33 Journal of The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, Vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 33-56 An Examination of Relationships Between Precollege Outreach Programs and College Attendance Patterns Among Minority Participants Taghreed A. Alhaddab and Katherine C. Aquino Seton Hall University Abstract. This study is an examination of the relationship between participation in precollege outreach programs and students’ college access patterns (i.e., enrollment patterns and timing in postsecondary institutions), comparing different racial/ ethnic groups. The study included a series of logistic regression models to investigate relationships between participation in precollege outreach programs (GEAR UP, Talent Search, and Upward Bound) during secondary education (i.e., 9th through 12th grades) and college attendance for minority participants. The Education Longitudinal Study dataset (ELS:2002) was used, and the sample (N = 8,938) included precollege program participants (5% of the total sample) and nonparticipants (the reference group) who had finished their high school education and either enrolled in a postsecondary institution or joined the workforce. Results indicate a relationship between participation in precollege outreach programs, especially Talent Search, and college attendance patterns. The discussion addresses the role precollege programs play in the academic lives of historically underrepresented students and the potential that precollege programs have in narrowing the current racial/ethnic college-going gap. Te number of low-income African American and Latino students atending postsecondary institutions has increased dramatically since 1967 (NCES, 2014). Although researchers have documented signifcant improvements in access and academic achievement, a notable gap still exists in college enrollment rates amongst African American and Latino students, along with an overrepresentation of these minority groups at two-year institutions (Avery & Kane, 2004; Carnevale & Strohl, 2010; Council for Opportunity in Education, 2012; Mortenson, 2001; Perna, 2002, 2006; Swail & Perna, 2002). Over the years, postsecondary institutions have become more stratifed by race and socioeconomic status, causing a large disparity in degree type, occupational atainment, and earnings among college graduates (Perna, 2006) and leading to future earning di ferentials and problems with upward social mobility (Taggart & Crisp, 2011). To reduce this gap, the federal government, state legislators, colleges and universities, and even some private organizations spend billions of dollars yearly to sponsor initiatives and programs aiming to narrow current racial/