In pact, UALR, offers LR pupils a path to college

Program keys on 1-to-1 help

Connor Donovan, a University of Arkansas at Little Rock Donaghey Scholars Program student, speaks Tuesday about a partnership between UALR and Little Rock School District high schools. Little Rock schools Superintendent Mike Poore (left) and UALR Chancellor Andrew Rogerson (right) listen in.
Connor Donovan, a University of Arkansas at Little Rock Donaghey Scholars Program student, speaks Tuesday about a partnership between UALR and Little Rock School District high schools. Little Rock schools Superintendent Mike Poore (left) and UALR Chancellor Andrew Rogerson (right) listen in.

Students in the Little Rock School District's five high schools can now call on advisers from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock for some one-on-one help on how to enroll and afford a college education.

Andrew Rogerson, chancellor of UALR, and Mike Poore, superintendent of the Little Rock School District, on Tuesday announced the formation of the new Trojan Pathway agreement between the university and the district, with its five high schools: Central, Hall, Parkview, McClellan and J.A. Fair.

Members of the high school classes of 2017 through 2020 who sign a nonbinding agreement with the Little Rock campus will be guaranteed unconditional admission to the university if they meet qualifications. More significantly, they will be provided with "all the advice they need" on how to achieve those academic and financial qualifications, Rogerson said.

"This is about affordability. We are trying to address affordability of higher education. I think everyone .... realizes the importance of steering more of our high school students to a college education," Rogerson said at a news conference.

"There is a pathway from high school to college, an affordable pathway, and we are willing to work with any student who wants to sign up with us and get our help to show them how to get to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock or to anywhere they want to go."

The university is offering what Rogerson called a "one-stop shop" telephone number and email address for the high school students and their families to use -- effective immediately -- as students contemplate their post-high school educations and seek to navigate the enrollment and financial aid systems.

The phone number is (501) 569-8400 and the email address is trojanpathway@ualr.edu.

The Trojan Pathway initiative is similar to the Jacksonville Promise program announced last month by the university and the Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District. However, the Jacksonville program comes with an offer of some college aid from a Jacksonville organization.

Rogerson said the Trojan Pathway agreement does not currently include any special financial aid to the Little Rock district participants. But campus staff members will offer advice to the students on how to attain grants, low-interest loans and scholarships.

And they will suggest that the Little Rock district graduates continue to live in their family homes while attending a nearby university, instead of relying on campus room and board that can double the price of a college education. UALR's tuition and fees for in-state students are about $8,400 a year.

"We don't want you to graduate with $30,000 worth of debt," Rogerson said to student representatives at Tuesday's announcement. "That is the average across America right now."

To encourage students to save costs by living at home, Rogerson said he recently has relaxed for the coming spring semester and the foreseeable future the university's requirement that most freshmen live on campus in residence halls.

In remarks to reporters, Rogerson acknowledged that the Pathway program could result in an increased enrollment at the university. But he said the bigger benefits will be to the career success of students who might not otherwise believe they can attend college, and to economic development in Little Rock.

He said the college education rate in Little Rock is well below the 60 percent mark that he and other state leaders consider necessary for a "vibrant" community and economy in the future.

He said he wants his legacy to be that the campus under his leadership was a driver of economic development.

About 99 percent of the 11.6 million jobs added in the United States since the 2008 recession went to people who had completed at least a partial college education, according to information from the Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University and cited by Rogerson and his staff.

Connor Donovan is a graduate of Little Rock Central High School, and he is now a senior at UALR majoring in international business with an emphasis on Chinese. He said he lived with his grandparents so he could attend classes at the Little Rock campus after a sudden change in family finances thwarted his plans to attend a more distant university.

He eventually qualified for a Donaghey Scholarship that has provided for his university expenses and even travel to China.

Donovan called the Trojan Pathway collaboration between the university and the Little Rock School District promising.

"These students are getting empowered," Donovan said. "They will have somebody there who can make college seem to be a reality."

To be accepted unconditionally at UALR, a student must complete a college preparatory core of classes in high school and achieve an ACT score of at least 19 or a combined SAT math and reading score of 910 and have a grade-point average of at least 2.5.

Metro on 12/14/2016

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