College Access

We got along so well we made them part of the family.

In the summer of 2009, PEF merged with the College Access Center. The two organizations have been working so closely together over the last few years that a merger just made plain good sense. Together, we are working to make sure that every student in the county has an opportunity to go to college.

PEF and CAC have worked together on:

• placing part-time college advisors in every high school in Hamilton County
• creating peer mentoring programs that assign college students to help high school students overcome barriers to college enrollment
• providing networking opportunities and professional development to support high school counselors as they encourage students to consider post-high school education

In addition, the College Access Center brings two new initiatives to PEF: Passport Scholars, a program that provides low income girls the opportunity to experience outstanding summer programs, form relationships with dedicated mentors and receive professional college counseling; and Camp College, an annual 3-day event held at the University of the South to provide intensive college advising to 60 rising Hamilton County high school seniors who would be the first in their families to attend college.

Together with HCDE and other partners, these organizations have already brought about remarkable improvements in college enrollment for Hamilton County students:

• 72% of Hamilton County public school graduates enroll in college.
• From 2004 to 2009, the number of Hamilton County graduates enrolling in college increased from 1,313 to 1,522 – a 16% increase.
• Graduates of the Hamilton County class of 2009 enrolled in 146 colleges and universities in 27 states. See a list of these schools.
• Some of these colleges are ranked among the top in the nation by US News and World Report, including Stanford, the University of Chicago, Georgia Tech, NYU, and Vanderbilt University.

Visit our new Map2College for a load of information on helping students go to college, visit with some successful Hamilton County graduates who enrolled in prestigious colleges this past fall, and check out video podcasts of high school students visiting area businesses and Camp College 2009. We will walk you through the college admission process and beyond.

In the spring of 2010, high school students at Central, Howard, and Ooltewah were interviewed by trained peers as part of a program called "Hear Us Out."  A collaboration with What Kids Can Do and the Lumina Foundation (as part of Lumina's KnowHow2Go initiative), Hear Us Out worked in Seattle, Washington and Chattanooga to ask students what supports them - and what stands in their way - on their journey to college.  Read more about the Hear Us Out project and the results of the survey.