In poor urban neighborhoods, getting not just to but through college can be a path to a brighter future. But where students enroll, and how soon after high-school graduation they start college, can markedly affect their chances of earning a degree.
A study of former Philadelphia public-school students by researchers at Drexel University found that six years after their expected high-school graduation, only one in five had earned a college certificate or degree.
But for those who started college within a semester of getting a high-school diploma, the success rate was far higher: 46 percent. Nationally about two-thirds of students who are age 20 or younger when they enter college earn a degree within six years, according to the National Student Clearinghouse.
