Rutgers Report Seeks to Reconnect Newark Students with Educational Opportunities

On Aug 27, 2024

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, total postsecondary enrollment in colleges and universities in New Jersey fell 6.7% from the spring of 2022, higher than the national drop of 4.1%.

Within the city of Newark, higher education institutions experienced an even greater drop of 9% in undergraduate enrollment, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Within Newark, 18.4% of teens and young adults aged 16 to 24 are considered to be “disconnected,” neither working nor in school, a rate which had been declining for several years until the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the trend.

The Newark City of Learning Collaborative and the New Jersey State Policy Lab, which is a partnership between the Edward J. Bloustein School of Public Policy in Rutgers-New Brunswick and the School of Public Affairs and Administration in Rutgers-Newark, have developed a qualitative study to explore how institutions and communities within the city of Newark might reengage “COVID-disconnected” youth between the ages of 18 and 26.

Notably, NJ Assembly Bill 398 established the Office of Dropout Prevention and Reengagement of Out-of-School Youth in 2024 to inform the narrative gap between “dropout youth” (as articulated in the bill) and the lived experience of “college-ready” 18- to 26-year-olds who are not currently enrolled in college.

Researchers conducted a series of interviews and focus groups with Newark youth who have graduated high school or obtained a GED, but are not currently enrolled in college, along with a variety of personnel from community programs and organizations that directly work with or provide support to Newark youth who are disconnected from college. Some key findings from these interviews include:

• It is recommended that educators, researchers, organizers, and policymakers consider 18- to 26-year-olds who have graduated from high school, but are not currently enrolled in college, as a distinct group from those who have dropped out of college or high school.
• While several community-based organizations in Newark offer support with planning for the future, youth do not always know what is available and how to access these supports. It is recommended that the Student Dropout Prevention Task Force collaborate with such organizations to better engage with disconnected youth.
• Students who started on a path towards postsecondary education and quit during the COVID-19 pandemic are unsure of how to return, and it is recommended that colleges, and universities develop programming to better reach this subpopulation.

“Our goal is to provide Newark and the state of New Jersey with the tools to work toward a more student-centered approach in reengaging these youth,” explained Robyn Ince, co-author of the report and executive director of the Newark City of Learning Collaborative. “We want to accomplish this by utilizing and connecting many of the supports that are already have in place, from both community-based organizations, the Student Dropout Prevention Task Force, and others.”

Read the report here: https://policylab.rutgers.edu/report-release-reengaging-covid-disconnected-college-students-in-newark/

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