What Limits College Success? A Review and Further Analysis of Holzer and Baum’s Making College Work

Harry J. Holzer and Sandy Baum’s recent book, Making College Work: Pathways to Success for Disadvantaged Students, provides an excellent up-to-date review of higher education. My first summarizes its key themes: (i) who gains from college why, (ii) mismatch the need more structure, (iii) problems with remediation, (iv) financial barriers, (v) promise comprehensive support. I then critique book’s proposed solutions using some my own qualitative quantitative data. Some recommendations are worth considering, while others too expensive or unlikely make a meaningful difference without addressing underlying lack preparedness motivation students. argue that making mandatory existing services, such as application assistance advice, proactive tutoring advising, greater career transition support, has most immediate potential. (JEL I22, I23, I24)