ICOE Shows More College-Bound Students

From Article: State numbers wrong, majority of Imperial County students heading to college

Senior Monique Archuleta is sure that a lot of her classmates will be heading off the college in the fall.

“I talked to a lot of people, and they all want to go to college,” she said.

The 18-year-old Southwest High School student said she plans to become a nurse after a few years at Imperial Valley College. She wants to be able to make some money and start a career.

As the deadline for freshman college applications approaches, the Imperial County Office of Education says many more students head off to college than reported by the California Post Secondary Education department.

Numbers from the Imperial County Office of Education indicate that the college-going rate was about 70 percent, as opposed to state records, which indicate only about 30 percent, said Imperial County Office of Education College Going Initiative coordinator Javier Ramos.

The college-going rate is the percentage of high school graduates who head straight to a two- or four-year school.

“There is a concentrated effort in the Imperial County to maintain the high college-going levels,” Ramos said.

Most of the high schools in the county have about three quarters of the graduates going to college, he said.

These numbers include those who go to private universities or out-of-state colleges, he said. The California Post Secondary Education numbers only count those that go to California State Universities, University of California schools or California community colleges.

The state numbers also didn’t include the number of college-goers from Southwest High School, he said. It counted the number of graduates from the school, but not the number that went on to college.

The county’s numbers are based on a data-tracking program that follows students through Social Security numbers, he said. Though this program only counts those going to schools signed up with the system, it is a more accurate number.

“Imperial County has done a really good job getting students ready for a post secondary education,” he said.

The job now is getting them academically prepared for college, he said.

Southwest High School senior Miguel Carrasco, 17, said he thinks the good teachers and education he’s had will prepare him for college. He’s going to Imperial Valley College after graduation, after which he plans to transfer to a four-year university.