Institution College Forward State Texas Academic Level Community-Based Organization Issue Area Access Website http://www.collegeforward.org Key Personnel Austin Buchan Program Focus Community Partnerships / Collective Impact, Mentoring Overview Founded in 2003, College Forward coaches underserved, motivated students to achieve the benefits of higher education and a college degree. It leads by building and sharing the most effective, most efficient, and most exciting college access and completion programs in the country. College Forward’s award-winning programs have increased postsecondary outcomes for over 15,700 students. Program Description Founded in 2003 as a college access program, College Forward matured along with its first class of 30 Hispanic students in Austin, Texas’ Hays High School adding completion services in 2005. In recent years, they have implemented three programs: Success Partnerships: They collaborate directly with colleges to enhance student success with campus-based student mentoring services CoPilot: A database was created to meet internal program management needs, CoPilot has allowed College Forward (and over 40 partner organizations across the nation to date) to identify and harness student information in ways that inform their ability to be highly responsive to student needs Policy Work: College Forward is engaging in state and federal advocacy to bring the perspective of underserved students to lawmakers who govern college access and success. Outcome Since its inception, College Forward’s Hispanic students significantly outperform state benchmarks: 99% of Hispanic students apply to and are accepted to higher education, 82% submit FAFSA applications compared to 47% statewide. 90% of Hispanic students matriculate in college, compared to 44.7% statewide. 85% of Hispanic students persist from their first to the second semester in college, three percentage points higher than the program average, and 53% complete postsecondary education, more than four times the rate for Hispanic students in Texas. Learn more about Latino College Completion in Texas Return to Growing What Works Database
