The Vermont Bridge to Opportunity
"Maximizing the Potential of our Youth"
More Vermont students will benefit from a college education and employers will benefit from a larger pool of skilled workers under Gaye Symington's Bridge to Opportunity program. It's designed to encourage middle school and high school students to pursue higher education by providing them with incentives to consider college, the skills to succeed in college, and the financial tools to afford college.
With every Vermont student who strays off the path to a college education or never gets on the path in the first place our state loses a piece of its economic vitality. When Vermonters choose not to pursue a college-level education, whether because of financial barriers or lack of preparation, motivation, or encouragement, they are denied a bridge to opportunity.
I consistently hear from employers around the state that they do not have the workforce to meet their needs. When a Vermont employer cannot grow a business because of a lack of employees Vermont loses an opportunity to strengthen our economy.
The Vision: Sending more kids to college
The Vermont Bridge to Opportunity maximizes the potential of low-income students and those for whom college may seem out of reach, particularly, those who are in the first generation of their family to attend college. The Bridge Program integrates a project-based and traditionally academic program with a focus on science, technology, and the creative arts, in order to encourage those students who are most likely to remain in Vermont, to attend college and successfully enter the workforce.
In the old economy, finishing high school was the minimum requirement for all young people. In today's economy and for the future, the bridge to opportunity is a college education.
The Vermont Bridge to Opportunity will allow students to prepare for and begin college while still in high school, and earn two additional years of college tuition, room, board and fees. The goal is 100% college enrollment and 100% college graduation with at least an associate's degree for each student in the Program.
The Vermont Bridge to Opportunity will:
- Focus on increasing college attendance and success for first generation and low-income Vermonters.
- Encourage young Vermonters to aspire to post-secondary education.
- Ensure participants reach their potential by providing access to a college education.
- Encourage students to pursue studies and careers in science, technology and the creative arts.
- Complement existing initiatives that also work to target various student populations, such as the STEM effort and the VAST Program.
- Prepare more Vermonters to successfully enter the workforce.
- Help bridge the gap between businesses seeking employees and young Vermonters entering the workforce.
The Plan
The plan outlined below is targeted toward the ten pilot schools that will be involved in the Bridge to Opportunity Program. The Program will be evaluated after five years with the goal of expanding it statewide.
A Bridge to Opportunity Advisory Board
An advisory board will be established to select the pilot schools involved in the Program.
I will appoint an advisory board to select the schools involved in the Program provide advice as it is implemented, and oversee the Opportunity Fund. It will be made up of members of the secondary and post-secondary education communities and members of the business community. The board will be charged with choosing ten pilot schools to participate in the Bridge to Opportunity Program. A number of schools will implement the Bridge to Opportunity Program for students in the fall of 2010 with a new cohort implementing the Program in 2011.
We must instill in students whose parents did not go to college and in those families of modest income the belief that a college education is something that they can obtain.
Students are deciding earlier and earlier not to attend college. The pilot schools, in partnership with VSAC and the colleges, will expand outreach and awareness information and activities starting with sixth graders. All middle school Bridge students will visit a college campus and hear from successful Vermont college students and successful graduates.
The Bridge to Opportunity is an innovative education program to guide students seamlessly into college-level learning.
Bridge students will participate in a three-year integrated curriculum that offers challenging hands-on learning opportunities. It is not enough for employees to just follow instructions and predictable routines. Businesses need employees who can utilize today's technology, follow a line of inquiry, and think creatively. The Bridge Program will focus on science, technology, and the creative arts. Focus will be given to cross-curricular, multidisciplinary activities. While Bridge students will be encouraged to pursue careers in these target areas, the students will also continue their traditional academic studies in the areas of math, social studies and language.
Through expanded dual enrollment opportunities in partnership with the Vermont State Colleges, successful students will earn one full year of college credits, no or low-cost tuition, room, board and fees for two years, as well as a high school diploma at the end of their senior year.
Continuing On To College After High School Graduation
Graduates of the Bridge Program will have the opportunity to continue onto one of the Vermont State Colleges or the University of Vermont with one year of college credit already earned and no or low-cost tuition for two years.
Bridge graduates will receive two years of college funding, complementing existing state and federal grants to apply to any of the Vermont State Colleges or an equivalent amount of funding to apply to the University of Vermont. We have estimated this to be approximately $3.2 million for 300 students or $11,000 dollars annually per student at the college e level.
This will ensure that every Bridge to Opportunity graduate has the opportunity to earn an associate's degree with little or no debt and has a clear pathway to complete a bachelor's degree.
BRIDGE TO OPPORTUNITY DESIGN
A key element of maximizing the potential of our youth and creating a successful economy is a targeted program focused on those students least likely to attend college-- first generation and low-income students. It is critical to Vermont's future that this target population becomes engaged and active members of our economy.
The Program will begin with a pilot project of ten school sites that represent geographic diversity. Pilot schools will demonstrate their commitment to recruiting targeted students into a challenging traditionally academic and project-based program that incorporates college course work. While this does not preclude other student attendees, the goal is to focus on students least likely to attend college.
Pilot schools will demonstrate a strong partnership with a Vermont State College or the University of Vermont to provide an integrated curriculum that allows students to complete an equivalent of one year of college prior to high school graduation. The educational program will be delivered by specially trained teachers in the high school as well as faculty invited from the Vermont State Colleges and the University of Vermont with a focus on using project-based methods of instruction.
Working with the employer community will be an essential element of the Bridge to Opportunity Program. Each pilot school will demonstrate its linkages with employers. Key elements will include a mentor program, summer internships and financial support.
All selected pilot projects will be expected to coordinate their efforts in both program design and delivery. The use of videoconferencing and distance learning will allow for both faculty and student interaction at the pilot sites.
THE OPPORTUNITY FUND
The Bridge Program will be funded through the newly established Opportunity Fund. The fund will be a public/private partnership with a 1:3 financial ratio and will be administered by the Opportunity Advisory Board. One-third of the funds will be derived from state sources and two-thirds raised from private philanthropy and grants. Support will be sought from Vermont businesses, education and community organizations, philanthropic organizations and individuals to raise educational attainment among Vermonters.
A break down budget of the Program is at the end of this page.
WHY NOW?
Vermont is facing extreme challenges as we look toward the next twenty years. Economists predict that a lack of a skilled workforce will be the single largest impediment to long-term economic vitality in Vermont. Already employers identify workforce as their single most pressing concern.
Vermont faces a severe decline in high school graduates in the coming years and with so many young Vermonters leaving our state to explore other options, the number of people in the workforce will actually decline over the next few decades. While this is partially offset by a number of young families moving into the state, it remains imperative that we focus our attention on those students who are most likely to reside in Vermont. The Bridge to Opportunity does this by focusing on developing the skills and earning capacity of the Vermonters who are most likely to stay in Vermont.
- According to a national report card, Vermont has one of the steepest declines in the nation in the number of students enrolling in college after high school-- a decline of 23% from 1992-2006.
Source: The National Center for Public Policy and Education Measuring Up 2006 - The same report card gave Vermont an F for affordability. It found that a low-income family in Vermont must spend 61% of its income to send a child to college.
- The report card also gave Vermont an A in completion - the best in the nation. Vermont's higher education institutions work very hard to ensure that students succeed.
- There is only a 34% chance that a Vermont 9th grader will be enrolled in college four years later.
Source: VSC Demographic Sheet - Vermont is last in the nation in our share of the population ages 25 to 29
Source: 2007 VT Dept of Economic Development Report
To meet the workforce needs of the future and ensure robust economic development, bold action must be taken. Vermont will distinguish itself in the global, national, and regional economy by developing a well-educated citizenry with the capacity to think creatively.
The Bridge to Opportunity Program is designed to raise educational attainment in Vermont, particularly for those least likely to aspire to and succeed in college, through an initial set of pilot projects that can be replicated throughout Vermont. These highly educated Vermonters will then have the tools and skills necessary to successfully enter the workforce.
Vermont businesses currently face the challenge of not having an adequately trained workforce and data predicts that this challenge will only become more severe. It is time to act decisively to address this challenge. The Vermont Bridge to Opportunity will maximize the potential of those students who are currently unlikely to attend college to ensure a strong and vibrant Vermont.
For a half century, America has viewed completing high school as the minimum education accomplishment. Today, Vermont faces the opportunity to raise the bar. Vermont's future success requires that we make college attainment as ubiquitous as high school attainment is today. The Vermont Bridge to Opportunity will make a college education more attainable for Vermonters, better prepare our workforce, and produce the critical missing element for a vibrant, successful economy.
BRIDGE TO OPPORTUNITY BUDGET
The numbers below are based on a number of assumptions and estimates.
The numbers below are based on 150 students in Year One and an additional 150 in Year Two. (Five schools with 30 students each, or six schools with 25 each)
The first year (2009-10) is a planning year. Students are admitted in Year 2 (2010-11).
The first college year is 2013-14 with 150 college students. In 2014-15 there would be 300 Bridge college students.
It is assumed in the below budget that 40% attend CCV, 20% attend VTC and 40% attend Castleton, Johnson, Lyndon or UVM.
It is also assumed that the selected schools fund the instruction with their normal funding and get an additional $1500 per student. This is standard funding from the education fund.
Federal and state grants, such as Pell/VSAC grants are subtracted from the costs.
Following these assumptions the costs would be:
Year 1 (2009-2010) - Program Development - $150,000
Year 2 (2010-2011) - Program Coordination $150,000
Professional Development and Linkages $75,000
Differential FTE funding of $1500 per student
Year 3 (2011-2012) Same as Yr2 - $270,000
Year 4 (2012-2013) Same as Yr3 - $270,000
Year 5 (2013-2014) Same as Yr4 with slight increase $290,000
Scholarship Cost Yr1 - $ 1,575,000 (150 students)
$525,000 from state sources, $1,050,000 from private
Year 6 (2014-2015) - Same as Yr5 - $250,000
Scholarship Cost Yr2 - $ 3,259,138 (300 students)
$1,086,379 from state sources, $2,172,759 from private sources
These numbers are based on a number of assumptions and estimates and will be further refined once the Program is implemented.
