College Track: Building the Next Generation of Professionals through Persistence and Community

By Ellen Lathrop, Program Associate at the Koret Foundation

The Koret Foundation has supported College Track for over twenty years and shares its belief that a strong education leads to meaningful career paths, economic mobility, and greater personal freedom. Despite challenges facing first-generation college students, College Track continues to innovate and grow its approach to meet the needs of the communities it serves.

In late September, I joined Senior Program Officer Ashley Rodwick for a meeting with chief philanthropy officer Nicole Embury and director of institutional partnerships Jillian Lyles to hear more about College Track’s unique approach. 

The College Track offices share a block in downtown Oakland with several other education nonprofits. Scholars (how College Track staff refer to the students in the program) benefit from nearby public transportation, which helps them arrive easily and safely. We were led on a tour by site director Josue Castellon, who explained that the space reflects the program’s ambitions for their scholars. It is designed to mirror the college campuses and professional spaces in which they will eventually thrive. Scholars enjoy light-filled classrooms with modular desks, smart boards, and laptop carts.The national headquarters are conveniently located just upstairs, and the meeting rooms are shared spaces, just as likely to be used for board meetings as coding classes.   

Scholars make a ten-year commitment to College Track during 9th grade, which is no small feat for a 14 year old. For those brave enough to commit, however, the results speak for themselves. College Track scholars have a six-year college graduation rate that is four times higher than the national average for first generation students from low-income households.  

Koret’s most recent grant to College Track included funding to support scholars who start their post-secondary education at community colleges. For many families, this is the most affordable and convenient option, however, transferring and completing a bachelor’s degree proves challenging. In 2022, only 6% of College Track students who started at community college were able to transfer to four-year institutions after two years. Koret’s funding helped College Track develop a “playbook” to train coaches on how to help scholars carefully plan their courses to be on track to transfer. The latest data shows that 33% of the 2024 cohort successfully transferred. While there remains work to be done, the program was successful enough that College Track hopes to eventually expand this programming nationwide. 

This graduation and transfer data is especially impressive as scholars and families continue to feel the effects of pandemic, academically and socially. One of College Track’s greatest strengths is its cohort model. Students support each other through the often-grueling process of applications and, once accepted, help each other adjust to life on college campuses that often struggle to support first generation students. College Track is leaning into this strength, developing partnerships with universities who commit to accepting a cohort of College Track scholars and providing them with generous financial aid packages. Leaning into this cohort model also helps College Track staff to better meet scholar needs. So far, eighteen universities have committed to these cohort partnerships, and they are looking to add more.  

College Track has been supporting young people to realize their potential since 1997 and they continue to innovate and grow to meet scholars’ needs. The Koret Foundation is proud to support its continued efforts to help vulnerable young people find educational and professional success.

For a closer look at College Track’s strategy and philosophy, check out our interview with Chief of Education Dr. Rosanna Ferro here.