SUMMER 2017 · VOL. 11 · NO. 02
Building Successful Transitions to College
The first graduating class of CAMBA’s Collegiate Express program celebrates with family and staff.
The two and four-year college degrees, along with all of the advantages of higher education, are now more important than ever for high school students from low-income backgrounds. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ predictions, by the year 2020, 65 percent of jobs will require a college degree and most of the fastest-growing occupations will require some level of postsecondary education. However, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, college enrollment rates among the poorest high school students have fallen to less than half of that population and will continue to fall unless action is taken to reverse this trend. CAMBA is ensuring that young people have access to educational opportunities that will lead to economic security. Through college access programs like Collegiate Express, Leading to College and Learning to Work, we level the playing field for high school students and provide them with the academic resources and social supports they need to succeed. The results are promising: This year, 100 percent of high school graduates from CAMBA’s Collegiate Express program received college acceptances and plan to attend college this fall. By 2020, we will have helped 1,000 low-income youth graduate high school and successfully transition into college. In this issue of the CAMBA Courier, we feature the achievements of graduates and mentors from these critical programs. BUILDING LADDERS TO SUCCESS 46% is the national average of students from 46% low-income familes who enroll in higher education after high school.
89%
89% of low-income graduates who participated in CAMBA’s LtC program enrolled in college.
SOURCES: U.S. CENSUS BUREAU AND DATA FROM CAMBA’S LEADING TO COLLEGE PROGRAM
From the President and CEO Each summer, CAMBA is thrilled to see young people from our community proudly process down the aisle in their caps and gowns to receive their high school diplomas. This is an incredibly momentous rite of passage that they share with their families and with many members of our dedicated staff. After the caps are tossed and after the family celebrations have concluded, what awaits these bright young students? Here at CAMBA, we applaud these students for overcoming what are oftentimes significant obstacles to gaining their high school diplomas, and we feel confident that our college access programs will allow them to go even farther after high school.
“By the year 2020, we will have helped 1,000 of these students successfully transition to college.” Through our Leading to College program, students like Breyanna (page 4), attend college classes while they’re still in high school, which breaks down the barriers and the unfamiliarity that might prevent many first-generation or economically disadvantaged young people from applying to and completing college. In another program, Learning to Work, young people like Jennifer (page 3), who face challenges both in and out of their high school classrooms, can reverse that negative cycle, receive critical career placement help and gain the assistance they need to enroll in college. Collegiate Express is another of CAMBA’s college access programs. This innovative program not only guides students like Faina Belle (page 3) through CONTINUE TO PAGE 2