<p>Not doubting their statistics (haven’t read the book), but I did read the article, which includes data from 4 states: Maryland, Virginia, N. Carolina, Ohio.</p>
<p>According to the article, finances were a big contributing factor to undermatching. And they admit to many “unmeasurables.” Each student has individual and complex reasons for choosing a college and for dropping out.</p>
<p>From the article:</p>
<p>"The study also found that undermatching was more common among students from families with low incomes and those whose parents did not attend college. The flagship schools in the study drew only 36 percent of the well-qualified students from families with no college-going experience, and 41 percent of those from families whose incomes put them in the bottom quartile of the income distribution.“We don’t have a decisive way with the quantitative data that we have to figure out what’s causing the results, but we do have some hunches,” Mr. McPherson said in an interview. “If you go to a place where most people graduate, your family will expect that you’re going to graduate. Where graduation is less of the norm, you’re just one of the crowd.” </p>
<p>The researchers speculated that the more-competitive schools may have better facilities, better teachers, more financial assistance, or more-extensive counseling.</p>
<p>Some other experts have pointed out, however, that the findings do not take into account other differences among students, such as variations in motivation or drive, that could also explain the better outcomes for high-achieving students at the elite schools."</p>
<p>IMO, they need to focus on the under-qualified students who are most responsible for the low grad rates. I think factors such as lower family income and lower parent education levels (class issues) pretty much explain the undermatching and lower grad. rates among otherwise highly qualified students.</p>