In the Boston office we have 503 high school students that Bottom Line is helping through the college admissions and financial aid processes. Most of the high school seniors that we work with have packaged their college applications and placed their star on our “I Hit Submit!” wall. In fact by December 21,492 of our students had completed their applications. We have switched gears for the most part and are focusing on financial aid (ie the FAFSA and the CSS Profile).
A few of our students, however, are still in the process of applying to college. In the case of my student, Stefani, the path to putting her star on the “I Hit Submit!” wall was a tough one. In the fall of her senior year, difficult family circumstances caused Stefani to fall behind in school to the point where she had to postpone the college application process in order to focus on passing her high school classes. While she would likely graduate from high school, she did not think she could go to college. She was told by many adults in her life that that perhaps a year or two at community college after high school would be the best path for her.
Not knowing this, I continued to reach out to Stefani asking her to come back to Bottom Line and to see if she wanted help applying for college. Sometimes the most important thing I do as a Bottom Line Counselor is provide steady, positive coaching, telling my students that they can do it.
When I sent Stefani an email after winter break to ask her where she was at and when she may want to meet, she was in a completely different place. She was no longer the overwhelmed student who had given up the dream of attending a four-year college. She told me that her mindset had completely changed and that, despite the challenging circumstances in her life, she had started to turn things around in school and was no longer in danger of not graduating.
Then, she asked me if it was too late for her to apply to college. While she was literally months behind her peers, we were able to work together and she was able to make many of her colleges February 1st deadlines. Although her colleges’ application process has not followed the traditional route here at Bottom Line, in a few short days Stefani was finally able to put her star on our “I Hit Submit” wall – a testament to her perseverance.
An exciting report that was released on Thursday, January 17 and was featured in The Boston Globe and on WBUR. According to the report by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern and commissioned by the Boston Foundation, the 6-year college graduation rate for Boston Public School graduates increased from 40% to 47% between the high school graduating classes of 2000 and 2005. In addition, college enrollment and persistence rates have increased steadily since 2000.
When Bottom Line was founded in 1997 here in Boston, it was because we could see that students lacked the support, guidance and preparation to succeed in college. In the 16 years since then, we have been dedicated to changing the outcomes for those students, and we have been joined in our efforts more recently by many others in the community who have also recognized this significant challenge. This report acknowledges that we have made real progress in preparing and supporting our students so they can be successful in college and beyond. From the class of 2005, nearly 7% of all BPS degree earners received Bottom Line’s support throughout college. Our guidance played a critical role in the success of those students.
However, for our organization and for the community as a whole, our work isn’t done.
Even with this progress, more than half of college-enrolled BPS graduates still were unable to earn a degree in 6 years. However, we have continued to grow every year since 2005, and we will continue to expand so that we can make a real, significant impact on our students and the community moving forward. The size of our class has tripled between 2005 and 2012, and, within the next two years, we will grow to serve 450 Boston Public School graduates from each high school class year, in addition to students from the Greater Boston and Worcester areas. With this growth, we hope to play an even larger role in the progress of our students and our community moving forward.
Earlier this month, students, staff, volunteers, supporters, and corporate and community leaders gathered at The Westin Copley Place Hotel in Boston to celebrate 15 years of helping students get into college, graduate from college, and go far in life. College students Yaritza Peña, Melissa Peña, Julie Rorie, and Joe Rowell spoke of the challenges that they have overcome to succeed in college and their experiences growing up in Boston and participating in Bottom Line. Bentley University President Gloria Larson reminded us of the need for a college-educated workforce and the benefits of providing services to students on campus. The event also honored USA Funds CEO Carl Dalstrom for his ongoing commitment to low-income and first-generation students; Senior Vice President of Access and Outreach Bob Ballard accepted an award on Dalstrom’s behalf. Because of the generous support from the attendees and sponsors, $550,000+ was raised to help low-income and first-generation students complete a college degree. Thank you to everyone who continues to provide students from our community with the guidance they need to reach their full potential.
As part of the event’s programming, we presented this video, which shares some students’ thoughts and experiences about college and Bottom Line.
A visit to Washington D.C. for the National College Access Network (NCAN) conference went from educational to exciting for our staff when Bottom Line was chosen as the winner of the 2010 College Access Organization Award of Excellence. The announcement was made at the awards luncheon on Monday, October 11th by Kyle Malone, Senior Program Officer at USA Funds. This was the 5th year of the award and it comes with a $5,000 Donation from USA Funds.
As just one of nearly 300 members in NCAN who represent a variety of programs and services focused on college access and success we are thrilled that our work with thousands of students in Boston and Worcester has been recognized so highly. We believe that our model of one-on-one support is necessary to improve the low college graduation rates for our population of disadvantaged students. Currently we have a college graduation rate of 73% and we are on track to make it even higher.
From start to finish, the underlying theme of the conference was persistence through college. Many of the sessions and the key note speakers, Jim Applegate of the Lumina Foundation and Martha Kantor, the under-secretary of Education focused on this issue in their remarks. Because Bottom Line has been focused on college graduation since our inception we are hopeful that our selection as the winner of this award will further demonstrate that “getting in” is not good enough.
Thank you to the committee of voters from around the country who selected Bottom Line! We are honored by our selection and look forward to living up to the high standards this award represents.
In the Boston office we have 503 high school students that Bottom Line is helping through the college admissions and financial aid processes. Most of the high school seniors that we work with have packaged their college applications and placed their star on our “I Hit Submit!” wall. In fact by December 21,492 of our students had completed their applications. We have switched gears for the most part and are focusing on financial aid (ie the FAFSA and the CSS Profile).