High School Counselor Meetings About College, College Attendance, and Parental Education

A new National Center for Education Statistics report, High School Counselor Meetings About College, College Attendance, and Parental Education, investigates whether high school students met with counselors about college and whether meetings varied by parental education level. It also describes whether students attended college and if attendance varies by whether students met with a counselor about college. The reports finds— A lower percentage of students whose parents did not hold a college degree met with a counselor about college admissions compared to students whose parents had an associate’s degree or higher. A higher percentage of students who met with a counselor about college later attended college compared to students who did not meet with a counselor. Among students whose parents had a high school degree or less, 74 percent of students who met with a counselor attended college, compared to 49 percent of students who did not meet with a counselor about college.      This Data Point uses data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09), a national study of more than 23,000 ninth-graders in 2009. Students answered surveys between 2009 and 2016.