Center helps smooth path to college for those in need
Free services provide students with ways to move obstacles to a degree
On a recent afternoon, a Spanish-speaking mother entered a quiet lounge tucked into the Carnegie Neighborhood Library, seeking help with her child’s financial aid documents for Lone Star Community College.
She needed to upload a statement with her annual income and explain that she is paid in cash. Soon, she sat at a laptop computer, working with a Spanish-speaking volunteer at Café College, a center marking its first anniversary in the Near Northside library.
Café College, founded in December 2016, is the latest effort in Houston to connect students with academic programs and certificates through free consulting services. Although any students can make use of the services, they are aimed at helping lowerincome students and those who are the first in their families to go to college or enroll in advanced education.
These programs recognize that high school and college guidance offices are thin on resources and that the city’s economy depends on younger people progressing beyond high school. In 2013, less than half of low-income high school graduates enrolled in two- and fouryear colleges, compared with 63.8 percent of middle-income students and 78.5 percent of wealthy students who graduated, according to the American Council on Education.
That gap “is a limiting factor in how our city can grow and develop in this highly educated, connected society,” said Anne Sung, vice president and chief strategy officer for Project Grad, a nonprofit that helps run Café College. She said centers like Café College will help solidify the pipeline.
Though some universities have boosted scholarship grants and counseling, the path to enrollment and then graduation remains challenging, especially for those who are first in their family to go to college.
5,369 visits in first year
Café College has held support groups for parents of first-generation college students, “perfecting the college essay” classes and sessions teaching students how to fill out financial-aid documents. Logos from universities in Houston and around the country are displayed on one wall: Texas Southern, Yale, Texas A&M, Rice.
Sponsored by former City Councilman Ed Gonzalez and grants from foundations and businesses, Café College had 5,369 visits in its first year, about in line with Sung’s expectations. At least 103 of the 226 people who allowed the center to track their progress enrolled in an academic or certificate program the following fall.
This year, Café College plans to add SAT preparation classes and improve local connections to be able to refer students to a broader array of degree programs, internships and other support services.
Houston college access centers focus on different groups of students based on their academic achievements, target colleges or demographics. Some organizations are embedded within school districts.
Others will keep working with students once they enroll in college, acknowledging that an acceptance letter doesn’t immediately eliminate substantial road blocks that low-income students face in college.
Pressure to excel
On Rice University’s campus on Saturday, local high school graduates now attending elite universities nationwide exchanged advice at a summit by the nonprofit Emerge. Founded in 2010, Emerge offers college preparation to top underserved local students.
Many Emerge fellows are the first of their family to go to college.
They described a deep sense of obligation of representing their race or gender in the classroom on Saturday. One student said she is one of four black women majoring in economics at Wellesley College, a private women’s college in Massachusetts.
There, she feels pressure to “not only just pass, but excel” in the popular major to show she belongs.
Facilitator Eldridge Gilbert, the managing director of schools at KIPP Public Charter Schools in San Francisco, urged students to remember that they earned their spots, even when they feel out of place.
“It can be really unhealthy to not own who you are and your own success in those spaces,” Gilbert said.
Recognizing these challenges, local colleges and universities are trying to make it easier for students to enroll and then graduate, too.
Both Houston Community College and Lone Star said in the fall they were aiming to be more present in high school districts to boost enrollment, and the University of HoustonDowntown and Texas Southern University have added more advisers to keep students on track.
Rice recently joined a national effort to expand recruiting of and support for lower-income students. President David Leebron said last month that Rice is considering how to help with things that could stress lower-income students, like additional expenses incurred beyond tuition.
Trisha Cornwell, Emerge’s executive director, said elite universities have a lot to offer top lowincome students despite the difficult admissions process.
“If we can get more students from underserved communities to get into these schools,” she said, “they’ll graduate at a higher rate and will come back to Houston to serve as a leadership pipeline for the city and invest in the city they grew up in.”