Help for disadvantaged students
Student Support Services
By Marya Jones Barlow
A first-generation commuter student from Santa Paula, Maria 鈥淟upita鈥� Maga帽a struggled
to find her way during her first semester at CI. 鈥淚 was completely lost, she said.
鈥淚 felt like I didn鈥檛 belong here. At one point it crossed my mind that maybe school
was not for me because I didn鈥檛 know where I was going in life with school.鈥� Then,
she found CI鈥檚 Student Support Services (SSS) program, which provides academic support
and counseling to college students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Today, Maga帽a is
a highly engaged senior psychology major who works as a SSS student assistant, advising
others who are low-income, first-generation or have disabilities.
Thanks to a $1.1 million, five-year federal TRiO grant from the U.S. Department of Education, CI provides Student Support Services to approximately 160 students a year, with outstanding results. Of the 355 students who entered the program since 2011, 42 percent have graduated. That鈥檚 a graduation rate almost three times the national average for the lowest-income students, according to a 2015 National Center for Education Statistics study.
CI鈥檚 SSS participants are also more likely to stay in school鈥攅ven compared to peers from privileged backgrounds. Ninety-five percent persist to a second year of college, vs. 77 percent of students overall. Ninety-six percent are in good academic standing.
SSS provided me with mentorship, information and resources I needed to succeed as a first-generation college student.
Alex Yepez
鈥淪SS and TRiO level the playing field for bright students who lack the familial and financial resources to navigate the process of college application, enrollment and graduation,鈥� said Director of Student Success Programs Leah Alarcon. 鈥淲ithout TRiO funding and services, many talented students would fall through the cracks.鈥�
Alarcon and Assistant Director of Student Success Programs Venus Tamayo know this all too well. Both are first-generation college graduates who went on to obtain master鈥檚 degrees in counseling and guidance. Their own backgrounds help them guide CI students through the university experience.
鈥淢y parents came to this country and worked in the fields,鈥� said Tamayo. 鈥淭hey always
told me, 鈥榊ou鈥檝e got to get an education. That鈥檚 the way you鈥檙e going to succeed in
this country.鈥欌��
Through initiatives such as CI鈥檚 Educational Opportunity Program, University Outreach, and Promoting Achievement Through Hope, CI works to improve the retention and graduation rates of these students. SSS participants receive personal, academic, career, financial, and tutorial assistance, as well as mentoring, and graduate and professional school counseling. At the on-campus SSS Center, students can study, seek help, hang out, and connect to peers and campus resources.
More than 70 percent of CI鈥檚 student population meets the criteria to be served by SSS. The program receives over 200 applications each year.
鈥淪SS provided me with mentorship, information and resources I needed to succeed as a first-generation college student,鈥� said Alex Yepez, a senior Sociology major, Student Senator and ASI Board Chair. 鈥淚 always knew I wanted to go to college, but no one in my family knew how to get me there. From the beginning, the counselors at CI went above and beyond to make sure that I stayed on track and connected to the university.鈥�
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漏 Fall 2015 / Volume 19 / Number 02 / Bi-annual