By Bill Zeeble, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-858844.mp3
Dallas, TX –
The Dallas School District just got a 3 million dollar injection of scholarship money aimed at the least likely of college hopefuls - students from families where no one ever went to college. KERA's Bill Zeeble has more
President and CEO of Texas A&M University Commerce - Doctor Dan Jones - says he knows this college plan faces challenges. His school has put up 3.2 million dollars in scholarships to attract minority students, especially Hispanics. He also hopes to lure those who may be the first ever from their family to go to college. That's its own obstacle.
Dr. Dan Jones, President CEO Texas A&M University Commerce: One of the best ways to predict success in college is to ask "Did your parents go to college?" If your parents went to college then chances of success go way up.
So Jones says those working this program, a non-profit called Education is Freedom - EIF - start early, in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. They target motivated and bright kids who, for various reasons, might never think of college. Doctor Marcus Martin heads the non-profit Education is Freedom.
Doctor Marcus Martin: We start with kids in the 6th grade. We hire college advisers we pay for in the schools. They're full time at the middle school and the high school. So we're basically with the kids for 6 years. You're learning about the kid - their social skills, their academic skills, etc. Then matching them with the appropriate university.
That's what happened to 19 year-old Juan Terrazas. He graduated from DISD's North Dallas High School last year, and entered the EIF program while attending. He began dreaming of college in his sophomore year.
Juan Terrazas: I wanted to be somebody in life, not just go out there and struggle. I had seen how my dad struggled when he told me he didn't want me to be like him. He always told me I want you to be somebody in life. And that stuck to me.
Terrazas's father works in construction. With EIF help & scholarship money, young Juan is now a freshman at El Centro Community College, hoping to transfer to SMU. He says he's the first in his family - that includes his parents & four other siblings - to attend college, and even to graduate high school.
Terrazas: I thought of college but didn't think I could get into it. Now I know anything is possible.
A&M's Doctor Jones knows the program sounds altruistic, but there's a harshly practical side. He says underprivileged Hispanics are among the state's fastest growing populations with the lowest college-bound rate and the lowest earning power.
Jones: As a state, we're headed in a bad direction. If these trends continue, what's going to happen, as we become a majority Hispanic state, which we are on track to do, all of a sudden we'll be living in a state where the largest segment of the population is the least educated and the poorest.
Jones says A&M Commerce's goal is to ramp up the Hispanic student population from the current 10 percent to 25 percent. Students in the EIF program can rack up points towards A&M Commerce scholarships by taking SAT and ACT college prep courses, visiting the campus, even attending the college's football games. He says to make this minority and Hispanic recruitment program work, the university is especially focusing on families.
Jones: We want to make sure the students understand that the college degree will give them the tools they need to come back and help their family and their community. It's a combination of family and community values that formed the core of our strategy.
Jones says the immediate recruitment goal targets 50 students a year for the next 5. But he also imagines this will become a permanent - not just a 5 year - program.