Forsyth Technical Community College

The College Lift Model

Postsecondary Success through Comprehensive Support

Program Overview

College Lift is an intensive, seven-year program for students from low socioeconomic backgrounds that is designed to prepare them for post-secondary academic success.

The program is predicated upon the idea that providing additional assistance to low-income, first-generation students so that they may achieve post-secondary success upon arrival at Forsyth Tech is necessary, but insufficient. In order for Forsyth Tech to fulfill its vision as “a catalyst for equitable economic mobility, empowering lives and transforming communities,” the college, along with other institutions of higher learning, must leverage its institutional knowledge and resources to equip local at-risk students before they set foot on a college campus.

College Lift does just that – through a series of holistic, wrap-around programs that provide support to the scholars and their caregivers.

First-generation students often require additional, rigorous academic support to be prepared to excel upon arrival at college. With this need in view, College Lift provides its students, identified in the program as scholars, with 6 – 12 hours of weekly, college-preparatory-centered academic instruction (in the form of a Saturday Academy and afterschool tutoring) from sixth grade through high school graduation.

Caregiver engagement is indispensable in supporting a student’s development, which is why College Lift facilitates a comprehensive, family wraparound program designed to provide families with the support they need to push their students to postsecondary success. Educational resources (such as ESL classes, professional development seminars and even standard curriculum courses) are also available to the parents of College Lift Scholars, providing opportunities for career and economic advancement as they accompany their children through the seven-year journey to program completion.

The psychological and emotional duress that often accompanies childhood and adolescence can represent just as meaningful a barrier to postsecondary achievement as any other factor; College Lift seeks to counter this challenge by making counseling and psychological support available to all College Lift scholars and their family members.

College Lift makes attending college an expectation and a reality, rather than an unattainable dream. That is why the program has worked with local institutions of higher education like Salem College, Carolina University and Forsyth Tech to provide full tuition scholarships to College Lift Scholars. Students and their families also receive extensive education on postsecondary options and detailed assistance in the process of applying to college itself. Through dual enrollment in Career and College Promise courses, College Lift students begin earning college credit in their junior and senior year, graduating high school with up to two full semesters of college credits already completed.

College Lift began as a nonprofit, called Piedmont Renewal Network, in Winston-Salem in 2017 and became a part of Forsyth Tech’s Educational Partnerships Department in 2020.

Visualizing Forsyth Tech's College Lift Model

Scholar Demographics and Recruitment

Thanks to partnerships within the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools District, and the Data Sharing Project, College Lift receives information about the incoming roster of students at select Title 1 middle schools, which drives decisions about recruitment efforts.

As with all aspects of College Lift, there is a high-touch, bespoke effort with regards to recruitment. Nearly all of the families of rising sixth graders are contacted via phone and text first, and then by home visits over the course of the summer. These visits are made by staff, teachers, assistant teachers, Forsyth Tech leadership and personnel from partnering schools.

After the initial home visits occur, interviews are scheduled with students and families that may be a good fit for the program. Conducting these home visits and interviews during the summer, rather than in a school setting, offers the interviewers the change to see students outside of an academic setting, and better assess their level of interest in the program. The interview also provides time to ensure that the parent and child understand not only the opportunities that College Lift provides, but the intensive time commitment required of the family and student, too. As each interview concludes, if both the student and caregiver want to participate in College Lift, the seven-year journey to successful post-secondary attainment begins.

Adapting College Lift from USC's NAI Model

Forsyth Tech's College Lift model is predicated on the University of Southern California's Neighborhood Academic Initiative

At the start of the 1990s, the University of Southern California (USC) set out to confront an increasingly pronounced disparity in its own backyard.

USC, a world-class research university, was juxtaposed against an economically disadvantaged neighborhood in South Los Angeles. The university’s geography served to dramatize the irony that USC—which draws its students from every corner of the country and around the globe—was all but out of reach for the students growing up in its shadow. While USC’s predicament was common enough (many of America’s most prestigious institutions of higher education are situated near economically disadvantaged communities , the university elected to pursue a solution altogether uncommon in scope and ambition, and launched the Neighborhood Academic Initiative (NAI) in 1990 (Tierney & Jun, 2001, p. 212). NAI, a rigorous, multi-year college preparatory program, promised low income Angelenos who would be among the first in their family to attend college a full scholarship upon acceptance to USC.

The program went on to thrive as successive university administrations remained dedicated to its success, ultimately becoming established as a nationally-acclaimed model of effective higher education and K-12 collaboration (Vogl & Lipinski, 2016). Set apart by its comprehensive slate of student supports—including additional academic instruction in the form of 21 Saturday Academies a year, afterschool tutoring, counseling, full-family involvement programming, and more—NAI has seen 99% of its graduates matriculate to college over the past 30 years, with nearly 75% of these first-generation students completing at least a four year degree.

When Forsyth County, North Carolina was cited in a 2015 Harvard study as having one of the lowest rates of economic mobility in the United States, USC’s pioneering project stood out as an ideal model for replication in a locale defined both by deep need and extensive higher educational capital. As the project was being established, leaders at USC generously gave of their time and energy to advise the College Lift team on the development and adaptation of the NAI model in North Carolina.

References

Chetty, R., and Hendren, N. (2015). “Causal effects, mobility estimates and covariates by county, CZ and birth cohort.” Equality of Opportunity Project, Harvard University. http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org/index.php/data

Tierney, W. G., & Jun, A. (2001). A University Helps Prepare Low Income Youths for College: Tracking School Success. The Journal of Higher Education, 72(2), 205–225. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2001.11778878

The University of Southern California. (n.d.). USC McMorrow Neighborhood Academic Initiative (NAI). https://ignite.usc.edu/project/10237

Vogl, S., & Lipinski, L. (2016, March 29). In Memoriam: USC President Emeritus Steven B. Sample, 75. USCNews. https://news.usc.edu/97360/in-memoriam-usc-president-emeritus-steven- b-sample-75/

Forsyth Technical Community College

2100 Silas Creek Parkway

Winston-Salem, NC 27103Email: collegelift@forsythtech.edu