Programs honored for getting kids interested in college.

When a program gets honored for doing something such as getting students interested in doing to college it creates a "buzz" about going to college. The whole 'everyone is doing it so ill do it to' bit. I think that the statewide average for having a bachelor degree from college is 29.5% while Shasta county has 18.8%. The cost of living in California is much higher than in most other states, for example the minimum wage. so the students that want to go on to college lack the funds necessary to do so.

College OPTIONS was formed in 2003 and since then, college application submissions from the surrounding area has increased 33 percent. While the same time FAFSA submissions, which are mandatory for students seeking admission to University of California and the California State University systems, have gone up 27 percent. Currently, College OPTIONS has partnerships with and is supported by the McConnell Foundation, the University of California and the California State University systems, Simpson University, National University, Shasta College, College of the Siskiyous, the Shasta Union High School District and others. While the number for the actual students going to college is really unknown for it is hard to count. The Postsecondary Education Commission said 11.6 percent of the area's high school seniors continued on to college last year. But nearly every education official in the north state has called that number incorrect.

Over the years from when the pursuit for a higher education first started the ways of college have changed so much, the way we are weeded out to see if we are able to make it and how we are going to make it in to the college of out choice. If someone builds a UC in Redding the higher paying jobs will grow in numbers as the number of higher educated people increase. So the economy that is troubling us will subside some what. "Few college access programs served students in the north state region before College OPTIONS opened its doors," said Blake Ulveling, a spokesman for Campaign for College Opportunities. "The result (is) more students enrolling in college, more students becoming eligible to attend a CSU or UC and more students filling out the FAFSA."

The People that have the money to go out and get a college degree should, so that getting their degree helps the rest of the community so that the rest of us that are having a difficult time getting in to college are more apt to do so. College OPTIONS (and other programs such as gear up) have been honored by recognition by the community for there work in getting students going to college, or at least looking at college.