Program honored for getting kids interested in college
By Rob Rogers
Redding Record Searchlight | November 20, 2008
| REDDING -- A statewide higher education advocacy group Wednesday named Redding's College OPTIONS program one of the top three programs of its kind in the state.
College OPTIONS and 14 other programs won recognition for increasing college awareness and college eligibility for high school students.
"It's quite an honor because there are so many programs throughout the state with similar missions," said Buffy Tanner, assistant director of College OPTIONS.
College OPTIONS was formed in 2003 and since that time, college application submissions from the area have increased 33 percent. At the same time Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) submissions, which are required for students seeking entrance to University of California and the California State University systems, have gone up 27 percent. |
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Briann Kubiak, 17, right, a senior at Central Valley High School, gets help with scholarship applications from her adviser Karissa Morehouse Wednesday at College OPTIONS. "It's been really, really useful," Kubiak said about the help she has received at the center. "A lot of people don't know how to apply for scholarships and it keeps them from applying to college." (Photo by Jakob Schiller / Record Searchlight) | |
The numbers of students seeking personalized help by visiting the College OPTIONS center have increased 67 percent over the past four years.
It was those numbers that caught the eyes of officials at Campaign for College Opportunities, said Lianne Richelieu Boren, director of College OPTIONS.
However, solid data on how many north state high schoolers actually go on to college is harder to come by, Boren said.
A number of agencies tracks the data, but all do it a different way and none seems to come up with the same number. Most recently, the Postsecondary Education Commission said 11.6 percent of the area's high school seniors continued on to college last year. But nearly every education official in the north state has called that number incorrect.
The recognition received Wednesday from Campaign for College Opportunities has elevated College OPTIONS' state and national profile. Boren said national education and college attendance foundations have contacted her group and expressed interest in offering financial support and using its practices on a national level.
Currently, College OPTIONS has partnerships with and is supported by the McConnell Foundation, the University of California and the California State University systems, Simpson University,National University,Shasta College, College of the Siskiyous, the Shasta Union High School District and others.
That broad coalition of educational organizations was one of the attributes highlighted in the award.
"Few college access programs served students in the north state region before College OPTIONS opened its doors," said Blake Ulveling, a spokesman for Campaign for College Opportunities. "The result (is) more students enrolling in college, more students becoming eligible to attend a CSU or UC and more students filling out the FAFSA."
Officials with College OPTIONS regularly visit schools and stage contests to raise college awareness in local high schools. It specializes in offering free resources to teens and their parents - such as workshops on how to pay for college and individual help navigating the college application process.
They see the recognition from Campaign for College Opportunities as a vote of confidence.
"It's a huge honor," Boren said.
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