At the heart of KIPP NYC’s mission is a commitment to prepare our students for success in college and in life. KIPP Through College (KTC) plays a critical role in realizing these outcomes. The KTC team supports our alumni’s graduation from high school, their matriculation to and graduation from college and their career preparation.
Why. Our KIPPsters are not immune from the challenges facing students in our communities – factors that affect their continued success after they graduate from KIPP NYC schools. For more than eight years, KTC’s staff and services have been singularly focused on giving alumni the scaffolding and support to enable their journey to and through college and into the working world. In this effort, we aspire to build a nationally recognized model for college preparation and completion programming.
KTC’s focus on college outcomes mirrors an increasingly vigorous national discussion about college persistence. Work such as the book Crossing the Finish Line (2009) highlights that college access is only half the challenge: nationally, 10 percent of eighth graders from low income families graduate from college by age 24. KIPP NYC’s goal for alumni college completion is 75%; as we note below, with KTC’s help, our alumni are making steady progress toward that objective.
What We Do. KTC provides five core services: High School and College Placement, Academic Support, Career Services, Student and Family Counseling, and Enrichment Programming. The starting point for these services is relationships. KTC advisors connect with our alumni at least monthly and visit at least 75% of our high school students on campus each year. Building on these relationships, KTC provides mentoring, counseling and problem solving assistance. We connect alumni to key academic resources, run tutoring and internship programs, provide supplementary financial assistance and convene alumni for career preparation, peer support and networking events. KTC also reaches out to alumni who are disconnected from KIPP NYC and potentially stalled on their school and career paths.
Results. Today, KIPP Through College serves 700 alumni; by 2015, we’ll be serving 1,400 graduates of KIPP NYC schools. Here’s what our alumni have accomplished so far:
- 93% of KIPP NYC alumni have graduated high school (as compared to 46% of New York City's African American and Hispanic students during 2005-08).
- 85% of our KIPPsters have matriculated to college (as compared to 21% of African American and Hispanic male high school graduates in New York State, and more than twice the national average for low-income students).
- Approximately 50% of our 8th grade alumni are on track to achieve 6-year college completion during the 2010-2011 period – 5x the national average according to postsecondary.org. Our goal remains 75% college completion.
Unlike KIPP NYC’s schools which are financed through a combination of public and private funding, the KIPP Through College program is 100% privately funded. In addition, KIPP Through College proudly partners with the following organizations: iMentor, City Year, Year-Up, Student Sponsor Partners, A Better Chance, Jack Kent Cooke, Deerfield STEP program, Jackie Robinson Foundation, Partnership With Children, Young Women’s Leadership Network Foundation, Posse Foundation, Hispanic Scholarship Found, Gates Millennium Scholars Program, All Stars Foundation, R. William Holland Consulting, and Youth Build.
