Replicating Success
Recent college grads help low-income students
navigate the path to college through innovative program.
By Blair S. Walker
A University of Virginia program with a track record of improving college enrollment and graduation among low-income students is being replicated at 10 other schools nationwide, with the help of a $10-million grant.
The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation has decided to copy UVa’s three-year-old College Guide program, which uses recent UVa graduates to guide Virginia high school and community college students through the process of enrolling in four-year institutions.
Thanks to the Cooke Foundation, the program is being exported to Brown University, Franklin & Marshall College, Loyola College, Pennsylvania State University, Tufts University, the University of Alabama, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Missouri-Columbia, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Utah, in conjunction with the Massachusetts Campus Compact.
Cooke Foundation officials say they hope to realize results similar to those achieved by the College Guide program at Holston High School in Damascus, Va. Prior to becoming involved with College Guide, Holston traditionally sent 50 percent of its graduates to some form of higher education.
That number increased to 85 percent after College Guide stepped into the picture.
