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Houston Matters

How to Help College-Bound Students Avoid the ‘Summer Melt’

(Above: Students listen to an instructor at one of the campuses of Houston’s Lone Star College. Photo: Laura Isensee | Houston Public Media) In the summer between high school and college, some graduates enroll in a college or university but never show up in the fall. In higher education circles, the phenomenon is called “summer […]

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Tony Diaz, a professor at Lone Star College and also an activist with the group Librotraficante, says when students can relate more to a class, they are more engaged and do better academically. (Photo: Laura Isensee | Houston Public Media)(Above: Students listen to an instructor at one of the campuses of Houston’s Lone Star College. Photo: Laura Isensee | Houston Public Media)

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In the summer between high school and college, some graduates enroll in a college or university but never show up in the fall. In higher education circles, the phenomenon is called "summer melt."

The U.S. Department of Education estimates as many as 10 to 20 percent of students nationwide plan to go to college and then don't. But why? For some the reasons are financial. Others just aren't ready for that next step.

We discuss the prevalence of summer melt in Houston with Yolanda Norman, founder and CEO of First Gen Consulting, and get her advice on how to help the student in your life not fall victim to it.

MORE: The Perspective of a First-Generation College Graduate (Houston Matters, June 2, 2017)