A Gateway for
First-Gen College Students
Nonprofit Learning Center Increases
Confidence, Decreases Loan Debt
By Indy Staff | November 21, 2024
Read more of our 2024 Schools of Thought stories here.
There are plenty of for-profit college-prep courses in Santa Barbara. Many charge up to $300 an hour for their services.
There are very few nonprofit options. And there are even fewer that serve first-generation students of color.
Connie Alexander and Audrey Gamble started Gateway Educational Services in 2009 because, as Alexander put it, “we could see a glaring need for individualized programs in the nonprofit sphere.” They offer a sliding fee scale, with 100 percent of their students receiving some kind of scholarship covered by grants and donations.
The pair created their College Readiness Program in 2013 to meet the same need, with the goal of helping those students get to four-year colleges or universities, and then graduate with as little debt as possible. “Let’s open up the access, and that ultimately leads to more equity,” Alexander said.
Gateway does that with a team of tutors — many of whom are first-generation college grads themselves — who meet with small cohorts of high school students during their junior year and ultimately see them through graduation. The program includes more than 100 hours of ACT and SAT prep and guidance around the “A-G” requirements of state schools.
Of the 200-plus students they’ve sent to college so far, 98 percent have graduated in four years, Alexander said. That impressive success rate is owed to Gateway encouraging parents to get involved in their kids’ class selection — educating them about what courses sound good on paper, and which ones actually count toward college credit.
Dual-enrollment courses can help a high school student rack up 12 or more credits, Alexander explained. “That’s money in the bank.” And the confidence their clients gain through working with peers and mentors that look like them, “That’s something else,” she said.
“We start with, ‘What do you do well right now?’” Alexander said. “And we say, ‘That’s great.’ And, ‘Here’s what you still need some support on.’”
See gatewayeducationalservices.org.
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