Connecting Promise Programs to Community College Transfer

Everyone retaining an eye on the U.S. Congress senses that cost-free neighborhood faculty throughout the country looks increasingly not likely. Even though that will disappoint numerous people, the fantastic information is that local community faculty previously is free of charge in quite a few components of the region.

The U.S. has 116 past-greenback and 15 1st-dollar community higher education guarantee packages, and all those often end up making college or university at least tuition-free of charge. These figures appear from the University of Pennsylvania Alliance for Greater Schooling and Democracy (PennAHEAD) database of guarantee courses, and that does not incorporate the 17 or so statewide no cost neighborhood college or university applications.

With so several of these plans already in area, my team at the Aspen Institute School Excellence Program wished to know: Which four-12 months universities are developing pathways for assure application students to attain bachelor’s levels? What can we discover from these plans?

Our early field scan finds untapped probable. Just one rising product may possibly present a street map for other establishments. It’s the Route to UW—a transfer partnership between the Seattle Faculties Seattle Promise system and the University of Washington Seattle campus. We feel it will inspire civic leaders and larger education leaders.

The Origin Story

This partnership traces its record to 2018, when Jenny Durken, then mayor of Seattle, launched the Seattle Promise. It handles tuition for any graduate of the Seattle public faculties by means of a final-greenback scholarship, as nicely as supplementary economic help to go over nontuition bills for the lowest-money students. It connects these students with retention coaches so they not only enroll but thrive and finish associate degrees.

In 2021, with funding from the federal government’s American Rescue Strategy, the mayor’s business office and the UW transfer workforce took yet another move. They set up the Path to UW, to give the Guarantee learners higher educational and financial prospect. Through the new plan, the transfer group wants to get to “students furthest from educational justice, including first-technology, lower-profits and underrepresented learners,” in the text of the transfer staff members, Joslin Boroughs, Cynthia Caci and Michaelann Jundt. They add, “We goal to the two maximize and diversify UW’s transfer university student inhabitants.”

The Product

Roughly 1,500 transfer pupils begin at the UW Seattle campus every single calendar year. The too much to handle majority—87 percent—graduate with a bachelor’s degree. By connecting the nearby Promise method to transfer pathways, UW can make sure that many much more transfer college students profit. Route to UW consists of three standout programmatic factors:

1. Committed advising and admissions assistance for Assure college students: The Route to UW employs a entire-time adviser who functions straight with Seattle Guarantee pupils by dedicated informational classes, individualized advising and other direct communications. In addition, signature UW admissions events, this kind of as a daylong collection of seminars for possible learners, consist of tailor-made sessions for Promise students hunting to transfer.
2. Credit history-bearing educational exploration training course for prospective learners: The Route to UW Academic Introduction is designed for college students who have completed their to start with calendar year of the Seattle Guarantee. This summer months program is taught by UW faculty and enables students to examine majors, get exposure to exploration opportunities at UW and identify classroom and extracurricular experiences that help prepare students for professions.
3. Credit history-bearing creating training course for admitted college students: The UW transfer crew resolved a prevalent barrier for their students: success in academic creating. The summer ahead of transferring, Assure students admitted to UW have accessibility to the Route to UW Educational Transition system. College members from diverse disciplines tailor the class to their matter location, with each individual class built to prepare learners to fulfill the university’s composing anticipations. At the very same time, the experience builds associations with faculty and other Assure learners ahead of the semester starts off. (Guarantee learners do not fork out to enroll in either summer training course, but UW does supply stipends for instructors.)

The Path to UW product takes advantage of school engagement to assist transfer college students do well. For faculties interested in this technique, the UW transfer workforce shared an observation: “Faculty are genuinely energized to engage with transfer pupils and are dedicated to the achievement of underrepresented, reduced profits, and 1st-technology learners,” the workforce said. Faculty “want to introduce these learners to the question that is a big analysis university and support them see on their own right here.”

Guiding the Scenes of Innovation

The generation of Path to UW underscores the relevance of experienced improvement for transfer practitioners. Since 2018, the UW transfer crew associates have participated in the American Talent Initiative’s transfer neighborhood of apply. As a result of that group, they figured out how UCLA’s Heart for Group University Partnerships supports transfer pupils through pretransfer advising and wraparound help programming, these kinds of as the Summer Intensive Transfer Working experience.

When the mayor’s office environment proposed closer connections involving Seattle Guarantee and the college, the transfer group was ready with concepts. They were inspired by programming at UCLA, for example. In just a couple of months, they introduced the Path to UW.

What does this indicate for university leaders across the place who want to enhance the transfer route for assure pupils? They can give resources for transfer teams to trade concepts with peers at other establishments. The University of Washington invested in professional improvement, and that certainly will advantage hundreds a lot more transfer college students in coming yrs.