Phoenix, AZ, March 27, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- College Success Arizona released today its newest policy brief, “College Access and Success Are About More Than Academics: How Supports That Build Non-Academic Knowledge and Skills Improve College Readiness and Promote Attainment.” The brief argues for the crucial importance of non-academic supports, including social and emotional skills development, for improving college readiness, access, and attainment.
“Some of the most significant barriers that stand between Arizona students and success in college are separate from academic readiness or aptitude. Our work with high school and college students indicates that many of them are hampered by issues such as limited access to information about college options, how to pay for college, learning how to be a college student, and the social and emotional challenges of college-going,” said Rich Nickel, President and CEO of College Success Arizona. “This is especially true for students from backgrounds underrepresented in higher education, who often need additional support to overcome these barriers.”
College Success Arizona has a long history of working with first-generation and low-income college students to support their needs when beginning a new chapter of their lives. With one-on-one mentoring, College Success Arizona’s scholarship recipients graduate from college at almost twice the state average. “We know that mentoring pays a vital role in helping a lot of the students we work with navigate their transition to college, stay in enrolled, and graduate ready for success in the workforce,” said Dr. Richard Daniel, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at College Success Arizona. “Many students in Arizona have no one in their family to rely on for support and guidance when it comes to college options and how to succeed. We think more can and should be done at the K-12 level and by institutions of higher education to make sure students are comprehensively prepared for all of the challenges they’ll face in college, whether academic, social, or emotional.”
College Success Arizona argues that strengthening college readiness and increasing non-academic supports for college students is key to increasing attainment in Arizona. “If high school students are not adequately prepared for college, and if we don’t provide robust non-academic supports for college students, then college access and completion rates in Arizona will continue to remain lower than we need them to be, and we won’t meet our statewide attainment goal,” said Nickel, referring to the Achieve60AZ goal of ensuring 60 percent postsecondary attainment in Arizona by 2030.
In its brief, College Success Arizona outlines four key ways that Arizona can better support students:
- Revise state standards for college and career readiness to include social and emotional knowledge and competencies.
- Establish an enforceable college and career readiness statute that holds schools accountable—and provides aligned funding—for ensuring the students are comprehensively prepared for college and a career.
- Develop a single, comprehensive, and publicly available resource for information about college-going patterns in Arizona.
- Expand access to advising and ongoing mentorship for undergraduate students attending higher education institutions.
About College Success Arizona
College Success Arizona works to significantly increase the college attainment rate of students in Arizona, particularly for those who otherwise would not be able to attend or graduate, such as low-income, first generation, and Latino students. We advocate for long-term, sustainable policy solutions that address key challenges in Arizona. Our priorities include closing information gaps that limit college-going culture, working to improve college affordability and increase state financial aid, and advocating for increased attainment statewide to drive economic growth.