Last Spring the TRiO SSS Project contributed to Skyline College’s graduation and transfer rate with a total of 73 students who either received a certificate and/or associate degree and/or transferred to a four-year college. Forty three of these students transferred to a four-year institution of higher education (IHE). Feedback from the students indicated that campus visits were a significant contributing factor to the project’s transfer rate. Each year the TRiO SSS Project provides opportunities for its students to search for high quality academic education by visiting different IHE campuses throughout California.
Why visit? The TRiO SSS staff believes campus visits gives first-generation students many of whom have never an opportunity to get a real-time experience of an IHE campus is like.
The first TRiO SSS campus visit for this academic year was to Sonoma State University which is considered one of the Best 368 Colleges in the country, one of 25 of the “most connected” and “wired” (Forbes) as well as being among the top “green” campuses (Princeton Review), and recognized as having one of the best 25 liberal arts and science education program in the nation.
TRiO SSS students had the chance to experience a campus tour, visit the residence halls, dine in a residence hall dining room, and meet with an admission transfer officer—all of which was designed to give them a sense of what it would like to attend Sonoma State University and be a Seawolf. The impact of this campus visit was expressed by a student who reflected, “I really like Sonoma, definitely my #1 choice for a possible transfer.”
Article by Raymond Jones.
