Hamilton College - 2002 Year End Report - 2002 Year End Report

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Vivyan Adair

2001 Year End Report

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In January of 2001 we formed our first class of ACCESS students at Hamilton College. These seventeen low-income student parents, and the current class of sixteen that followed them, have gone on to achieve remarkable success in school, have begun to establish themselves in career positions, are increasingly free of social service dependence, and have reshaped the direction of their lives and those of their children. They are a testament to the power of dreams coupled with hard work, and proof of the potential of humans to reach unimaginable heights when encouraged, supported, and inspired.

Over the past year, under the guidance of Hamilton College, and supported by dedicated educators, social service providers, and political, business and civic leaders, our ACCESS class has met and surpassed the program goals and objectives that we delineated in our original plan. Our retention rate and student grade points additionally surpass those of national averages for our student population. Nationally, welfare student populations have averaged less than a 51% retention rate with an average GPA of under 60% (Manpower Demonstration Project 1995). For our first term we had a retention rate of 80% and our students earned a grade point average of 82.7%; in our second term we retained 91% of our students who a GPA of 82.5%; in the first term of our second year we achieved a retention rate of 100% and our students earned a grade point average of 80%.

This data also compares favorably to "traditional" student populations at our host college. The first year grade point average at Hamilton College in 2000 was 83.5% (it is important to note that over half of Hamilton College students are selected from the top 10% of their high school classes.) Ninety-one percent of the students in our graduating ACCESS class were accepted and matriculated into colleges in the region and a substantial number of our students have gone on to be honored with scholarships, academic awards, and placement on the Dean's List at Hamilton College. In addition to successfully completing a rigorous full-time course load (taught by Hamilton faculty maintaining high Hamilton College standards), our ACCESS students work thirty hours per week, care for children (most as single parents), and overcome myriad educational, economic, and social barriers on a regular basis.

As a group our students have had to overcome homelessness, domestic violence, abuse, medical emergencies, low self-esteem, learning and physical disabilities, and a range of family crises. Despite these obstacles, ACCESS students have stayed with our program receiving extraordinary grades, entering into colleges, accumulating crucial work experience, and earning the respect of employers, teachers, administrators, and students. Throughout the entire process they have supported and nurtured each other, celebrating each others' victories, large and small. They have also benefited greatly from the support of a professional staff, a superb faculty, and dedicated tutors.

As a result, our students are changing the way they are valued and the way they perceive and actualize their own contributions to our society and to our nation. Upon entry into our class, 100% of our students lived below the poverty level and were TANF eligible, 63% had depended on social service benefits for two or more years, 57% had experienced domestic violence, and none had been able to earn sufficiently steady incomes or consistently adequate academic marks. Today, less than 10% of our cohort is receiving public assistance, 90% have gone on to continue their studies in college, and 85% are working in pre-career jobs of thirty hours or more per week while enrolled in school.

In our regular assessments, students report increased self-esteem, confidence about their futures, increased motivation and ability to focus, and a strong work ethic; they also demonstrate enhanced intellectual clarity and thinking ability, improved communication skills, better interactions with employers, and a new sense of citizenship and social responsibility. They provide compelling evidence that access to liberal arts education and pre-career employment, coupled with a comprehensive support network, allows low-income parents to exit inter-generational poverty to become educated and self sufficient workers and citizens, in the process transforming lives, families, and communities in central New York State for generations to come.

PDF version of the complete report
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Photo Exhibit

A nationally touring exhibit of 50 framed, museum quality, color photographs coupled with narratives created by students who are welfare eligible, single parents changing their lives through the pathway of higher education. The installation presents a unique view of poverty from insiders’ perspectives and reframes the cultural (de)valuations of poor single parents vis-à-vis family, work and higher education in the United States today. View the Gallery Guide.