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University of Central Oklahoma Helps Students Through Its Compass Learning Community
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 Autumn Brinegar, Compass coordinator at UCO |
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Not quite two years ago, the College Board announced one of its boldest advocacy efforts to date, the CollegeKeys Compact™, which invited all member schools, colleges and universities to sign a pledge to help low-income students earn college degrees. The means to this end are numerous: Compact proposals include creating partnerships to provide more mentors for young people; waiving fees for college applications for these target students; educating administrators, counselors and teachers about the reality of financial aid needs; and providing additional tutoring and supplemental instruction. The pledge also calls for culturally relevant programming.
The University of Central Oklahoma, a member of CollegeKeys™, has launched an initiative called the Compass Learning Community, which offers at-risk students from rural, low-income, first-generation and Latino backgrounds all of the support outlined above and more to help ensure that these students stay in school and earn their degrees.
Each summer, 25 students are invited to participate in this community, which provides them with an incredible opportunity to tap into some of UCO’s best faculty and tutoring resources.
“Many of our students enter college with the deck stacked against them. They work 30+ hours a week, being the first in their family to attend college and are often from very small towns,” said Autumn Brinegar, the UCO Compass coordinator. “We surround them with some of our top faculty, additional tutoring opportunities, a staff member on their floor (me) and whatever else we can do to ensure their success. The program is young but extraordinarily promising.”
Supported by the administration, staff members and a grant from the Inasmuch Foundation, UCO is able to place Compass students together in a residence hall with a counselor on site. Students take five of their classes together, and instructors work to overlap curricula. The grant also supports peer mentors, supplemental tutoring and instruction, and travel expenses. The first year results have been better than imagined. Students earn higher GPAs than they thought possible, take leadership roles throughout campus and earn scholarships. Most important, these students are now part of a true learning community.
“All throughout my high school years I wanted to attend college but it seemed impossible for me,” said sophomore Olivia Saldana, one of last year’s participants. “My parents didn’t have the money, and I had no idea where to even start. I waited a year after I graduated from high school to go to college. I just remember my mom saying ‘Go to college! Have a better life than we did, we will find a way to pay for it.’ That meant everything to me. So I applied and got accepted!
“Once I was accepted, the idea of going to college started feeling real. I was so lucky to be part of the wonderful Compass program. They helped me with so much — from meeting new people to filling out financial aid papers! I would have struggled so much my first year if it wasn’t for this program. I am a first-generation college student, so I had no idea what to expect, but I got through my first year thanks to this program. If I could do it all over again, I would!”
Now beginning its second year, expectations for Compass have been raised. One of the program’s creators, UCO Associate Vice President of Enrollment Management Jay Corwin says they set an aggressive goal to graduate at least 50 percent of each cohort, which would be almost five times the current graduation rate for these students. To reach this level, offices from across campus have come together. “Our president gave us the green light and from there, numerous faculty and staff have come together to make this a reality,”
Corwin said.
The CollegeKeys Compact asks colleges and universities to make a pledge to help students from all backgrounds graduate college. The Compass Learning Community at Central is an excellent program to help make that happen, and it can be replicated at campuses of all sizes.
Read more about the Compass Learning Community in an opinion piece by Jay Corwin, associate vice president of enrollment management at the University of Central Oklahoma.
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