Argelia Rodriguez |
A former engineer and Harvard Business School graduate turned education consultant, Rodríguez was president and CEO of a newly formed organization, the DC-College Access Program (CAP), handpicked by a group of D.C.-based business and civic leaders who founded DC-CAP because they knew change was needed.
The first thing they needed to address was removing the most obvious barrier to college for D.C. students: access to only one “in-state” school at which they could enjoy in-state tuition. Unlike students in any of the country’s 50 states, D.C. students had limited choice when it came to affordable schools. DC-CAP lobbied Congress to allow district students to attend any state school in the country at in-state tuition rates, with the government subsidizing the difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition. In return, DC-CAP would mobilize private funds to prepare D.C. students for college and provide them with support while in college.
According to Rodríguez, “they lined up on both sides of the aisle” in support. In 1999, the District of Columbia College Access Act was signed into law, allowing high school graduates who are D.C. residents to attend public colleges and universities nationwide at in-state rates to which they gain admission. Each student can receive up to $10,000 per year, with a maximum of $50,000 in federal tuition assistance. The legislation also provides up to $2,500 per year, with a maximum of $12,500, for students to attend private colleges and universities in the D.C. area.
Fast forward to today, and the results have been amazing: 62 percent of the city’s students now go on to college, and the graduation rate has increased threefold to 45 percent. Students from Washington, D.C., are attending more than 500 colleges and universities across the country. Since its inception, DC-CAP has helped more than 13,000 students, has awarded more than $18 million in scholarships and stands proudly behind the 2,700 young women and men it has helped to graduate since the program began.
While her professional credentials at first glance may seem mismatched with the mission of DC-CAP, Rodríguez has education reform in her DNA. The daughter of renowned mathematics educator Argelia Vélez-Rodríguez, Rodríguez recalls that her mother always knew her daughter would somehow enter the field of education. After working for a top New York consulting firm, Rodríguez established an education consulting practice in Washington, D.C., which ultimately led her to her current position as president and CEO of DC-CAP. In this role, she oversees the operation of 34 college information centers, a staff of about 30 counselors and a small administrative staff. She administers more than $2.7 million in scholarship funds each year and is responsible for marketing, strategic planning, fundraising, community outreach and program development.
The job is rewarding but never easy. It is a major challenge to convince students that college is a viable option, not an impossible dream. To that end, DC-CAP counselors are physically located in every public and charter school in the city, ensuring access to each and every one of the 16,000 high school students the program serves. Advisors provide direct college-counseling services to all high school students and their parents through individual meetings, group sessions, written materials and specialized workshops.
The outreach begins in ninth grade, imparting to students that college is important. Guest speakers and college tours help drive the message home to students, but Rodríguez believes engaging the parents is equally important. “This is a group effort,” she explains. “Parents have to be involved; it is a partnership.”
According to Rodríguez, DC-CAP is unique among college-access programs. “We accept every student regardless of academic achievement; we do not cherry-pick the best and brightest,” she said. “Our operating philosophy is that all students are entitled to a college education. We start with the assumption that every child could be raised to the level that we expect them to achieve. In essence, we say to the students that you are college material unless you prove otherwise.”
But face time with students is just the beginning. Many D.C. public school students and their families live close to or below the federal poverty level, calculated at less than $20,000 a year for a family of four. More than two-thirds of the families DC-CAP serves qualify for free or reduced lunch programs. The gap between college costs and available family resources often makes college a financial impossibility. As a result, there is a long history of chronically undereducated families in the city with no framework or experience in navigating the college process. So advisors spend a great deal of time helping families overcome the financial obstacles by helping students obtain waivers for application and test fees, complete financial aid applications, find funds for books and transportation and apply for corporate internships. Advisors also determine whether students qualify for DC-CAP “Last Dollar” Awards, which help close the gap between available financial aid and college costs. Qualifying students are eligible for up to $2,000 per year for five years.
However, getting kids to college is just the beginning. According to Rodríguez, getting students into college turns out to be easier than getting them out, i.e., graduating. DC-CAP continues to provide individual counseling and support to college students for up to five years through a toll-free hotline, on-campus visits by retention staff, regular financial aid and scholarship correspondence, college tours, summer pre-college programs and written materials.
When the organization was established, its focus on college retention was unique, but today it is a more widely pursued goal by likeminded organizations. Through the retention aspect, many DC-CAP students have benefited from having their schedules adjusted, getting help negotiating financial aid packages and securing additional resources from local, federal, institutional and private funders.
DC-CAP college representatives are physically located at major institutions, including Delaware State University, Norfolk State University, North Carolina A&T State University, Norfolk Carolina Central University and Virginia Commonwealth University.
The program currently supports about 5,300 college students who are enrolled in more than 500 institutions across the country. The growth of D.C. freshmen enrollment has been dramatic at many colleges and universities, notably American University, Bowie State University, Clark Atlanta University, Delaware State University, Virginia State University, North Carolina A&T University, Temple University, Norfolk State University and Virginia Union University.
Beyond the core components of the outreach program, DC-CAP has been proactive in making changes that significantly alter the playing field for D.C. students. In 2007, the Sallie Mae Fund, a charitable organization sponsored by Sallie Mae, the giant lender, awarded DC-CAP funds to extend DC-CAP’s outreach to include charter schools. That year, four schools served as a pilot. Today all of the city’s charter schools are serviced by DC-CAP. With more than a quarter of D.C.’s school-age children now attending charter schools, that expansion was critical.
The organization’s newest initiative is the Alpha Leadership Project, which focuses solely on young men, providing them with a structured community intended to keep them out of gangs.
“We did a lot of research on this issue,” said Rodríguez, “and what we kept hearing in focus groups is that these young men felt very alone. Using the concept of a fraternity as a model, we developed a yearlong training program covering aspects such as gangs, personal responsibility, manhood and study habits, complemented by a mentoring program.”
Ninth-graders who complete the program are invited to join the Alpha Leadership Project, which, like a fraternity, has a strong emphasis on integrity, excellence and service. They also receive a leather jacket upon induction, similar to a college varsity jacket, as a visible badge of their membership. To maintain good standing in the group, students are required to participate in community service and student government, as well as earn good grades.
In its third year, the program has retained 88 percent of the first year’s class, a considerable improvement over the 50 percent dropout rate before the program started, and 100 percent of the next two classes. Still in pilot phase, the program includes 400 students in five schools, with 150 freshmen this year, but Rodríguez hopes to expand the program to all 41 of the city’s schools.
This desire leads to perhaps the most critical component of her position: fundraising. Because of the organization’s unique model and pioneering focus on college retention, DC-CAP has enjoyed tremendous support from both local and national corporations and foundations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Carnegie Foundation, Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, and Dell. These important private funds complement the federal authorization of $35 million, which covers the cost difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition. But as new programs are created and expanded, and as college costs continue to rise, increasing the size of the waiting list for Last Dollar Scholarships, additional funding is always needed.
Rodríguez is not only an excellent fundraiser, she has been recognized with the nonprofit “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval” for her judicious use of funds. Under her leadership, DC-CAP has been certified as a Four Star nonprofit organization by Charity Navigator, America’s largest independent charity evaluator. The four-star rating, its highest, indicates that DC-CAP is exceptional at managing its finances, exceeds industry standards and outperforms most other charities in its cause category.
But Rodríguez is quick to share the accolades, pointing out the involvement of parents, teachers, counselors, mentors, principles, corporations and foundations. “You can even fix a city,” she said of the collective effort.
Just how much it has been fixed is the subject of another DC-CAP initiative: a survey of the city’s last six classes to complete college. Slated for the summer, the survey will try to find out where DC-CAP alumni are living, working and what they are earning. Rodríguez suspects that many of the city’s natives are in fact returning, but she wants to know for sure.
“What we knew all along was that kids will rise or fall to your level of expectations,” she said. “We gambled on that, and we won.” And thanks to Rodríguez and the DC-CAP collective, the students of D.C. and the city itself will continue to win as well.
