Collegebound - College Retention Project

Since 1989, the CollegeBound Foundation has enabled numerous Baltimore City public high school students to attend college by providing both college advising and scholarships. CollegeBound provides college advising and college access centers in 20 Baltimore City public high schools and has served 15,000 of the City's most disadvantaged high school students. According to data from the National Student Clearinghouse, however, many City students with college acceptances don't actually enroll. Furthermore, only 7 percent of 2001 Baltimore City graduates completed college degrees within five years of high school graduation.

In the past two years, the CollegeBound Foundation set out to discover what could be done to increase the college graduation rates of Baltimore City public high school graduates. to make a significant improvement in the college graduation rates, the CollegeBound Foundation determined that realistic financial aid packages, additional mentoring, academic and financial aid advising, and other counseling practices have been shown to reduce college drop-out rates. As regards financial aid, CollegeBound has long offered a Last Dollar grant program that provides up to five years of college grant funding to low-income students based on financial need. Now the Foundation sought to leverage higher college completion rates.

In fall 2006, with a two-year grant of $173,966 from The Abell Foundation, CollegeBound initiated a College Retention Project at six Maryland public colleges and universities beginning with 60 recipients of The CollegeBoudn Foundation's Last Dollar grants. In its second year, there are now two cohorts and 115 students participating in the retention program. Each June following high school graduation, CollegeBound meets with families and students of incoming college scholars to ensure that they are prepared for enrollment and success in the fall. the CollegeBound retention coordinator visits each campus monthly to meet individually and in groups with students in the project, as well as key support personnel on each college campus. There are frequent email and telephone check-ins, as well as a 24-hour hotline for students. the cohort regroups mid-year in Baltimore and over the summer of each school year. The retention coordinator also works closely with Student Support Officers at each campus to overcome barriers to college completion. In the future, CollegeBound hopes to develop junior and senior Baltimore City graduate mentors on each campus who will help incoming Baltimore City Students.

After three semesters, 93 percent of the CollegeBound-supported students in the first cohort are still in college versus the average of 84 percent of previous Last Dollar grant recipients. This also compares most favorably to the 80 percent freshman to sophomore retention rates in Maryland colleges and the comparable 72 percent retention rate for African-American students. All 60 of the freshmen in the Retention Project are currently enrolled.

With this college retention program, CollegeBound further invests in and guides the pathway of untapped talent in Baltimore City toward achieving a college education and economic independence.