Creating College Opportunity: School Counselors and Their Influence on Postsecondary Enrollment

Abstract

School counselors are the primary facilitators of college transition for many students, yet little is known about their influence on college-going behavior. Analyzing data from the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002, this study employs coarsened exact matching and multilevel modeling to examine the effects of student-counselor visits on postsecondary enrollment, as well as determine whether the effects of such visits vary by socioeconomic background. Results suggest that visiting a counselor for college entrance information has a positive and significant influence on students' likelihood of postsecondary enrollment, and that counseling-related effects are greatest for students with low socioeconomic status. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York.