HCC Approves 6th and 9th Grade Pre-Admission Program

Houston,TX (PRWEB) August 15, 2013 -- On Thursday, August 15, 2013, the Board of Trustees of the Houston Community College System (HCC) voted to establish a conditional 6th and 9th Grade Pre-Admission Program.

Under the program, beginning this fall, and continuing on an annual basis, the parents or legal guardians of each 6th and 9th Grade student in the HCC service area will receive a letter of conditional admission informing the student that if they graduate from High School with a 2.5 grade point average and meet certain other minimum requirements, they will be admitted to HCC and be awarded an Opportunity 14 Scholarship to help pay for their college education.

The goal of this program is to provide an incentive to encourage more students to stay in school and graduate from high school in a timely manner, college and/or workforce ready.

“Hopefully, the pre-admission program will help reduce the dropout rate and motivate more students to focus on getting themselves college and workforce ready by the time they graduate from high school,” said Trustee Carroll G. Robinson who led the effort to get the program approved by the Board of Trustees.

Trustee Eva Laredo offered the recommendation that the pre-admission letter also be sent to 9th graders in addition to 6th graders as originally proposed by Trustee Robinson.

The Pre-Admission program is part of a comprehensive plan of action developed by Trustee Robinson to help improve education in Houston to ensure that everyone in our community who wants it has an opportunity to do better for themselves and their families.

In addition to the 6th and 9th Grade Pre-Admission program, Trustee Robinson worked with the Texas Legislature, earlier this year, to get a statewide Texas Academic College Scholarship Day established. (House Concurrent Resolution 40-2013 Regular Session.)

The goal of Texas Academic College Scholarship Day (the first Saturday in May) is to spotlight and celebrate high school academic achievement with the same energy, excitement and visibility as is now focused on athletic achievement in high school.

These efforts are a part of Trustee Robinson’s “An Opportunity To Do Better” plan that he outlined when he ran for HCC Trustee in 2011.

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Chico Mendez, CapWest Strategies, (210) 573-8252, [email protected]