New Graduates Putting Students on College Track

Osha Kondori, 17, left, gets SAT preparation help from recent University of Virginia graduate Lauren Ross at Rappahannock County High School. (By Lois Raimondo -- The Washington Post)

Rappahannock County High School senior Evan Shankle wanted to beef up his math skills to get ready for college but wasn't sure where to start. A classmate needed help with a financial aid form. Another was stumped by a question on an SAT practice test.

All three sought help one afternoon this month from 23-year-old Lauren Ross. She is one of 19 recent University of Virginia graduates working as "college guides" in schools across the state in an initiative meant to broaden the ranks of students on the college track. These guides help students pick colleges, craft admissions essays and find ways to pay. They even take students on campus tours.

Ross and an adviser from a community group "helped me and pushed me," said Shankle, who plans to attend Ferrum College in southwestern Virginia. "Without them, I don't know where I'd be."

Two years ago, 55 percent of high school graduates in Rappahannock, a farming community nestled along the Blue Ridge Mountains, went on to college or trade school. Last year, 72 percent did. Expectations are even higher this year.

Rappahannock senior Jesse Palmer was accepted to Stanford University and will be the first in his family to attend college. Another student got into Georgetown University, believed to be a first for the high school.

The guide program, launched by U-Va. two years ago with a grant from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, has made similar headway in other schools. In March, the foundation announced grants of $10 million to replicate the program at colleges and universities in nine states.

Loyola College in Maryland, one of the recipients, plans to train eight graduates to become advisers in schools including High Point High in Prince George's County and Glen Burnie High and Annapolis High in Anne Arundel County. Pennsylvania State University, Brown University and the University of California at Berkeley are among the other participants.

"There are a lot of kids who don't have college on their radar," said Victor R. Delclos, chairman of Loyola's education department. "The idea is to identify kids who have the ability but don't have the vision and help them."

Nationwide, 52 percent of young adults in college are from families with incomes in the top 20 percent, according to the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. In recent years, educators have been pushing to get more bright students from low-income families into college, and several top universities have replaced loans with grants for many students in need.

William G. Bowen, a former Princeton University president who studies socioeconomic diversity in colleges, said one-on-one attention from guides can help students find places that play to their talents and interests.

The guides, who went through the angst of college admissions and SATs only five or six years ago, connect with teenagers who fear they don't have the smarts or won't be able to pay. "We remember what it was like to apply to college," Ross said. "We remember thinking, 'I don't know how I'm going to go away from home.' We speak the same slang."

The program was conceived in spring 2004 when the Loudoun County-based Cooke Foundation was seeking to support nonprofit groups that would work directly in schools to guide teenagers through the admissions process. The foundation had about a dozen meetings statewide with educators, business leaders and community groups.