Understanding the College-Choice Process Alberto F. Cabrera, Steven M. La NasaThe literature suggests that decisions to go to college are the result of a three-stage process that begins as early as the seventh grade and ends when the high school graduate enrolls at an institution of higher education (Hossler, Braxton, and Coopersmith, 1989). In undergoing each phase of the college-choice process, high school students develop predispositions to attend college, search for general information about college, and make choices leading them to enroll at a given institution of higher education.

Using data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988, this chapter seeks to gain a better understanding of what factors assist economically and sociologically underprivileged Americans to ready themselves for college.

According to estimates by the National Center for Education Statistics, almost three million youths were enrolled at the eighth grade in 1988. 1 Seven hundred thousand of them came from the lowest-socioeconomic status (SES) quartile. This chapter examines the fate of these students as they endure three critical tasks on their path to college: acquiring the necessary academic qualifications for college work, securing a high school diploma, and applying and enrolling in a four-year institution of higher education. Figure 2.1 depicts the path to college followed by one thousand 1988 eighth graders, regardless of their socioeconomic background. As one examines a student' s progression through these three critical checkpoints, we find that the defining characteristic of the college enrollee is the acquisition of college qualifications, 2 which begins as early as the eighth grade. 3 Students who secure college qualifications while in high school have a higher chance of enrolling in college than those who do not. Seventy percent of collegequalified high school graduates enrolled in a four-year institution 4 immediately following high school completion, whereas only 13 percent of those who did not secure college qualifications enrolled. Even obtaining only a minimum level of college qualifications increased a student

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