly half the graduates…

"Getting Prepared 2017" examines Minnesota public high school graduates from the classes of 2008-2015 who enrolled in postsecondary education and those enrolled in developmental education. This report provides insight into the academic readiness of Minnesota public high school graduates. Developmental education adds to the overall cost…

The limited availability of college counseling for many students, especially those from low-income families, means that advising and ready assistance with each stage of the college search and application process is lacking. The research summarized in this brief indicates that the deficiencies in the quality and quantity of college counseling…

In recent years, many states have set ambitious postsecondary completion or attainment goals, driven in part by concerns that other OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) nations are outpacing the United States in the number of adults holding a postsecondary credential. While the U.S. has made modest gains since 2000 in the…

This article examines the logic underlying different models for assessing the college readiness of high school students. It focuses on benchmark scores that purportedly identify students who are college ready and presents the challenges of using threshold scores from a single assessment instrument to represent readiness. As well as providing…

In 1972, the TRIO program leaders at the University of Minnesota (UMN) developed the Integrated Learning (IL) course to meet academic and cultural transition needs of their Upward Bound (UB) secondary school students. These courses were offered during the UB summer bridge program for students who were concurrently enrolled in…