Make the Road New Jersey’s Student Success Center Celebrates College Access for Thousands in Elizabeth Public Schools

(Elizabeth, New Jersey) – On May 26, 2021, the Student Success Center (SSC), a peer-to-peer college support program by and for first-generation students of color at the Elizabeth Public Schools, celebrated and highlighted the second year of operation. In attendance, Elizabeth Public Schools leadership, and the New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (NJHESAA) Director, David Socolow.

The first of its kind in New Jersey, the Student Success Center trains high school students (College Ambassadors) to provide one-on-one support to their peers to plan for and apply to college and financial aid and develop leadership skills.

Year 2 Key Highlights, all spearheaded by the SSC’s 9 College Ambassadors during the COVID-19 pandemic:

• 1400 Elizabeth Public Schools (EPS) students district-wide, more than 30% of the Elizabeth student population, participated in at least one college or financial aid access training hosted by the SSC.
• SSC College Ambassadors provided 300 EPS seniors – 20% of the EPS senior class – with 1-on-1 support to submit their financial aid applications.
• The SSC supported EPS seniors to cumulatively receive $1,485,828 in Pell grants and scholarships for the upcoming year alone.

Danna Chacon, a Student Success Center’s College Ambassador, and Questbridge College Prep Scholar, said “Growing up as an undocumented person, I wanted to go to college but had no idea if that was possible for students like me. From the College Ambassadors Summer Institute, I not only gained the skills to help myself navigate through the overwhelming college and financial aid processes but develop skills to support hundreds of others.”

The Student Success Center is led by Make the Road New Jersey in partnership with Elizabeth Public Schools. In its first year, the SSC helped increase college application and acceptance rates by more than 30% at Elizabeth’s lowest-performing high school.