Powerful Partnerships - Lumina Foundation · 2018. 1. 30. · Matthew J. Quinn, executive director,...

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PowerfulPartnerships:

Independent CollegesShare High-impact

Strategies forLow-income

Students’Success

Richard Ekman, Russell Garth and John F. Noonan, EditorsV o l u m e 5 • N u m b e r 4 • O c t o b e r 2 0 0 4

AcknowledgmentsThe nation’s independent colleges and universities contribute significantly to the education of studentsfrom lower-income families. The presidents of these institutions, as insightful observers of the range ofinstitutional initiatives critical to success, have been instrumental in this work. Therefore, we thank the 43busy presidents who offered, from their observation posts, to prepare essys for this volume. We areindebted especially to the 15 presidents invited to contribute chapters.

This volume would not have been possible without the active involvement of an advisory committee,whose deliberations framed the original concept, whose judgments helped to select the 15 presidentsinvited to submit essays, and whose comments shaped the final documents. The committee’s membersinclude:

Larry L. Earvin, president, Huston-Tillotson CollegeA. lee Fritschler, professor, School of Public Policy, George Mason UniversityJamie Merisotis, president, Institute for Higher Education PolicyJohn F. Noonan, president emeritus, Bloomfield CollegeMatthew J. Quinn, executive director, Jack Kent Cooke Foundation

Finally, Lumina Foundation for Education not only published this book but also provided essentialfinancial support that enabled presidents and their staffs to gather data and draft the essays.

Richard Ekman, president, Council of Independent CollegesRussell Garth, executive vice president, Council of Independent CollegesJohn F. Noonan, president emeritus, Bloomfield CollegeEditors

Introduction 1

St. Edward’s University: Migrant students 7

Alaska Pacific University: Rural Alaska Native Adult program 13

Wilson College: Single mothers with children 19

College of St. Catherine: “Dear Neighbor” mission 25

Hampshire College: Partnering with community organizations 31

Arcadia University: Starting with eighth-graders 39

Merrimack College: Accept the Challenge program 47

Cedar Crest College: Women and science 53

Claflin University: Raise the bar for all 59

Dillard University: Mission, maintenence and growth 63

Berea College: Planning for retention 69

Heritage University: President as tour guide 79

College of Notre Dame of Maryland: Young and adult women 89

Mount St. Mary’s College: Full range of services 101

South Vermont College: College of opportunity 107

International comparisons 115

Epilogue: Fertile ground 119

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C olleges and universities facefinancial and educational challengesin educating low-income students.The challenges arise not only fromthe students’ more limited financialresources, a situation itself sufficiently daunting,but also from often related factors that affectstudents’ preparation for and motivation to pursuehigher education. To address this problem inkeeping with America’s commitment to egalitarianopportunity, higher education has taken a numberof steps over the last half century to level theplaying field for individuals and families. Sizablesums of governmental and private money havecreated a variety of student financial aid programs.A greatly expanded network of communitycolleges and state universities has reduced thecosts associated with distance. To deal with theaccompanying issues of motivation and prepara-tion, most higher educational institutions — publicand private — have instituted a broad range ofoutreach initiatives, pre-college programs,developmental courses, and tutoring and studyskills classes.

These institutional, state and national effortsunquestionably have helped; every institution in

the country can cite inspirational stories of studentachievement in the face of significant obstacles.But the overall problem is far from solved. Studentsfrom low-income families still do not participate inhigher education as often as other students; whenthey do, they are still not as successful.

Therefore, identifying institutions successful ineducating low-income students offers an importantopportunity to learn from them. That is thepurpose of this volume of essays. Presidents of 15independent colleges and universities that havehad genuine success admitting, sustaining andgraduating low-income students reflect on thosesuccesses. The authors discuss how their institu-tions have addressed students’ low-incomecircumstances, but — more important — they alsoprovide insight into methods of reaching andunderstanding these students and thus shapingenvironments amenable to their educational goals.

This introductory essay establishes severalcontexts for these presidential perspectives. First, itsketches the recent re-emergence of this issue onthe agenda for higher education and describes thisparticular volume as a part of that nationalconversation. It then offers several approaches tothe individual essays. After the essays, an epilogue

POWERFUL PARTNERSHIPS 1

provides a summary of this type of institution andraises a few key policy implications of thiscollection of essays.

Back on the agendaIn the past few years, a number of national

studies have argued that American highereducation — and the various government andphilanthropic agencies that support it — substan-tially should improve education for low-incomestudents. In 2001, the College Board releasedSwimming Against the Tide: The Poor in AmericanHigher Education (Patrick T. Terenzini, Alberto F.Cabrera and Elena M. Bernal). The AdvisoryCommittee on Student Financial Assistance(appointed by the United States Congress)prepared Access Denied: Restoring the Nation’sCommitment to Equal Educational Opportunity (2001)and Empty Promises: The Myth of College Access inAmerica (2002). The papers commissioned by theAdvisory Committee were published in Conditionof Access: Higher Education for Lower Income Students(edited by Donald E. Heller, 2002).

The National Center for Public Policy andHigher Education released Measuring Up 2002:The State-By-State Report Card for Higher Educationand Losing Ground: National Status Report on theAffordability of American Higher Education (both2002). Lumina Foundation for Education issuedCollege Affordability: Overlooked Long-Term Trendsand Recent 50-State Patterns (2000) and UnequalOpportunity: Disparities in College Access Among the50 States (2002). Most recently, the CenturyFoundation asked a number of experts on theseissues to contribute to America’s Untapped Resource:Low-Income Students in Higher Education (2004).

These reports argue that the recent federal,state and institutional efforts to establish merit-based student financial aid primarily benefit themiddle and upper classes and have distractedcolleges and universities from the difficult work ofenrolling and educating low-income students.Indeed, the first study of the Advisory Committeeon Student Financial Assistance reported that only6 percent of students in the lowest income level

earn bachelor’s degrees; for students in the highestincome level, the rate is 40 percent (Access Denied,Pages 4-5). These various organizations andauthors do not always promote identical solutions.Some stress financial aid; others emphasize theimportance of early preparation, college outreachand support services.

Taken together, however, these studies havereturned the higher education system’s attention tothis problem. However, large-scale governmentalsolutions do not seem likely, particularly given thesignificant budgetary problems that governments(states in particular) face.

Including independent colleges anduniversities in the conversation

Some important success stories in educatinglow-income students take place at small and mid-sized independent institutions. Yet these examplesof effective practices are typically either buried inreports of national data or are invisible beyond thespotlight trained on the most selective privateuniversities. Therefore, private institutions’ often-remarkable contributions to the education of low-income students routinely are overlooked, andstate and federal policy discussions are denied aview of the entire field of play.

For example, Lumina Foundation’s UnequalOpportunity report concluded, “private four-yearcolleges generally are the least frequentlyaffordable types of institutions.” We did not agreeand thus proposed this book of essays as a way tobring to this national conversation a deeperunderstanding of how private colleges anduniversities can encourage access to highereducation by low-income students and facilitateand their educational achievement.

Together, the Council of Independent Colleges(CIC) and Lumina Foundation asked independentcolleges and universities to share their accomplish-ments in this area. Accordingly, CIC invitedcollege presidents to prepare essays describingtheir practices and successes in educating low-income students. CIC asked presidents toconcentrate when possible on students from

2 POWERFUL PARTNERSHIPS


families reporting no more that $25,000 of totalincome on financial aid applications.1 From the 43presidents who expressed interest, CIC invited 15to prepare essays and asked them to highlight theirstrategies and results in recruiting and graduatingstudents.

The resulting essays present a series ofsnapshots — each taken from the vantage point ofthe president’s office — of the range of institu-tional efforts instrumental in ensuring access andsuccess for low-incomestudents. When successful,such education is complexand multifaceted, usuallyinvolving an entire networkof attentive campus facultymembers and staff, as well asconnections beyond thecampus. Presidents areuniquely positioned to assessthis broad range of mutuallyreinforcing campuspractices. This publication isnot, however, a systematicresearch study that presentscross-institutional dataabout graduation rates andthen provides comparative analyses of the variousinstitutional practices responsible for those results.Perhaps such a study should follow. This volumedoes, however, provide compelling narratives frominstitutions that should have a real role in thenational discussion.

Ingredients of successThese essays provide intriguing views of the

ingredients of success. Three such elements thatrecur in these chapters are worth highlighting atthis point: student financial aid, initiatives thatfocus on particular populations, and some generalcampus characteristics that increase likelihood ofsuccess for low-income students.

1. Meeting financial needA major ingredient, of course, is dollars. A

student’s financial situation is the definitionalcharacteristic here, and all of the colleges profiledtackle it directly. First, institutions ensure thatstudents use all relevant government dollars, fromPell and state need-based grants to federal andstate educational opportunity program monies. Butmany institutions also discovered — or raised —funds that could be targeted for these students.The important message of the institutionalexamples offered here is that student aid is not an

assembly-line process. Theessays show the colleges’considerable imaginationand industry in using avariety of specially targetedaid dollars as well as inraising their own focusedfunds.

For example, the AlaskaNatives served by AlaskaPacific University oftenhave access to tribalcouncil scholarships,employer support andother funds intendedexclusively for thesepopulations. However, the

university has also been alert to ways in which thefederal Community Reinvestment Act, whichencourages philanthropic activities from banks,could be used to direct money to their program.St. Edward’s University’s early use of the CollegeAssistance Migrant Program (CAMP) is anotherexample of finding federal funds targeted to aparticular group of students.

Importantly, however, a number of theseinstitutions have added institutional money totheir work with low-income students. Several haveestablished special scholarship programs usinginstitutional dollars — for example, MerrimackCollege’s Accept the Challenge scholarships andHampshire College’s James Baldwin ScholarsProgram. St. Edward’s University and HeritageUniversity have created special endowments, andBerea College has built a considerable endowment

These essays present a series

of snapshots — each taken

from the vantage point of the

president’s office — of the

range of institutional efforts

instrumental in ensuring

access and success for

low-income students.

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Several essays illustrate a

genuinely sensitive attention

to student financial need.

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that, along with its work requirement for allstudents, enables each student to attend tuition-free. The Berea situation is unusual, but severalother institutions (Dillard, Heritage, Claflin andMerrimack) have also intentionally kept theirtuitions as low as possible, a sometimes-overlookedoption for private college pricing.

Finally, several essays illustrate a genuinelysensitive attention to student financial need.During the admissions process, Dillard Universitystaff work directly with families to reach a mutualunderstanding of financial feasibility. HeritageUniversity has created an emergency loan fund,food bank and system of promissory notes.

2. Targeting specific populationsSeen broadly, the essays depict two general

approaches to educating low-income studentseffectively. One route is concentration on aparticular population of low-income students —for example, migrants or native Alaskans. Theother is fine-tuning thecollege itself by strengthen-ing its capacity to meet theneeds of all students. Thisdistinction organizes theessays in this collection. Thevolume begins with thoseessays that describeoutreach to specific low-income populations andthe resulting programs tailored to the subtledynamics of their learning situations.

The first two essays describe institutions thatserve two distinct rural populations — St. Edward’sUniversity (migrant farm workers) and AlaskaPacific University (native Alaskans). Over 30years, the St. Edward’s College Assistance MigrantProgram (CAMP) has prepared 2,200 students forcollege through summer residential programs; 60percent have earned at least a bachelor’s degree.The president notes that building partnershipswith parents is one key piece of the puzzle ineducating first-generation students who have veryclose family ties. President George Martinintroduces a recurring theme in these essays: the

importance of finely nuanced programs forindividuals from families who have not alwaysfound higher education familiar or congenial.

Alaska Pacific’s Rural Alaska Natives Program ismuch newer — it began in 1999 — but earlyresults point to the effectiveness of this high-tech/high-touch distance education program thatcombines a focus on the leadership needs of ruralAlaska with a project-based curriculum thatincludes a short-term residency and Internetseminars.

Wilson College and the College of St.Catherine paid special attention to single mothersand attained striking results with this group of at-risk undergraduates. Both institutions dedicatespaces in campus residences for single mothers andtheir children, and both have designed activitiesespecially for them, thus taking the education of“the whole person” to a new level.

Hampshire College maintains cooperativerelationships with two community-based organiza-

tions 20 miles away inSpringfield, Mass. Theseorganizations havesuccessful records ofpreparing young African-American men throughacademic skills courses andthe GED program, and

Hampshire’s special one-year transition programhas maintained that momentum.

Arcadia University and Merrimack Collegealso have used partnerships — in their cases, withurban schools — to enroll low-income students;both have attained impressive results. At Arcadia’sPhiladelphia partner, Morris E. Leeds MiddleSchool, fewer than half of the students go on tofinish high school. The Leeds students in theArcadia program, however, have all finished highschool, and 90 percent have entered college.

Merrimack College also begins working withstudents before college. Students in the English asa Second Language program at a nearby highschool are admitted to an Accept the Challengeprogram as high school freshmen or sophomores.


They attend after-school programs two to fourdays per week and are guaranteed full four-yeartuition, room and board scholarships if they areaccepted to Merrimack. At Merrimack’s partner,Lawrence High School, half of the students dropout before graduating, but all of the students inMerrimack’s program havefinished high school andhave entered college.

Cedar Crest College hasfocused on low-incomewomen who want tobecome scientists. Thecollege has learned thatoffering undergraduatesopportunities to engage inscientific research and eventually to supervise theresearch of younger students increases likelihoodof degree completion in science and pursuit ofgraduate degrees.

3. Establishing a supportive academic cultureSeveral of the institutions — Dillard, Claflin,

Berea, Heritage, Notre Dame of Maryland, MountSt. Mary’s and Southern Vermont — havefashioned academic and campus cultures thatsupport and challenge all students and havethereby accommodated low-income studentswithout recruiting them in particular. Severalpresidents point out proudly that their institutionsdo nothing for low-income students that they donot also do for other students. Indeed, nationaldata indicate that higher percentages of low-income students enroll and graduate from smallerprivate colleges than from four-year publicuniversities.2

In the mid-1990s, two historically blackinstitutions, Dillard University and ClaflinUniversity, undertook a difficult type of institu-tional renewal: raising the quality of the studentbody while deepening their long-standingcommitment to students from the bottom ranks offamily income. In both instances, a new presidentled the college into a bold strategic planning effortthat dramatically increased enrollment, applicant

quality, scholarships, quality of the physical plantand institutional reputation.

About the same time, Berea College undertooka similarly far-reaching planning effort to increasethe retention and graduation rates of its mainlylow-income, Southern Appalachian population

while increasing thenumber of African-American students. Berea’ssuccess (the number ofAfrican-American studentsdoubled from 1996 to2003) is owed to severalfactors: the skills studentsdeveloped through Berea’sunique Labor Program,

service-learning opportunities, counseling servicesand the Black Music Ensemble, in which manyAfrican-American students participate.

Like Berea, Heritage University’s student bodyoverwhelmingly comprises low-income students,especially Native Americans and Hispanics.Significantly, many Heritage staff also representthose populations, thus helping to create adistinctive multicultural atmosphere. Campusarchitecture, artwork and the curriculum itself alsocontribute to this environment. Attending toresearch on student success, Heritage integratedactive and collaborative learning as well asemergency loans and child care to studentsneeding those services.

At the College of Notre Dame of Maryland,low-income students earn their degrees at the samerate as other students because of a campus culturethat supports students from their first contact withthe college. Although no programs are designedexpressly for low-income students, the supportservices are steeped appropriately in respect forpersonal relationships and in the ethos of awomen’s college. Of particular interest to readers isthe college’s equal commitment to supporting andchallenging students, regardless of family income.

Like the College of Notre Dame, Mount St.Mary’s College attains impressive results with low-income students without designing a program

Several of the institutions

have fashioned academic and

campus cultures that support

and challenge all students

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especially for them. Although the case describesmany salient features of Mount St. Mary’s work,some readers will be especially interested in thecollege’s teaching methods and other aspects offaculty and staff development, as well as itsreliance on a two-year degree to draw minoritystudents into the four-year degree program.

Although Southern Vermont College’s campusclimate enables students from every economiclevel to be successful, the college has learned alongthe way that two programs celebrated in theliterature on student success did not work on theircampus: a course for freshmen and a peer-mentoring program. Because the college has beensuccessful with at-risk students in other areas, itsexperiences can inform similar colleges that areconsidering such programs.

The book’s final essay summarizes the efforts ofthree international institutions that are successfully


educating low-income students. This essay remindsus that, despite socioeconomic and politicaldifferences, educating low-income students is aworldwide issue. Instead of asking their presidentsto prepare full essays, we have included, as anappendix, a brief summary of some work withsimilar populations.

Richard Ekman, presidentCouncil of Independent Colleges

Russell Garth, executive vice presidentCouncil of Independent Colleges

John F. Noonan, president emeritusBloomfield College

I n 1972, 12 years afterthe broadcast of EdwardR. Murrow’s Harvest ofShame — a ground-breaking documentary on theplight of migrant farmworkers in America — St.Edward’s University, a smallprivate university in Austin,Texas, was one of fiveAmerican colleges chosen toestablish a federally fundedCollege Assistance MigrantProgram (CAMP). At thetime, college seemed a distantand inaccessible dream formost children of migrant farmworkers. Born into lifestylethat seemed almost impos-sible to escape, they workedlong hours in the fields withtheir parents. Conflictsbetween school calendars and


St. Edward’s University:Migrant students

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Location: Austin, Texas

President: George Martin

Affiliation: Congregation of the Holy Cross

Undergraduate enrollment: 2,530

Summary: The College Assistance Migrant

Program (CAMP) recruits migrant farm

workers through individual attention to the

student and his or her cultural, familial and

economic barriers to higher education.

CAMP’s ongoing support services are

responsible for dramatic successes and have

improved education for the entire student

body.

the harvest schedule severelydisrupted their educations.Demands such as these madecompleting a high schooldiploma — let alone acollege degree — extremelydifficult, even though theyknew that education couldprovide an alternative tomigrant life.

CAMP aimed to helpmigrant students break thiscycle. Because a student’s firstyear of college is critical toacademic success, theprogram provided migrantstudents with financial andacademic support duringtheir first two semesters. Theprogram was a perfect matchfor St. Edward’s, which wasfounded by the Congrega-tion of the Holy Cross to


provide educational opportunities to students ofvaried cultural, religious, educational and eco-nomic backgrounds.

Despite its mission and the best of intentions,however, the university was unprepared for thecultural adjustment required by the sudden influxin 1973 of 70 migrant students, the majority ofwhom were Hispanic, lived below the povery line,and had little to no experience living in an urbansetting. Some of the university’s 1,200 studentswere minorities, and some were economicallydisadvantaged. However, most were white andmiddle-class. St. Edward’svery quickly realized theneed for support services tohelp migrant studentsnegotiate their new environ-ment and sensitize facultymembers and other studentsto the cultural differences.

So great was theuniversity’s commitment tothe program and to achievingtrue diversity that, by 1976,CAMP was generating enormous positive energyon campus. Moreover, by the late 1980s, theCarnegie Institute for the Advancement ofTeaching acknowledged the St. Edward’s programas a model for serving disadvantaged students.Today, St. Edward’s CAMP program is the longest-running program of its kind in the United States.During its 31-year history, the program hasprovided college access and mentoring to morethan 2,200 migrant students through a broad scopeof personalized services designed to help themovercome their educational disadvantages andsucceed academically.

About 40 freshmen have entered the programevery year since 1990. St. Edward’s recruitsprospective CAMP students by investing in earlyoutreach. With support from the Texas EducationAgency and Texas Workforce Commission, theuniversity hosts a seven-week Graduation Enhance-ment Program (GEP) each summer for migrantstudents in ninth through twelfth grades. GEP

students take classes at St. Edward’s for high schoolcredit and work at local government and businessoffices, earning pay for their time in the classroomand on the job. Meanwhile, career counseling andenrichment activities familiarize the students withthe college campus and with CAMP.

The Office of Undergraduate Admission andCAMP staff focus specialized recruiting efforts onmore than 30 high schools. Most are in Texas andare served by the Texas Education Agency’s Region13 Educational Service Center; a few are in Floridaand other states. The CAMP director and an

admission counselor devotedhalf time to CAMP recruit-ment work closely withRegion 13 staff and partici-pate in the region’s migrantstudent events, including asummer leadership academy.St. Edward’s also hosts an on-campus CAMP preview dayfor Region 13 migrantstudents and a recruitment-focused reception for

CAMP-eligible students and their families in theRio Grande Valley, home of many CAMP students.The admission counselor visits every targeted highschool and helps high school counselors arrangegroup campus visits for migrant students. Theseefforts are quite successful; more than 450 migrantstudents visited St. Edward’s to learn more aboutCAMP in 2002 to 2003.

Intensifying the personal attention that St.Edward’s considers standard in recruiting studentshelps to minimize socioeconomic and familydisadvantages for CAMP students, most of whomare the first in their families to attend college. In a1990 study of CAMP students at St. Edward’s,sociologist John Houghton found that fewer than40 percent reported two parents born in thiscountry. Their parents’ formal education was farbelow that of the general population; fewer than15 percent had completed high school.

Students who qualify for CAMP meet theadmission requirements of St. Edward’s, are U.S.

During its 31-year history,

the program has provided

college access and mentoring

to more than 2,200

migrant students.

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citizens or legal resident aliens, and demonstratethat migrant or seasonal farm work is their family’sprimary source of income. The family or studentmust have performed migrant or seasonal farmwork for at least 75 days during the 24 monthsbefore applying.

Any CAMP student would name money as thesingle largest barrier to college attendance. “Formost of our lives we grow uphelping our familiesfinancially by working inthe fields, and leaving forcollege means that there willbe one less person helpingout,” said JeremÌas Alvarezof Presidio, Texas. Alvarez, a2001 St. Edward’s graduate,is now a policy analystintern with the Federal FarmCredit Administration.“When students hear aboutthe cost of attending collegeand compare it to the income their parents make,going to college seems almost impossible.”

To overcome financial obstacles, St. Edward’sprovides each CAMP student with a sizableassistance package. Funded in part by a $361,100annual federal CAMP grant, this assistance coverstuition, fees, books, living expenses, transporta-tion, health insurance and a modest stipend tooffset each student’s lost wages. For most CAMPstudents, the financial assistance package covers allbut $2,000 of the total cost of attendance.Students and their families borrow the remaining$2,000 through a federal Stafford Loan or enroll inthe university’s interest-free payment plan.

Since 1972, St. Edward’s financial commitmentto CAMP students has grown substantially,whereas the federal CAMP grant has remainedrelatively constant. CAMP now has a $3.2 millionendowment. Between 1990 and 1999, the averageuniversity-funded CAMP grant grew by more than250 percent, from $5,400 to $13,675. In the 2003-2004 academic year, the typical CAMP grant fromSt. Edward’s increased to $14,100.

The university pledges that no CAMP studentwill have to leave St. Edward’s for financial reasons.After a student completes the two-semesterprogram, the university guarantees three additionalyears of institutional grants if the student maintainssatisfactory academic progress. Moreover, CAMPstaff members help students identify and apply forscholarships from corporations, foundations and

other private sources tomeet their continuingeducation costs. Forexample, CAMP studentBrenda Cornejo from EaglePass, Texas, received the2002 Migrant FarmworkerBaccalaureate Scholarshipfrom the Boces (formerlyGeneseo) Migrant Centerin New York. Based onacademic merit, the grantprovides up to $20,000 andalso can fund graduate

study. Only one award is given annually; three ofthe last five honorees have been St. Edward’sUniversity students.

Many CAMP students support their owneducation and simultaneously give back to thecommunity through the university’s CommunityMentor Program (CMP), in which St. Edward’sstudents — about two-thirds of them CAMPstudents — mentor more than 350 schoolchildrenfrom the Austin Independent School District. Paidthrough the AmeriCorps program, each mentorearns an education award of $3,375 for 450 hoursof service per year. Each mentor also receives apost-service award that can apply to student loanpayments or to graduate study. In 1992, CMP wasnamed a National Model Program for Learn andServe America and AmeriCorps, both divisions ofthe Corporation for National and CommunityService. President Clinton bestowed the HispanicHeritage Education Award on CMP and the AustinIndependent School District in 1996.

Academic and social support programs are vitalcomponents of CAMP. Adjusting to college life is a

“When students hear about

the cost of attending college

and compare it to the

income their parents make,

going to college seems

almost impossible.”

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formidable challenge. Because migrant studentslack the role models typically available to theirbetter-off peers for negotiating the broad range ofacademic and social issues of campus life, theuniversity begins to address these issues immedi-ately — during CAMP orientation weekend in theAugust before the fall semester begins. Theinformation sessions, workshops, panel discussionsand social gatherings enable incoming CAMPstudents to meet one another, interact with formerCAMP students who are continuing theireducation at St. Edward’s and meet universityfaculty and staff members. Parents also attend andmeet parents of former CAMP students, who offerreassurance and advice about their children’s newlives. Parental involvement builds family supportfor the student’s education.

During their academic journeys, CAMPstudents benefit from ongoing counseling andadvising. To help students succeed, the CAMPstaff members set high standards and use strategiesespecially applicable to CAMP students’ needs andstrengths. The staff translates the strong workethic students developed in the migrant fields intoa formula for academic success. In the staff-ledMigrant Experience Group, students meet weeklyto discuss transitional issues and explore ways toresolve the guilt many feelfor enjoying a privilegedlifestyle while their familiestoil in the fields. One-on-one assistance helps CAMPstudents assess academic andcareer options. The programrequires at least threetutoring sessions per week.

At the encouragement ofCAMP staff members,students engage in activitiesfrom the student newspaper to student govern-ment, the university programming board tocampus ministry. Recently, CAMP students formeda Mariachi group and Ballet Folklórico troupe tocelebrate their cultural heritage with the rest of thecampus community.

Such comprehensive support continuallysucceeds. By graduation, the CAMP students’academic performance compares with that of otherSt. Edward’s undergraduates; the collective GPA ofCAMP students in the past five graduating classeswas virtually identical to that of their peers.

The success of CAMP support services hasshaped the ways in which St. Edward’s providesservices — especially tutoring and academic skillsdevelopment — to its entire student body. Forexample, the university’s Freshman Experiencecourse borrows from CAMP to help new studentsadjust to the demands of college life. Moreover,the CAMP personalization of the universityexperience now extends to all freshmen. Itsphilosophy has helped distinguish a St. Edward’seducation through its hands-on liberal artsprogram specifically customized for each student.In recognition of this program’s achievements, St.Edward’s was selected in Fall 2003 as one of 12Council of Independent Colleges FoundingInstitutions for the national project Foundations ofExcellence in the First College Year.

John Houghton’s 1990 study of CAMPgraduates described an escape from the deprivationof migrant life and movement into the middleclass. Houghton’s sample revealed a remarkably

high level of educationaland occupational successfor CAMP alumni whograduated between 1972and 1989. He reported,“They have virtually leaptto educational, occupa-tional and income status ...higher than expected giventheir origins, [and they]surpass the attainments ofthose of similar age and

education in the general population. Thus, in theseinstances, CAMP and St. Edward’s have contrib-uted to an extraordinary case of upward socialmobility.”

In Houghton’s sample, 57.7 percent heldbachelor’s degrees; 4.9 percent held master’s

The collective GPA of CAMP

students in the past five

graduating classes was

virtually identical to that

of their peers.

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degrees; and 4.1 percent held professional degrees.Seventy-nine percent were working full timeoutside the home, and 13.7 percent were enrolledin graduate school. More than 49 percent wereengaged in professional services, and 33 percentheld jobs in public adminis-tration. Participants creditedthe effective program andsupportive institutionalenvironment.

Retention and gradua-tion rates for CAMPstudents are exceptional. Inthe 1990s, 92 percent ofCAMP students completedthe freshman year, andretention to the sophomoreyear averaged 73 percent.The rates have improvedduring the last three academic years; first-yearcompletion during that period ranged from 97percent to 100 percent, and sophomore retentionranged from 73 percent to 86 percent. All of the36 CAMP members of the 2002-2003 CAMP classcompleted their freshman year. All but twostudents planned to return to St. Edward’s; thosetwo transferred to universities nearer to theirhomes.

Between 1986 and 1997, 52 percent of CAMPstudents graduated from St. Edward’s or fromanother university. This rate of bachelor’s degreeattainment dramatically exceeds the 6 percent ratedescribed for students from the lowest socioeco-nomic stratum in a 2001 study by the AdvisoryCommittee on Student Financial Assistance (AccessDenied, Pages 4-5). It also exceeds the four- andsix-year graduation rates — 27.7 percent and 45.9percent, respectively — reported for all Hispanicstudents at peer private institutions in theConsortium for Student Retention and DataExchange.

The statistics are impressive, but the real storyis the individual achievements of the studentsthemselves. For more than three decades, CAMPhas been an educational starting point for doctors,

teachers, scientists, politicians, parents andcommunity activists. CAMP student GeronimoRodriguez graduated from St. Edward’s in 1990and the University of Texas School of Law in1996, worked for the Clinton administration and is

now a partner at an Austinlaw firm. He summed upthe CAMP experience thisway: “It’s important toremind people that if yougive us the right opportuni-ties, we can excel likeanybody else.”

Queta Cortez’s CAMPexperience made history.She came to St. Edward’sthrough CAMP, neverhaving set foot in a sciencelaboratory. She graduated

from St. Edward’s, enrolled at Texas A&MUniversity and became the first Hispanic womanin Texas to earn a Ph.D. in physical chemistry.

CAMP even prepares students to triumph overthe most extraordinary of life’s challenges. MariaGallegos Ramirez, a CAMP student who had toleave St. Edward’s after being diagnosed with abrain tumor during her sophomore year, foundherself after recovery back in the migrant fields.Determined to break the cycle of poverty in herfamily, she enrolled in another college to completeher bachelor’s degree. She then earned a master’sdegree and became a teacher. In 1996, she wasnamed Colorado’s bilingual teacher of the year andlater was named national bilingual teacher of theyear.

CAMP students reinforce the Holy Crossvalues that guide the university: social justice,equal opportunity and the rewards of hard work.Associate Professor Anne Crane in the School ofHumanities spoke for many at St. Edward’s whenshe said, “My experiences with CAMP studentshave been so personally rewarding that it wouldtake some time to summarize or give examples.The students have always been focused anddedicated to doing well. It has impressed me that

For more than three decades,

CAMP has been an

educational starting point for

doctors, teachers, scientists,

politicians, parents and

community activists.

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so many CAMP students over the years havebelieved that, although it is important to succeedindividually, it is equally important to contribute toimproving things for others — family, friends,society.”

CAMP students (and their families) make greatsacrifices to pursue higher education at St.Edward’s. The process transforms them. Thepoverty and limited opportunities of theirchildhoods become economically and sociallydistant for nearly all of them. As full participants inthe St. Edward’s educational experience, theyenrich the university’s learning community throughpersonal interactions in which they and other

students develop a broader understanding ofAmerica’s shared cultural heritages.

The success of CAMP is testimony to thecombined power of a supportive faculty andadministration, generous university funding andeach student’s will to succeed. CAMP at St.Edward’s stands as evidence that a well-designedand caringly executed educational program canhelp students excel despite seemingly insurmount-able childhood barriers to individual achievement.

George Martin, presidentSt. Edward’s University


T he Rural AlaskaNative Adultprogram (RANA)at Alaska PacificUniversity is a distanceeducation program directedspecifically toward adulttribal Alaska Natives who livein towns and villagesaccessible only by plane.Many villages are 300 to 800miles off the highway. Thecurriculum focuses on twocareers available in ruralAlaska: business andeducation. RANA offersundergraduate degrees inorganizational management(OM) and K-8 education.The students are mid-careeradults whose lack of a degreelimits their career opportuni-ties. Typically, OM students

Alaska Pacific University:Rural Alaska Native Adult program

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are low- to middle-manage-ment employees. K-8education students areusually paraprofessionals;occasionally they areadministrative employeesseeking teacher certification.

The student bodycomprises low-incomeworking adults. Half areeligible for Pell Grants. Airshipping costs dramaticallyaffect the cost of living inrural Alaska. Gasoline costs$3 to $4 a gallon; food pricesare triple those in the lower48 states. Bleach can cost asmuch as $60 a gallon becauseit is considered a hazardousmaterial. The hospital, apharmacy or a movie theatermay be a plane ride away.Many Alaska Natives — even

Location: Anchorage, Alaska

President: Douglas North

Undergraduate enrollment: 673

Summary: The Rural Alaska Native Adult

program at Alaska Pacific University offers

distance-learning degree programs in

organizational management and K-8

education to Alaskans whose remote rural

locations might otherwise render higher

education inaccessible. The program benefits

not only the students but also the

communities to which most of them return

as leaders in business and education.


those who live in villages or towns — subsist onhunting and fishing. These factors make incomelevel an inaccurate description of financial status.Cost of living and large family size place manyRANA students into the low-income category.However, significant sources of financial aid forhigher education — from Tribal Council scholar-ships, employer support and other scholarshipsdirected exclusively towardAlaska Natives — distin-guish them from other low-income groups.

Tuition in 2002-2003was about $6,200; othercosts included at least$1,600 for books, fees andtwo short-term residencies.Additional transportationcosts vary considerably by the location of thehome village but can reach as much as $750 perround trip. Many students live with relativesduring their residency in Anchorage to reduceroom and board costs. By and large, RANAstudents can meet these costs without assistancefrom Alaska Pacific University. However, a newdonation offers assistance for travel and residencycosts.

Yup’pick (yoo pick) was a typical RANAstudent. She has worked as an administrativeassistant at a one-school school district in thevillage of Chevak (chee’vak), 130 miles northwestof Bethel, for 14 years. Like 99 percent of Alaska,no road leads to Bethel or Chevak. Yup’pick, anative speaker of the Cup’ik (choo’ pick) dialect, ismarried with four children, ages 7 to 11, and hersis the family’s primary income. She admiresteachers’ contribution to her community anddreamed of becoming a teacher, but moving herfamily to live near a university was impossible.RANA offered a way to fulfill her dream: Shecould continue in her present job while earning aB.A. and certification in K-8 education. Aftergraduation she intends to stay in her currentschool district or to move to her husband’s homevillage. In either case, she will teach in the immense

delta area formed by the Yukon and Kuskoquimrivers as they empty into the Bering Sea.

Yup’pick has a Pell Grant, support from herschool, a scholarship from the Association ofVillage Council Presidents and a few other sourcesof funding. She attends RANA by paying about$2,000 in transportation and residency costsherself. She hopes to get a forgivable Teacher

Education Loan to coverthose expenses. As withmost RANA students, shebrought previous credits(in her case, 30) earned ina community college.

Asked about hermotivation and goals, shesays that the higher salarya certified teacher gets is

important but not what first came to her mind. Sheprimarily wants to help her community —especially the children. She sees the village “losingits language, losing its ways” and is concerned thatthe children’s teachers — certified in the lower 48states — do not know the culture and come and goevery two or three years. A Native herself,Yup’pick wants to bring parents and families intotheir children’s educational process. She wants toserve as a personal example to students — “See, Iam the teacher, and I am from Chevak” — and toprepare them for life in Alaska and beyond, “sothey can choose.”

Yup’pick has completed her second semesterand has earned 24 credits. Soon she will have herassociate’s degree and will continue on to the B.A.Her confidence grows weekly. She says that, atfirst, her “heart was going thump, thump” as shelearned to use the computer to take courses, butnow she is very comfortable with it and has donewell in a course about computers in the classroom.A classroom management course has addeddifferent techniques to her repertoire. She hastaken both beginning and intermediate algebra andfeels well prepared to teach K-8 math. Heradvisers and teachers have been in close contactwith her every step of the way.

Yup’pick wants to bring

parents and families into

their children’s

educational process.

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For Yup’pick and her student colleagues, RANAoffers more than increased earning power andsocial mobility. It empowers Alaska Natives byenabling them to gain the qualifications to take onleadership positions. The social need for RANA isclear: The rural villages and towns populated byAlaska Natives are fighting for economic andcultural survival. Downturns in fishing, timber,mining and trapping have dramatically weakenedthe natural resource economy. Other forces aredisintegrating Tlingit, Haida, Athabascan, Aleutiq,Yup’ik, and Inupiat communities as well. Theseforces include lack of jobs, alcohol and inhalantabuse, domestic violence and sexual abuse,inadequate public school education, welfaredependency, language loss,cultural incursions such asTV and the Internet, andemigration to the city(Anchorage) or out of thestate.

Rural Alaska has alwaysdepended heavily onoutside leadership. Thestory is perhaps most tellingin the field of K-8 andsecondary education, one ofthe mainstays of the rural service economy. Only 9percent of the certified teachers in rural Alaska areAlaska Native, although Natives represent 85percent of the population. Most of the certifiedteachers are hired from the lower 48 states or fromurban Alaska, and they have high annual turnoverrates: 70 percent in 1999. Meanwhile, underpaidAlaska Native paraprofessional teacher aides mustprovide the continuity that would otherwise belacking. Similar situations exist in other sectors ofthe economy. RANA enhances Native Alaskanretention and completion rates and seeks todevelop locally based leadership in business and ineducation.

After three years of design and development,RANA opened and was accredited in 1999, theonly distance education program in the nationdesigned specifically for an ethnic minority.

Although RANA is open to any rural resident, 92percent of its students are Native Alaskan; theprogram thus shares the power-in-community oftribal colleges. RANA recognizes Native Alaskans’need for community and group support in highereducation. The six-year completion rate for AlaskaNatives attending all higher education institutions,in and out of Alaska, was only 6 percent in 1999.The completion rate in the three years that RANAhas been operating, however, projects a 40 percentsix-year completion rate. Thus far, 60 percent ofthe students who have enrolled in RANA havegraduated or are still enrolled.

The program has not been without its growing(and shrinking) pains. Its first director left the state

after two years; theprogram managed withvarious internal directorsfor about 18 months. Thenew director began in Fall2003.

Student interactionwith faculty, the flexibilityof the model, and thecommunity ethic of theprogram contribute toRANA’s high completion

rate. Short-term residencies on the Alaska Pacificcampus during the first week of each semesterestablish a sense of community in RANA. Studentscome to Anchorage from all over rural Alaska andbegin their courses face-to-face. A simulation labshows new students the interactive class formatcalled the Internet Seminar. In this seminar, real-time chat rooms allow students to receiveassignments, share work, and discuss materials.Students also correspond with faculty to obtainwritten responses to assignments. When thestudents return to their homes after the residency,all of their courses continue — same teachers,same students. RANA thus avoids the isolation ofthe distance learner by creating a supportivecommunity of learners.

Two educational features make RANAespecially valuable as a leadership program for

Only 9 percent of the

certified teachers in rural

Alaska are Alaska Native,

although Natives represent

85 percent of the population.

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rural Alaska. Project-based learning goes beyondmere theory in action projects that showcasestudents’ new abilities in the classroom or inmanagement. As with every undergraduateprogram at APU, study culminates in a seniorproject, in which the student conceptualizes anaction project, plans it, carries it out, evaluates theresults, and then presents it to the faculty andother students. Active, project-based education isempowering; it fosters the leadership attitudes andskills prized by RANA and vital in rural Alaska.

Second, the curriculum is designed to berelevant to the needs of rural Alaska and toproduce leaders with the appropriate skills toaddress those needs. For instance, RANA wel-comed a group of mid-career professionals fromnonprofit organizations into the organizationalmanagement major in Fall 2003. APU collabo-rated with the Foraker Group, an Anchorageorganization that advises and trains nonprofitorganizations to develop a course on nonprofitmanagement. Graduation from RANA will qualifythese rural Alaskans to move into positions ofgreater leadership in their communities’ nonprofitorganizations, which areessential to the ruraleconomy.

Another opportunity tocustomize the curriculum torural Alaskans is the K-8science methods course.Many textbooks andmaterials exist for teachingscience in the elementaryclassroom, but the course must also address thechallenge of introducing science to students raisedin Native Alaska culture. One might argue that acurriculum tailored to rural Alaskans is limiting —a criticism also made of African-American andLatino studies. However, educating only from themainstream invites another kind of limitation, onethat is painfully evident when teachers fromoutside struggle to teach in rural Alaska.

In summary, RANA combines a high-touch,short-term residency with high-tech Internet

seminars designed to succeed with rural Alaskanswhere impersonal, “generic” distance educationmodels have failed. By basing the 12-studentcourses in interactive e-mail discussions, problem-solving and reporting, the program has producedsome side benefits:

■ Writing abilities have improved signifi-cantly through intensive practice.

■ The asynchronous time pattern of e-mailreplicates the Native pattern — listen,reflect, respond — thus providing a morefamiliar communication style.

■ RANA students have become proficientwith information technologies andnetworked problem-solving.

■ RANA is creating a cadre of networkedpeer adult leaders in dispersed anddifferent tribal communities.

What is RANA’s future? Thanks to RANA’ssuccess, the Northwest Association of Schools andColleges’ has accredited Alaska Pacific Universityto offer any of its degree programs in the RANA

distance format as long asthat move is approved bythe faculty and administra-tive process. A new MBAprogram in this sameformat will be offered intwo years.

What advice can weoffer other colleges?Creating a distinct program

for a distinct population, as we have done, hasmade it attractive to funders, who respondedwarmly in the start-up phase to its distinctiveness.Seed money is very important; the RANA programrelied on a substantial investment in informationtechnology and personnel made possible by theM.J. Murdock Charitable Trust and GeneralCommunications, Inc. (CGI). The Murdock Trust,like many private foundations, was interested inthe positive impact higher education can have onan important regional problem. GCI, a local

Creating a distinct program

for a distinct population, as

we have done, has made it

attractive to funders.

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telecommunications and Internet service provider,wanted to lead Alaska in providing educationalservices through the Internet. RANA met theneeds of both.

Although private and public funders like toinitiate programs, they are reluctant to sustainthem. They want to help get a good idea to itsfeet, but they expect it to be self-sufficient. Anynew program that is going to have a lasting impacton a low-income constituency must be a sustainedeffort; therefore, a university must carefullyconsider whether it can sustain the program afterthe seed money is spent.

Private colleges and universities seekingoutside funding for low-income students shouldremember one important piece of Congressionallegislation: the 1977 Community ReinvestmentAct (CRA). The law requires regular evaluations todetermine whether banks comply with the lendingtest, the investment test, and — most important tothe university’s development office — the servicetest. Services include philanthropy. Banks seekingan improved CRA rating have a corporate motiveto direct their philanthropy toward colleges thatserve low-income communities because suchphilanthropy gives evidence of service in a ratingprocess that Kenneth Thomas (2000) calls“alarmingly subjective.” In other words, CRAratings can be enhanced when financial institutionssupport dramatic, compelling programs. Several ofthose institutions have selected RANA.

Another important source of financial supportfor low-income students is the loan-forgivenessprograms for teachers. These programs forgive all

or part of teachers’ student loans over time if theyteach in critically disadvantaged school districts.For instance, the RANA program offers a B.A. inK-8 education. Almost all of the students areparaprofessionals who plan to work in schools anddistricts that qualify for cancellation or forgivenessprograms. RANA students whose loans are madethrough the Alaska Commission on PostsecondaryEducation qualify for full loan forgiveness over fiveyears.

The RANA program is an educationally andfinancially successful attempt to bring highereducation to students who could not ordinarilyattend for both geographic and economic reasons.Because it is in roadless Alaska and is directedtoward a particular constituency, some featuresmay not apply elsewhere. I nonetheless hope thatthe program and its story are relevant whereversmall, private universities and colleges strive to dotheir part in addressing social ills. Our institutionscontribute uniquely by offering forms of educationthat transform students and prepare them forleadership. Colleges and universities like ours domuch more than offer credits adding up to acredential. We provide the smaller class sizes, thepersonal attention, the encouragement and thecaring that low-income and underserved popula-tions need most as they aspire to leadership in oursociety.

Douglas North, presidentAlaska Pacific University


A fter more than30 years ineducation, Ioften havelooked into the faces ofsingle mothers who werestruggling to subsist on theirfragile arrangements formeals, housing, transporta-tion, child care and school-ing. Few of these mothershad the time, energy ormoney to consider — letalone pursue — their owneducations.

These households headedby single women facedessentially the same difficul-ties, whether they lived inurban Roxbury, Mass., ruralWarner, N.H., or suburban Chappaqua, N.Y. Evenin Paris and Algiers, I met mothers of all ages whowere suddenly thrown into dire economic

circumstances by divorce orthe death of a spouse. Manychose poverty over abusivemarriages.

Contrary to popularstereotypes, these womenrepresent all ages, races,religions and culturalbackgrounds. They share theresponsibility for raisingchildren alone in societiesthat still seriously limit thequality of life for women andthe poor. Too often the resultis successive generations ofdeclining aspirations, lowlevels of education andmarginal existence. We alsoknow that the cost ofsustaining poor families on

welfare far exceeds the cost of educating them.Psychiatric services and prisons are costly.Furthermore, poverty breeds despair and violence.

Wilson College:Single mothers with children

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Location: Chambersburg, Pa.

President: Lorna Edmundson

Affiliation: Presbyterian, women’s college

Undergraduate enrollment: 700

Summary: Wilson College’s Women with

Children Program allows single mothers to

complete their educations and participate

fully in campus life by providing on-

campus housing for them and their

children. Its successes have offered guidance

to other programs that emulate it.


The statistics are alarming. The divorce rate is50 percent in America, and more than 33 percentof all children are born to single parents. Approxi-mately 40 percent of American women can expectto be single mothers duringtheir lifetimes; nearly 80percent of single parents arewomen; the poorest familiesare those headed by womenwith children under the ageof 18.

Families and friends willhelp some of these womencope, care for theirchildren, pursue theireducations and findfulfilling employment. Theoverwhelming majority,however, will remain poorand will struggle to providefor their children’s well-being. Most will set asideforever their own aspira-tions. Their children willcontinue the downwardspiral. Ironically, our currentwelfare-to-work require-ments discourage those whomanage to hold on to higheducational aspirations: Atechnical or two-yearcollege degree countstoward the work require-ment, but a four-yeardegree does not.

More than 35 years ago, during the communityschool movement in Boston, I began to seepoverty’s intractability and to understandeducation’s promise. I hailed from a segregated,lower-middle-class, racist and sexist New Englandmill town in the 1950s, but my political instinctscounteracted my personal experience. I decided toseek positions that could increase educationalaccess and equity, such as Head Start and ReachUp. Later, I helped establish the Women’s Institute

in Paris and programs that opened ColumbiaUniversity’s doors to older women and theirfamilies by offering assertiveness training, child-care centers, career development and internships.

In 2001, I becameWilson’s 18th president.Like most institutionstoday, Wilson educatesmany single parents from awide range of backgrounds.As one of the 61 women’scolleges in the UnitedStates, Wilson has been animportant player in raisingthe aspirations andeducational levels ofwomen — married andsingle — since its foundingin 1869.

At Wilson, I saw for thefirst time a comprehensiveand systemic program forsingle mothers. Motherslive with their children incampus residences thatoffer child-care services dayand night. Each family hasa two-room suite with aprivate bathroom andshares a kitchen with thesix other families who liveon the same floor. Play-grounds and picnic tablesare just outside the door.An endowment funds

program support and child care. An alumnaementor program, life skills workshops, meal plansfor mothers and children, opportunities to becomefully integrated into campus life and postgraduatetransition services also distinguish the program.

Consider how such a program simplifies life fora single mother. Home and college are one. Fellowstudents become family — around the clock, ifnecessary. Other students who have siblings but nochildren are eager to volunteer as baby sitters. The

“Living in a residence hall

with other mothers has

given me an extended

family. I now have sisters,

and my son has siblings. It

has been a wonderful

lesson in sharing,

compromise, empathy,

understanding and open-

mindedness. These are

valuable lessons that may

have been harder to teach

my son had we not lived

here on campus.”

— Laura Thomas ’03


classrooms and dining room are a two-minute,stroller-friendly walk from the residences.

Pennsylvania’s first lady cut the ribbon in 1996at this award-winning program’s opening. It soonattracted widespread attention as its success ineducating and graduating single mothers withyoung children became known. Major gifts camefrom the Eden Hall Foundation, the WhitakerFoundation, the Conrad Hilton Foundation andthe Marguerite and Gerald Lenfest Endowment.Sen. Arlen Specter facilitated a Congressionalappropriation. In 1999, TheNational Student AffairsAssociation identifiedWilson’s Women withChildren Program as one ofseven exemplary programsin the country.

Gifts and awards areimpressive, but even moremoving was an experience Ihad on a warm Augustmorning in 2001, shortlyafter I became president. Onmy way from the President’sHouse to my office, Iwalked by Prentis Hall,where the mothers and children live. Two littlegirls were writing on a large banner with crayonand chalk.

“What are you doing?” I asked.The smaller child smiled and said, “Well,

tomorrow a lot of new kids are coming to Wilson,and they don’t know how to go to college, but wedo! So we’re making a sign so they’ll come overhere, and then we’ll tell them how to do it!” Theolder child nodded.

I watched for a few more moments. Here were7- and 10-year-old children for whom college wasalready a natural way of life. They had learned thatknowing how to go to college is a significantaccomplishment, and they were eager to pass theirwisdom on to others.

Who are the Wilson student-mothers? All havefamily incomes under $25,000. They are single —

Who are the Wilson

student-mothers? All have

family incomes under

$25,000. They are single —

separated, divorced or

widowed — and range from

18 to 38 years of age.

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separated, divorced or widowed — and range from18 to 38 years of age. They are first-generationcollege students; a few are the daughters ofprofessional parents. Before coming to Wilsonthey were working women, homemakers or welfarerecipients. They come from large cities, suburbanneighborhoods and rural communities. They areCaucasian, Hispanic, African-American and Asian-American.

They are mothers of one, two or threechildren: from infants to teenagers. They are dean’s

list students; WilsonCurran Scholars; studentleaders; residential advisers;peer teachers and tutors;dancers; singers; artists;athletes; volunteers forHabitat for Humanity andmembers of WilsonCollege’s search, planningand governance committees.

They major in politicalscience, history, Spanish,environmental studies,education, mathematics,business, biology, sociol-ogy. They hope to be

teachers, physicians, scientists, lawyers, businessowners, dancers, writers, community leaders.

In fact, they are like other Wilson students,except they are raising children by themselveswhile completing their baccalaureate degrees.They all want to be good parents, participate fullyin campus life and complete their education.

A few Wilson Women With Children:

■ Cassandra, ’04, a 34-year-old African-Americansingle mother from Columbia, Md., has a cumula-tive 3.9 GPA and a very long list of honors, awardsand leadership experiences. Soon after coming toWilson, I was struck by how articulate she was andby the warm, respectful relationship she has withher daughter and with the faculty, staff and otherstudents. Watching her and her 8-year-old


daughter participate in the French and Spanishlanguage table discussions or read poems inSpanish at a Wilson Poetry Reading is edifying.

Cassandra serves on the college-wide StrategicPlanning Committee and is project coordinator forthe Wilson College Interpretive Trail, co-founderof the Wilson CollegeLiteracy Program and a peerteacher in the First-YearStudent Seminar Program.This fall, she will partici-pate in the InternationalWomen’s Conference onWomen in the 21stCentury, in Havana, Cuba.

Cassandra explained, “Ichose to come to Wilsonbecause it provided anoption for me to completemy undergraduate educa-tion while taking care of mydaughter. Children benefitfrom a stable home environ-ment and exposure toactivities that expand theirminds. Wilson has given (my daughter) a chanceto interact and befriend Japanese and Koreanstudents and participate in an interactive biologylab tour. In my daughter’s own words, ‘Wilson isgreat because you get to go to everything andlearn about the community.’ ”

■ Jessica, ‘05, a Caucasian student from Butler, Pa.,came to Wilson at 17, after her pregnancy. Hershyness belies her strength and tenacity. Whileraising her 2-year-old daughter and pursuing adegree in mass communications, she also serves asproject leader of the Wilson College LiteracyProject, entertainment editor of the WilsonCollege newspaper and staff writer at the localnewspaper. She is also residential adviser to all 24women in Prentis Hall and has made greatprogress in improving communication and services.

Jessica stated: “Not only has the Women withChildren program given me the opportunity to

continue my education, but it has helped mydaughter become inquisitive and able to expressherself very clearly. I have confidence that mydaughter will someday be in my shoes, pursuingher dreams for an education and finding her placein the professional world.”

■ April, ’04, a 36-year-olddivorced mother of threechildren under 10, had a 10-year plan to earn her degreebefore she learned aboutWilson’s program.

“I came back to collegekicking and screaming,” shesaid, “but found at Wilsonan encouraging andsupportive atmosphere. Thewomen half my ageaccepted me; they made mefeel like one of them. TheWilson Honor Principleholds everyone to a highstandard. I found I couldstill succeed academically,

and within six months, I had resurrected mychildhood dreams to become a doctor.”

April is president of the Wilson CollegeGovernment Association, a faculty-studentgovernance organization and, as a Curran scholar,gives 260 hours of volunteer service each year. Shehas been the team leader for Habitat for Human-ity, coordinator of Operation Christmas Child anda peer tutor. She serves as the resident assistant formothers with infants in the Women with ChildrenProgram. She intends to go to medical school.

■ Adefunke, ‘04, born in Nigeria, is a 30-year-oldmother of a 4-year-old daughter. Planning a legalcareer, she is a residential adviser, a member of thechoir, the African-American Student Union and aparticipant in the alumnae mentor program. At theJune 2003 international conference on Empower-ing Future Women Leaders in a Changing World— where Wilson’s Women with Children Program

“I came back to college

kicking and screaming but

found at Wilson an

encouraging and

supportive atmosphere.

The women half my age

accepted me; they made

me feel like one of them.”

— April ’04


was highlighted — Adefunke spoke of theimportance of her relationship with alumna MaryKimmel, Wilson Class of 1991, herself a singlemother:

“She met with me to talk about my hopes, gaveme practical advice and called me often, just to seehow I was doing. I said to myself: ‘If she can callme, I can call her and see how she’s doing. If shecan raise a family and have a career, so can I.’ Mydaughter also takes care of me sometimes. Sheseems to know when to shoo her little friends outof our apartment, saying: ‘You have to go homenow. My Mommy and I have to study.’ ”

■ Nicole, ’03, is a young woman whose boyfriendrefused to help when he learned that she waspregnant, and her parents decided to exercise“tough love” by turning her out of their home. Shelived for a time in a home for unwed mothers andseriously consideredplacing her daughter foradoption. A counselor atthe Catholic home forunwed mothers where shelived told her about theWilson program and helpedher apply. She earned adegree in sociology anddance and was a member ofthe choir and the dancecompany. Her daughter,who sometimes performedwith her mother, onceshared an ice cream conewith visitors and turnedthem into major benefac-tors of the Women withChildren Program. “Mydaughter graduated withme,” Nicole said. At Wilson, the children, wearingminiature caps and gowns, accompany theirmothers at commencement.

Since the Women with Children Programbegan in 1996, 50 families have participated, and13 student-mothers have graduated. All are

employed in positions with a future. They work asteachers, office managers, sales people, executiveassistants and more.

In 2003 the program expanded from 24 to 32families, including nearly 40 children. Long-rangeplans call for the program to house 60 families.

I have been most impressed by the 82 percentpersistence rate of the student-mothers and by the33 percent named to the dean’s list. I am alsoimpressed by the sight of high chairs in the dininghall; tricycles on the walkways; and childrenaccompanying their mothers to the library, topoetry readings, to performances and to chapelservices, making Wilson College a community ofall ages.

Through its National Center for SingleMothers in Higher Education, Wilson Collegenow offers networking and consultation tostudents, practitioners and institutions who wish to

adopt our model. TheCollege of Saint Mary inOmaha, Neb., and CollegeMisericordia in Dallas, Pa.,are two such colleges. Wehave also offered guidancethrough a June 2003international conference,Empowering Future WomenLeaders in a ChangingWorld, which dreweducators, policy-makers,researchers, students,advocacy groups andlegislators from the UnitedStates and from Lithuania,Canada, Japan and Ghana.Former Ambassador toSwitzerland and formergovernor of Vermont

Madeleine Kunin gave an inspiring keynoteaddress. Three other college presidents and ascholar from the Wellesley Center for Research onWomen have accepted my invitation to collaborateon a project to disseminate information about ourprograms for single mothers. Wilson recently has

“My daughter also takes

care of me sometimes. She

seems to know when to

shoo her little friends out

of our apartment, saying:

‘You have to go home

now. My mommy and I

have to study.’ ”

— Adefunke ’04


signed several articulation and dual-enrollmentagreements with two-year colleges. Theseagreements will facilitate transfer to the Womenwith Children Program.

After seven years of experience with thisprogram, we are convinced that it would also workon coed campuses that enroll single fathers as wellas single mothers. We are confident that donorswould be drawn to them just as they have beendrawn to the Wilson program and thus would makesuch programs affordable. Moreover, because singleparents are very often low-income parents, manywould qualify for state and federal financial aid.

As each family graduates from Wilson preparedto move into their chosen profession and realizetheir hopes and dreams, I am convinced that singleparents and their children who live on campus

make quantum leaps in their development, somuch so that we should become advocates forpublic policies that would make this option widelyavailable. As Ambassador Kunin rightly noted inher keynote address: “To engage effectively in civiclife, it is necessary to be dissatisfied enough towant to change things, but optimistic enough tofind the energy to make the changes happen.”

I am eager to work with other presidents andlawmakers to make the changes in welfarelegislation that would encourage single mothersand fathers to complete a four-year degree andbreak the deadly cycle of poverty and despair.

Lorna Edmundson, presidentWilson College


A sk anyone tiedto the Collegeof St. Catherineabout whatinspires its commitment tolow-income students, and theresponse will likely be “theCSJs” — St. Catherine’sfounders and sponsors, theSisters of St. Joseph ofCarondelet. The sisters’ 350-year “dear neighbor” missionmanifests in the college’senduring efforts to help our“neighbors,” especially theoppressed; the poor; andthose who are deniedfundamental rights toadequate health care,affordable housing oreducation that enables economic self-sufficiency.With its focus on making higher educationaccessible for low-income students, St. Catherine’s

College of St. Catherine:“Dear Neighbor” mission

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Location: St. Paul, Minn.

President: Andrea Lee

Affiliation: Sisters of St. Joseph of

Carondelet

Undergraduate enrollment: 3,600

Summary: The mission of the College of

St. Catherine obliges the entire institution’s

commitment to recruiting and retaining

low-income students. However, adherence to

a mission requires ongoing dialogue and

assessment of results to ensure continued

success.

culture demonstrates thisbelief in nearly all of itsstrategic plans, programinitiatives, fund-raisingcampaigns and outreachendeavors.

Ask anyone outside thefinancial aid office toidentify low-income studentsat St. Catherine’s, and unlessthe student has revealed herincome level in a class orthrough a written assign-ment, the response probablywill be a blank stare. Low-income students areintegrated into the schoolalong with all the otherstudents. Although the collegeprides itself on not expressly

designing retention and graduation programs forthem, our low-income students particularly benefitfrom the services St. Catherine’s offers all students.


The institution’s strategy hinges on an integratedset of policies, programs and services that enableall students to act assertively in their own bestinterests and to exploit available resources.

Discussions at St. Catherine’s about whoenrolls and why, about optimum ways to balancethe key mission elements of “excellence andopportunity” and about howto align limited resourceswith critical needs alwaysinclude careful attention tolow-income students andtheir specific obstacles.Rooted in the College’sreligious identity, suchdiscussions are humane inspirit and practice and aredriven by data that illuminatestudent persistence.

Regardless of who participates in thesediscussions — faculty, the president’s cabinet, thecollege council, trustees or enrollment-manage-ment officials — the college’s mission is neverquestioned. Although mission drives everything atSt. Catherine’s — and internal players as well asexternal observers will testify that it does — thecollege understands that the mission cannot simplyembrace a culture and philosophy connected tothe college’s religious roots without a disciplinedassessment of outcomes. The integration of thespirit of the mission and the practice of collectingand analyzing relevant data enables the college toserve low-income students effectively.

St. Catherine’s mission and the sisters’commitment to the “dear neighbor” could easilylead to the unrealistic desire to be all to all. Whenhead and heart are integrated, however, the fervoris disciplined toward fruitful ends. This process,always unfinished, is filled with surprises, newpossibilities and occasional disappointment.However, by threading the mission through theinitiatives, by building on strengths rather thanweaknesses and by making difficult decisions suchas eliminating programs, we are increasinglyeffective for all students.

The college’s mission reminds us that academicexcellence and support for historically underservedstudents are not only compatible but also emi-nently valuable.

In the past and present, St. Catherine’seducates women of exceptional ability, regardlessof their economic level or social standing. One of

the earliest recruitingbulletins (1914) encouragedgood students to “Come!”rather than worry abouthow to pay. It assured themthat somehow the billswould be paid and that thesacrifice would be “worthit.” Ninety years later,admissions and financialaid counselors send amessage, albeit more

carefully nuanced, of similar spirit.In its early days, the St. Paul campus enrolled

the daughters of farmers, mill workers andteachers, whereas the sisters’ hospital overlookingthe Mississippi River in Minneapolis enrolledfuture nurses at St. Mary’s School of Nursing. In1964, the sisters began offering two-year degreesat St. Mary’s Junior College to open health careprofessions to low-income students, who wel-comed their employment and income prospects. In1984, St. Catherine’s acquired St. Mary’s JuniorCollege and integrated two institutions withrelated but distinct missions focused on the “dearneighbor.” Today a single College of St. Catherineoffers campuses in both cities and enrolls largenumbers of low-income, ethnically diverse andhighly capable students.

In Fall 2003, the College of St. Catherineenrolled more than 4,800 students, marking thesixth successive year of record enrollment. The2,700 students enrolled in its undergraduate“women only” programs make it one of the largestprivate women’s colleges in the nation. Another900 students are enrolled in associate degreehealth care programs in Minneapolis, and morethan 1,100 graduate students are enrolled in

Academic excellence and

support for historically

underserved students are not

only compatible but also

eminently valuable.

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campus-based and off-site programs. The focus ofthis essay is the college’s 3,600 undergraduates.

In addition to the daughters of teachers,lawyers and airline mechanics, current studentsinclude the daughters of farmers from ruralMinnesota, single mothers whose enrollmentdepends on state child-care subsidies and increas-ing numbers of students of color. Many studentsare recent immigrants or refugees; the Somali andHmong communities are especially well repre-sented. Although none of these groups is de factolow-income, many students who represent themare.

Reciting statistics about the college’s under-graduate students to government and fundingofficials is always amusing and sometimesdismaying. When the president disclosed that themedian family income of a St. Catherine under-graduate — $39,000 — is lower than that of aUniversity of Minnesota student — $50,000 to$60,000 — former governor Jesse Ventura wasstunned. He never forgot that statistic. Mayors,senators, government and corporate leaders arealso surprised by the profile of a typical St.Catherine student because of its inaccuratereputation as something of an upper-class finishingschool. Consider the following:

■ St. Catherine’s enrolls more African-American students (257) than anyMinnesota private college. Indeed, 27percent of all African-Americans enrolledin Minnesota private colleges attend St.Catherine’s. They represent more than 7percent of the college’s undergraduateenrollment.

■ Seventeen percent of all minority studentsenrolled in Minnesota private colleges areenrolled at St. Catherine’s, although theCollege enrolls only 9 percent of the state’sprivate undergraduates.

■ A third of St. Catherine undergraduates arefirst-generation college students, and 35

percent meet Pell Grant income guidelines;one student in four has a family income ator below $25,000.

■ 1,420 of 3,400 eligible undergraduatesreceive need-based Minnesota grants; theirmedian income is $27,000. Of studentswho receive these grants, 22 percent arestudents of color, 25 percent are parents,and 45 percent are first-generationcollege students. Of the 443 nursingstudents who receive state grants, themedian income is $24,400.

■ More than half of associate degree studentshave a zero family contribution based onanalysis of their FAFSA.

■ About 20 percent of traditional-agestudents come from single-parent house-holds themselves.

■ Twenty-three percent of undergraduatestudents are parents, and a large number ofthem are single parents. They report amedian family income of $29,000.

■ In comparison with other Minnesotaprivate colleges, the College of St.Catherine distributes more gift aid tolower-income students.

■ The tuition discount rate for day under-graduates at St. Catherine’s is 29 percent,one of the lowest rates in Minnesota.

Responding to stunning demographic statistics,St. Catherine’s has intentionally increased thenumber of students who represent the Twin Cities’changing demography by enrolling significantnumbers of Hmong and Hispanic women. Agrowing number of students, especially EastAfricans, on the Minneapolis campus are refugeesor recent immigrants. Because most of thesefamilies left everything behind when they fled


violence and economic devastation, these studentsare almost always low-income.

Although admission is selective, St. Catherine’sadmissions committees have always viewed astudent’s record holistically, balancing academicexcellence with a careful, if optimistic, assessmentof potential. The college intentionally holds itstuition discount rate at 29 percent for dayundergraduates to maintain fiscal strength whilemeeting student needs. Two-year and weekendstudents pay lower tuitionand receive proportionatelyless institutional aid. Becausethe capacity to pay for high-quality private education isso low for so many St.Catherine students, externalscholarships and loansenable them to close thegap. Although the averagestudent graduates with aloan in excess of $24,000,the College’s loan defaultrate of 1.3 percent is among the lowest in thenation, a clear testament to effective counselingand high student motivation. The Sisters of St.Joseph also have helped meet the financialchallenges inherent in enrolling low-incomestudents in many ways, including their recentextraordinary gift of $20 million.

When recent state budget struggles erodedMinnesota child-care subsidies — St. Catherine’sstudents receive more of these than any othercollege or university — the college made grants tostudents to make up for the sudden decrease andbegan planning and fund raising to counter theprobable continuing erosion in these benefits.

Institutional financial aid practices addressaffordability concerns early in recruiting byproviding early estimates of aid; guaranteeing newstudents a campus job for wages competitive withoff-campus jobs; offering scholarships for fouryears, given appropriate progress and servingstudents promptly and personally. Student surveysare used to improve services.

“Laddering” has a special place in St.Catherine’s strategic plan. It offers students —including low-income students — a seamlessopportunity to progress from certificate toassociate degree to baccalaureate to master’sdegree. Students with good grades in associatedegree pr

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