College Tripwires | A Report by the Kentucky Student Voice Team

By combining data about college transitions in Kentucky with authentic voices of students experiencing those transitions firsthand, we hoped to bridge the gap between education policy and practice and stimulate a conversation about what it takes to create a smooth and accessible journey to college for all students.

The result of months of research and roundtables was Uncovering the Tripwires to Postsecondary Success, a report that highlighted three main barriers to college transitions: the birthright lottery, or the set of socioeconomic and family factors that impact students’ ability to reach and complete college; veiled college costs,

Over the 2014-2015 school year, the Student Voice Team conducted an investigation into the barriers high school students face in the transition to college and postsecondary education. We interviewed academics, teachers, policymakers, parents, administrators, and of course, students, across the state to get a better picture of the challenges inherent in the college entrance process.

many of which start in high school and rise with every year; and college and career unreadiness, or the lack of learned habits and skills to succeed in college.

Read the Report

Tripwires Commentaries

An eight part series of student commentaries was released in the Courier Journal in tandem with the report. The series further investigated issues in postsecondary education, from labeling students as “gifted” to college affordability to the high workloads of guidance counselors.

The Tripwires that can Hinder Postsecondary Transition

By Gentry Fitch

A high school diploma is no longer the same commodity it was half a century ago. High school graduates are making slightly over $30,000 a year while those with a bachelor’s degree earn twice as much. Over the long term, college dropouts sacrifice nearly $500,000 in lifetime earnings.

By Ashton Bishop

If, like me, you’re a student at Green County Middle School in Greensburg, Ky., you cannot avoid hearing the phrase “college and career ready,” a fact that sometimes prompts an automatic eye roll.

By Amanda Whalstedt

I understood early that as a kid growing up without a lot in Appalachia, doing well in school meant I was not always seen as a poor kid. So staying on top of my schoolwork has been my plan from the beginning, and that’s probably why my own father felt compelled to spell it out for me once: “We’re poor. You know that, right?”

By Mariah Mowbray

As I worked myself into a frenzy this spring writing a string of never-ending essays for what seemed like every financial-aid scholarship in existence, I wondered if I would be able or ready to take on the burden of a loan. I can only imagine what I’d be facing if I also needed to worry about paying for college classes that didn’t count toward my degree.

By Susie Smith

The role of a high school guidance counselor has evolved rapidly in the past few decades, becoming an even more essential component of a student’s path to education beyond high school. No longer simply about scheduling, high school guidance counseling is more about being able to advocate for and advise students as they make important transitions to postsecondary life.

By Eliza Jane Schaeffer

Educators call me gifted, but really I’m just lucky. While I dissected a variety of animals in Academy Advanced Biology, students outside of the magnet program dissected none. While I participated in a month-long qualitative analysis in Academy Advanced Chemistry, my peers in other classes did not. While I am taught how to approach applying for college in a weekly zero hour seminar, other students, who may need it more than I, are not.

By Naomi Kellogg

I will always remember the first play I was in. The “gifted” group in my first grade class put on a production of “Elmer’s Colors.” In the story, Elmer, who is an extremely colorful elephant, learns to accept his uniqueness around all of the other elephants that are shades of gray. Cast as Elmer, it took me only a few moments to realize the differences between my classmates and me.

By Andrew Brennen

For those of us nearing the end of adolescence, we are experiencing the last time we can somewhat irresponsibly run around doing whatever we please with minor regard to consequence. There’s a plan to follow on the path to maturity: Go to college, spend four years studying harder than we ever have before, graduate, and prepare to drop to our knees begging along with our fellow graduates for a job that probably doesn’t yet exist while straddled with a total of somewhere between $902 billion and $1 trillion of debt from student loans.