Educational attainment is important for economic and personal well-being. While policy makers continue efforts to increase access to higher education, a national outcomes have yet to improve. Higher education application and attendance is complex and heavily influenced by predetermined factors. Social capital and a thorough barriers analysis begin to unpack the context and issues around high school graduation and college going, specifically for minority, low income, and first-generation students. An analysis of higher education outcomes nationwide and within Arizona, specifically in the Phoenix Union High School District (highly representative of low income, first generation, and minority students) reveals that current trajectories are not enough to significantly improve educational attainment. Some notable programs exist that have implemented student, school, and scholarship centered interventions, in addition to conditional acceptances. This paper will create a simulation of a new intervention based on past efforts and their outcomes, ‘Automatic Acceptances,’ within the state of Arizona starting in the 2017-2018 school year until the 2030-2031 school year. Overall, given the increase in educational attainment as a result of the simulation, the ‘Automatic Acceptances’ intervention is validated.

In the United States, the importance of acquiring higher education has steadily increased with almost two-thirds of the population attending some college or university (U.S. Census Bureau). Across different socioeconomic groups, the accessibility of higher education is vastly different. Factors such as low income, immigration status, and familiarity with national policies and institutions pose significant obstacles, especially for low-income communities of color. As the standard of skills needed for a productive career heightens, research needs to target specific marginalized communities that may disproportionately face barriers to entry into the pursuit of higher education. In this study, I will focus efforts on Maryvale, Arizona to assess the impact of socioeconomic status (SES) on educational attainment levels. 20% of Maryvale’s population falls below the federal poverty line, a greater proportion than the rest of Arizona. While income and poverty levels contribute as obstacles to the process of development, they are compounded by factors such as limited English-speaking ability and a lack of health insurance within Maryvale’s population. This study uses data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to show how low socioeconomic status has a negative relationship with higher educational attainment in historically underserved communities like Maryvale.