College is a possibility for everyone, despite financial or educational background. We grow up hearing our teachers say, “Apply yourself”, but what does that mean exactly?
We sat with our parents going over equations and the proper way or writing a sentence and because learning material is constantly changing it was even hard on them to help us let alone us. The pressure was definitely real.
However the stress of college doesn’t usually come until high school, and parents on the other hand have had this anxiety from the moment their little ones are born. But if there was a way to guide parents and students in a path that would lead them to the success in college, would you take it?
The Stanislaus Education Partnership, a collaboration between Stanislaus State University, Modesto Jr. College and the Stanislaus Office of Education will do just that.
On June 18, the three presidents of these institutions came together with the idea of forming a partnership that would highlight their individual programs jointly for students starting at grade school.
The union of these institutions’ programs will focus on giving young students and their family’s means to thrive in their education at an adolescent age. College isn’t a factor until it’s talked about in high school and most parents don’t know where or when to start to worry about it until it’s too late.
The Stanislaus Education Partnership will give students and family’s knowledge on the importance and reality of college as well as giving them building blocks to prepare for higher education.
This goal stems from the lack of college graduates that Stanislaus county produces. Only 17 percent of the 82 percent of Stanislaus county high school graduates are college graduates.  The shortfall of college students in the area have an effect on the business that look in the area when it comes to an educated workforce according to Stanislaus’ Associate Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs Tim Lynch.
“Right now, this region’s degree-holders as a percentage of the population are in the teens. If we can grow it to 30 percent or more, we will enter the conversation when businesses are looking to put down roots or expand,” says Lynch.
This program is in its beginning stages so any success rate of this program is still a ways away.
“The partnerships success will be reflected on the number of students who pursue higher education, the percentage of students who graduate and the number of degree holders in the region,” Lynch said. “Knowledge is power, and the partnership aims to empower students and their families in Stanislaus County to take the right steps in higher education.”