Planting the Seed Early: Building a College-Going Culture in Your Community

Too often, when colleges and universities think about enrollment, they're looking at juniors and seniors in high school. They're looking at students in the top 10% of their classes. That's the norm. Yet this approach often results in missing students who have never considered college an option -- particularly students from lower-income families or those who would be first-generation students.

Waiting until students are close to high school graduation to introduce them to college may simply be too late to change perceptions and build interest. What if, instead, colleges started building those relationships much earlier -- even at birth?

Dr. Robert Garza, president of Palo Alto College, in San Antonio, Texas, suggests colleges do just that.

Garza's own personal journey into higher education is part of what sparked the creation of Educate South, an initiative designed to increase community members' exposure to higher education and build college-going mindsets from birth. "You have to have care and corazon for initiatives like these. You simply have to care about people and have the corazon, the heart to want to help people," he states.

As a high school student, Garza was in the lower part of his class academically and came from a working-class family. He cleaned houses with his mom, and with no colleges reaching out to him, he hadn't even considered college as an option. In fact, it wasn't until he joined his friend on a whim for his orientation at Texas A&M that he ever set foot on a college campus, which was two months before high school graduation.

Stories like this are what Educate South hopes to change, says Nancy Gonzales, senior coordinator of student success at Palo Alto College. College-going rates for school districts in South Bexar County are approximately 38-48%, influenced in part by economic disparities. Gonzales points out that many children aren't having conversations with their parents or other adults in their lives about the possibilities of going to college or the doors it can open. Without that exposure and familiarity, they may never consider college an option -- not because they're actively rejecting it, but simply because it hasn't been part of the conversation.

Educate South aims to change that by making higher education feel familiar, possible, and attainable from an early age. For example, Gonzales says many community members aren't aware that their child could earn an associate degree for free through the AlamoPROMISE Program, a last dollar scholarship with no maximum income limits for incoming college freshmen who just completed high school. Through Educate South, she has been able to spread the word and start conversations with families and children long before they have to make decisions about college.

"It's about planting that seed early," she said.

The Educate South 3-Phase Model

Educate South builds a college-going culture in the south San Antonio community through a three-phase approach: Exposure, Exploration, and Experience. Each phase is geared toward different ages.

Exposure

This phase is about engaging the community and introducing families and their children to the world of higher education. It's about familiarizing them with Palo Alto College, particularly through family-oriented events such as Eggstravaganza, an egg hunt the campus puts on for the community; a community baby shower for new, local moms; PACfest, an all-day outdoor festival; and more.

They even assemble "baby baskets" with promotional gear from Palo Alto College -- including branded water bottles, thermometers, books, and baby toys -- to give to new moms in the community. Gonzales has spearheaded this effort, building relationships with these families, introducing them to PAC early on, and helping them envision college as a possibility for their children.

Exploration

This phase further engages students and families in the opportunities and resources available through college. Part of the goal is to get students on campus so they can explore what the school has to offer. This includes participating in PAC summer programs geared towards 6-12th grade students.

Another key part of the exposure phase is the Adopt-a-School program. Every year, Palo Alto College "adopts" one of its feeder elementary and middle schools, giving the college an opportunity to build an ongoing relationship with students well before they enter high school.

The goal at this stage is not to recruit students. Rather, it's about making the college visible and familiar to families and children so that when the time comes to think more seriously about higher education, attending feels like something within their reach.

Experience

This final phase gives students more direct experience with higher education, primarily through dual credit and early college high school programs. These opportunities give students experience with college-level coursework while they're still in high school, with an opportunity to earn an associate's degree before they walk the stage of their high school graduation. This year, Palo Alto College hit a record-breaking enrollment of dual credit and early college high school students of 6,279. This shows that the conversations are starting earlier than their senior year of high school.

Building Partnerships with Schools

One of the challenges Educate South encountered early on was getting elementary schools on board with the Adopt-a-School program. School leaders initially weren't always clear on what participating would require or how much additional work would fall on their staff.

Gonzales said the program is designed to be as easy as possible for schools to participate in. Palo Alto College provides the programming and resources; the school's primary responsibility is coordinating with Gonzales to determine when she and other college representatives can visit.

From there, the college can read with students, provide attendance incentives, help students create vision boards, and offer other activities designed to introduce them to college and encourage them to think about their futures.

Once schools understood that the program was intended to provide additional resources and opportunities for their students -- rather than create another obligation for school staff -- it became easier to establish those partnerships.

The experience highlights an important lesson for other institutions looking to implement a similar program: Colleges can't assume that potential partners will immediately understand what a program entails or how it can benefit them. Clearly communicating what the college will provide, what is expected of the school, and how the partnership can support the school's existing goals can help build trust and make participation more manageable.

Funding the Program

Palo Alto College was one of seven organizations in San Antonio and 384 in the U.S. to receive donations from billionaire MacKenzie Scott. The $20 million gift was unrestricted and helped support Educate South and Palo Alto College programming.

"We are extremely blessed to be able to do this because of this donation, but every college and/or university can replicate this program without an extravagant budget," she stressed. "A little goes a long way."

You may already have promotional items on hand, such as T-shirts or stress balls, that children would enjoy receiving. But Gonzales says the gift itself is less important than the opportunity to spend time with students.

"You can get bubbles for $20, and if you just go blow bubbles with the kids and check out a book from their library to read to them, they will have a blast," she recommended. The point, she says, is not what you bring with you but the time you spend with students -- whether it's reading books to them, playing with them, or simply showing up.

The real value in partnering with local elementary schools is the opportunity to help children get to know college staff and dream bigger about what might be possible in their future.

Implementing a similar program on your campus may not require a huge budget, but it does require a dedicated staff member (or more) like Gonzales to build those relationships with schools and create opportunities to spend time with students.

Playing the Long Game

Palo Alto College recognizes that there won't be immediate return on investment. As Garza says, they're "playing the long game."

This year, Palo Alto College reached a record-breaking 18,000 students enrolled -- an increase in enrollment of over 20%. They also had a record-breaking number of degrees and certificates awarded, up by 41%.

"We may get 10 to 20 students enrolled every year by Educate South, but those will be parents who want to get their GED or are coming to college for the first time that heard a presentation at their child's school or a community event," Gonzales said.

Those are still important achievements, but the real test of whether their efforts are paying off will come in several years -- if dual credit enrollment is up among high school students (because those students heard about college from the time they were in elementary school), if enrollment at the college is up, and if more students and families see higher education as a realistic possibility.

For Palo Alto College, the goal isn't simply to recruit more students. It's to make sure more students grow up knowing that college is an option in the first place.