Q&A with Shirley Reed: Providing minority students access to higher education
Shirley A. Reed has been a driving force in increasing higher education access in the low-income Rio Grande Valley in Texas since she founded South Texas College, a public two-year institution, in McAllen, Texas in 1994. In two decades, the school has grown from 1,000 students to 30,000. More than two thirds are the first in their families to go to college and 95 percent are Hispanic. In the last 10 years, more than 81,710 high school students in the have taken courses at South Texas for free.
Shirley Reed
Reed’s efforts earned her a 2013 McGraw Prize, which recognizes individuals making gains in improving education. She estimates that the dual enrollment programs in particular has saved prospective college students in the area $85 million in tuition. She spoke to The Hechinger Report about the details of the program.
Question: How many of these 81,710 school students ultimately obtained a college degree?
Answer: I have the statistics in a little different way. We have them broken down into different groups of students. This last May we had 4,400 graduates and 900 of them (who were in the dual enrollment program and academies aimed at high school juniors and seniors) earned an associate’s degree or 1-year certificate two weeks before they graduated from high school. We [also] have 15 early college high schools (a national dual enrollment program where all students in a high school can earn up to two years’ worth of college credit before they graduate). We’ve had five of those early college high schools have their graduating class. Of
Shirley A. Reed has been a driving force in increasing higher education access in the low-income Rio Grande Valley in Texas since she founded South Texas College, a public two-year institution, in McAllen, Texas in 1994. In two decades, the school has grown from 1,000 students to 30,000. More than two thirds are the first in their families to go to college and 95 percent are Hispanic. In the last 10 years, more than 81,710 high school students in the have taken courses at South Texas for free.
Shirley Reed
Reed’s efforts earned her a 2013 McGraw Prize, which recognizes individuals making gains in improving education. She estimates that the dual enrollment programs in particular has saved prospective college students in the area $85 million in tuition. She spoke to The Hechinger Report about the details of the program.
Question: How many of these 81,710 school students ultimately obtained a college degree?
Answer: I have the statistics in a little different way. We have them broken down into different groups of students. This last May we had 4,400 graduates and 900 of them (who were in the dual enrollment program and academies aimed at high school juniors and seniors) earned an associate’s degree or 1-year certificate two weeks before they graduated from high school. We [also] have 15 early college high schools (a national dual enrollment program where all students in a high school can earn up to two years’ worth of college credit before they graduate). We’ve had five of those early college high schools have their graduating class. Of
