By Mike Napolitano
Some colleges and universities spend months scrutinizing applications and recommendation letters in an effort to select students who are most ready for higher education.
Northeastern, however, is looking to give some Boston high schoolers who don’t make the cut a chance next fall.
President Joseph Aoun announced a new initiative that will enroll 40 high school graduates from Boston Public Schools (BPS) in a one-year college preparatory program at Northeastern. Aoun made the announcement alongside Boston Mayor Thomas Menino at a press conference at the Alumni Center Monday.
The program, which is part of a city initiative to raise the rate of local students earning higher education degrees, will offer credited courses, academic guidance and Northeastern’s signature focus on experiential learning to students who are not yet ready for college.
“[The program] is going to take students who, frankly, are not prepared for college, who are going to take a risk, but it’s a calculated risk because we know that our goal is going to be at the end to make them successful and graduate,” Aoun said.
The announcement coincided with the release of a Boston Private Industry Council report. While BPS is exceeding the national average for college enrollment out of high school, almost two-thirds of the BPS class of 2000 who enrolled after graduation failed to earn a degree within seven years, according to the report. The report, prepared by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern and BPS, highlighted a common problem in higher education: students who are not prepared for college life often stumble and drop out during their freshman year.
At the conference, Menino called for a 50 percent increase in the graduation rate for the class of 2009, and a 100 percent increase for the class of 2011.
“Just getting in is OK,” he said. “But we want them to graduate. We want them to have the ability to get a good job.”
Aoun said the school would help the city achieve this goal in two ways.
“The first is that [the students] are going to take college preparatory courses that will be there for credit,” he said. “During the year, they are going to have the opportunity with industries to work and have internships in key areas that the city needs, for instance, the health care professions or finance.”
To teach the courses and guide the students, Northeastern will rely on some current professors and some new faculty hires, said Sue Thorn, director of communications, digital media and advancement in the college of professional studies. Students will live at home and receive grants from the financial aid program that will pay for full tuition, she said.
Vice President and Dean of the College of Professional Studies Christopher Hopey said the new program is more than the four classes most students are accustomed to taking each semester.
“Think of it more like a 9-to-5 job,” he said. “It’s not simply just sit in a class and have a lecture; there’s tutoring, there’s learning communities, there’s teamwork, there’s academic course work, there’s coaching, there’s experiential learning.”
Aoun said that if the program is successful, he hopes to eventually expand it to 200 students. And while the initiative is starting at Northeastern, Aoun said the goal is to make college preparatory programs like this more universal.
“This is not ultimately a Northeastern program,” he said. “This is a program that starts at Northeastern and is going to be hopefully embraced by the two-year and four-year colleges and universities.”
Aoun said he was confident the program will prepare the students enough to be realistic candidates for enrollment in Northeastern and other universities.
“I expect a lot of them to come here and I expect also other colleges and universities to also be interested in them because they will be ready,” he said.
