Elite Colleges Focus on Recruiting at Community Colleges

— The signs are everywhere, from the BMWs parked on campus, to the students’ designer cell phones, to the number of families paying full price even as tuition and fees climb past $40,000. The most prestigious colleges are overwhelmingly attended by the wealthy.

It’s a problem colleges are speaking about more frankly and have tried to address with more financial aid, but with only mixed success. At the most selective schools, a 2003 study found, just 3 percent of students came from the poorest socio-economic quarter of families, while 74 percent came from the richest.

Now, a small group of selective colleges is turning its attention to what may be an untapped reservoir of able, low-income students: the 6.5 million people who attend community colleges. Historically, those students have been ignored by elite colleges, which recruit mostly at high schools and often accept few or no transfers because they want to offer a distinctive four-year experience.

By JUSTIN POPE
The Associated Press

Full Story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/06/AR2006030600324.html