Giving Compass' Take:

• Undermatching is when high school students enroll in less selective and less expensive colleges because they can not afford to enroll in their first choice schools, despite their qualifications. Achievement First, a charter network in Brooklyn, is addressing this issue by offering scholarships to low-income students who want to attend more expensive schools with higher graduation rates. 

• The scholarship money will come from the state, and if the program is successful, philanthropic funds could help expand program opportunities. 

• Read more about the issue of undermatching in predominantly low-income and minority students. 

Amy Christie has seen it many times. A student gets into a great college and heads to admitted students’ weekend, excited to explore their academic future. Then they start examining financial aid packages — and the numbers just don’t add up.

The result: Instead of enrolling at that school, the student ends up somewhere less expensive and less selective. Researchers call the phenomenon of enrolling in a college that doesn’t line up with academic skills “undermatching,” and it’s more common among students from low-income families.

Achievement First, which operates 36 schools across three states, is about to try a new way of addressing the problem. The network’s Brooklyn board approved a plan last week to offer scholarships to students who opt to attend a more expensive school with a higher graduation rate for black and Hispanic students.

It’s the latest attempt by a charter network serving mostly students of color from low-income families to help their graduates make it all the way through college — something that the schools acknowledge is a challenge. One reason is the financial burden college can put on students and their families.

Here’s how the scholarship will work: To be eligible, a high school senior must be choosing among colleges, including one that is more expensive but has a substantially higher graduation rate among black and Hispanic students. Students would be selected based on their financial need, academic track record, and other qualities like motivation.

Matt Chingos, the vice president of education data and policy at the Urban Institute said, “For an individual student, there’s nothing inherently wrong with going to a less selective college. The reason folks are concerned about it — and the reason I think it’s a problem — is because it’s a pattern in the data we predominantly see from lower-income families.”

Read the full article about charter network will address undermatching by Matt Barnum at Chalkbeat.