Right to College

CARA’s Right to College program addresses the gap in college guidance for first-generation college students, low-income students, and students of color by training 11th and 12th graders as Youth Leaders who support their peers through the post-secondary exploration and college application process.

Why Right to College?

In New York City public high schools, on average, there is one school counselor for 221 students and many schools do not have a full time staff member devoted to college counseling.

When high school students are well-trained to support their peers through the college process, it is a powerful and cost-effective way of reducing the college guidance gap. Youth Leaders:

Develop and implement a plan to strengthen their college-going culture in their school
Facilitate early awareness workshops for 9th and 10th graders
Support 11th and 12th graders to create well-balanced college lists
Work one-on-one with 25-50 12th graders on the college application and financial aid process

Youth Leaders most often work out of Student Success Centers, shared spaces on multi-school campuses run by community-based organizations in partnership with the schools they serve.

Our Program Model

Youth Leader Training

Coaching

Sustainability, Advocacy, and Development of Model

Enroll NYC

Youth Leaders - carefully selected high school students that work under the supervision of CBO and/or school-based staff - have 70+ hours of comprehensive training in college access content. Training includes the following:

Post Secondary Options:
-Myths & Realities
-Challenges to the College Process
-Career Exploration
-Key Policy Issues

Search & Application Process:
-College List Making
-CUNY System
-SUNY System
-Private Colleges
-Personal Statement Writing

Financial Aid:
-Types of Aid
-FAFSA Process
-Financial Aid Packages
-Opportunity Programs

Working With Students:
-Counseling Skills
-Supporting Undocumented Students
-Professionalism
-Workshop Facilitation
-Data Tracking

Table of Contents
CARA provides coaching support to new and existing sites to develop strong partnerships in the following ways:
Professional Development Support:
- Coaching visits to guide the work being done and provide resources
- Professional development series on college counseling and program development
Support to Programming and Student Success Center (SSC) Development:
- Development of systems for communication between SSC and schools
- Materials created for each site as needed
- Assistance planning campus-wide events and workshops
- Collaborative sessions to plan Youth Leader training
- Sharing of resources and opportunities to help SSC staff with program development and student support
- Mid and end-of-year assessment using program rubrics developed by CARA
Evaluation Support:
- Data tracking support and access to Enroll NYC
- Monthly data snapshots with feedback
CARA supports furthering the development of our model through:
- Collaboration with DoE’s Office of Postsecondary Readiness to design Student Success Center expansion pilot and institutes for College Access For All school/CBO teams
- Support for securing additional funds, as needed
- Advocacy, in partnership with the Urban Youth Collaborative, for city funding for youth leadership
- Advocacy within NYC Department of Education for recognition and resources for the model
CARA has partnered with FMYI to develop a student-focused tracking tool that organizes all of the steps students needed to complete from application to enrollment. Right to College schools have access to Enroll NYC and support in using it.

Enroll NYC allows college offices to keep track of the multiple tasks that each student must complete in order to successfully enroll in college. This type of individual tracking is an essential function of college counseling for first-generation college students.

Taken in aggregate, tracking this extensive set of metrics across our schools and programs allows us to dig deeper into understanding key benchmarks that may lead to increased rates of postsecondary enrollment. CARA then shares these findings with our school and community partners, as well as with the wider community in NYC and beyond.

Learn More

"The CARA Youth Leader training taught me so much about the details of the college process and how difficult it was for students like myself who were first generation students from immigrant, and/or low income families…"

"After learning so much about all of these things I realized how little my peers and I knew about this topic that affected our futures...I realized that being a Youth Leader wasn’t just about helping individual students it is also about being an advocate and fighting for greater equity across schools in terms of college access.”

Afridah Rahman Youth Leader

"CARA's Right to College model has been honed and developed over the last decade to enhance adult capacity with youth leadership."

"CARA's work in training youth leaders has allowed the college work on the Franklin K Lane campus to continue to evolve, expand, and deepen every year."

Lisa LoFaso Student Success Center Director, Franklin K Lane Campus