2022 EDUCATION EDITION
COLLEGE COSTS IN TEXAS
Annual cost estimate for public two-year colleges Annual cost estimate for private four-year colleges Annual cost estimate for public four-year colleges
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From the classes of 2018-2021, the percentage of DISD graduates who enrolled into college immediately after high school slid from 58% to 46%, a presentation from district sta showed. The sharpest drop between those years was from the classes of 2019 to 2020. The number of students heading to col- lege dropped by 11 percentage points in those years. Sta partially attributed that trend to the COVID-19 pandemic. “Our four-year college enrollment has gone up, which is a very positive trend,” said Brian Lusk, DISD chief of strategic initiatives. “But the two-year [school] enrollment went down a little bit this year.” A total of 28% of students in the class of 2021 enrolled into a four-year school, according to the presentation. That is up from 25% of the class of 2020. Lusk said the district’s goal for the 2024-25 school year is to have 67% of all graduating students enrolled in two-year or four-year colleges. He said it is a reachable goal for the district if they can provide students with the right resources. “Whatever [students] need to get from Dallas ISD to their next destina- tion, we can help them,” Lusk said. “We have seen a pattern where students don’t quite get to where they are sup- posed to go because they haven’t had the support along the way.” DISD o cials reported an ongo- ing decline in enrollment to two-year schools, dropping from 31% in 2018 to 19% in 2021. Lusk said a big fac- tor to consider when looking at that decline is the rising number of associ- ate degrees earned by students while The Pathways in Technology and Early College Program, or P Tech, is a DISD initiative that o cially began accepting students three years ago. The program allows a number of incom- ing ninth grade students to apply and choose a career pathway that could earn them up to 60 college credit hours, or the equivalent of an associate’s degree, by the time they graduate. “We have seen phenomenal success with that program,” Lusk said. “We are not going to say that’s the sole fac- tor [causing] two-year college enroll- ments to go down, but we know that is a contributing factor. Last year, we had 900 of our seniors graduate with attending DISD schools. Earning college credits
The average cost of college in the U.S. is $35,331 per student per year, including tuition, education costs and living expenses, according to the Education Data Initiative. Dallas ISD o cials said that most DISD students who enroll in college will attend an in-state institution. In Texas, college costs are typically cheaper than the national average. NOTE: THESE TOTALS ARE BASED ON EACH RESPECTIVE COLLEGE’S LATEST ANNUAL TOTAL COST ESTIMATE WITH DATA FROM THEIR RESPECTIVE WEBSITES. SOURCES: VARIOUS UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES; EDUCATION DATA INITIATIVE COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
North Central Texas College $12,828
University of North Texas $28,022
University of Texas at Dallas $30,744
Southern Methodist University $67,156
Texas Tech University $28,022
Dallas College $17,553
Midwestern State University $17,716
University of Texas at Arlington $29,956
Texas A&M University $32,026
University of Texas at Austin $29,406
Texas Christian University $69,130
University of Houston $24,631
Rice University $74,110
Annual average cost estimate for public two-year colleges in Texas: $17,859
Annual average cost estimate for public four-year colleges in Texas: $18,711
Annual average cost estimate for private four-year colleges in Texas: $26,532
according to sta . The district’s web- site states that the program’s goal is to establish and support DISD’s high school students while fostering a col- lege and career-going culture. DISD’s board of trustees approved
an associate degree.” The program is o ered completely free of charge through the district. According to district data, 10% of DISD students graduated high school in 2021 with an associate degree through the P Tech program. “The work that has happened
pathway,” said Usamah Rodgers, DISD’s former deputy chief of strategic ini- tiatives, during the May 12 meeting. Rodgers was named DeSoto ISD’s new superintendent in May. Another focus of the program mov- ing forward will be to address “summer melt,” which district o cials described as college plans falling through during the months following high school grad- uation. Advisors will ensure “all the pieces” are in place ahead of college, such as ensuring all college admissions documents and nancial aid forms are lled out while staying in touch with students during the summer following graduation, Lusk said. DISD data shows the ratio of students per college advisor across the district is 400 to 1 in grades nine and 10, and 200 to 1 in grades 11 and 12. Those gures do not account for the 300-plus counselors the district employs across each of its 240 schools. “We want every student to know their advisors,” Lusk said. “Whether help- ing students apply to college, complete nancial aid or look for scholarships, we know that our advisors have to spend more time with students, which means they’ll need more people to do that.”
an $11 million increase to the program’s budget during the May 12 meeting in a bid to expand services and hire more faculty. Lusk said the district will seek to provide more college and career advisers to students in high schools by next fall. He said
in the last three years … has been tremendous and monumental to more of our stu- dents taking on [college path- ways] ultimately with the goal of achieving a cre- dential that will lead them to a liv-
WHATEVER STUDENTS NEED TO GET FROM DALLAS ISD TO THEIR NEXT DESTINATION, WE CAN HELP THEM. BRIAN LUSK, DALLAS ISD CHIEF OF STRATEGIC INITIATIVES
goals of the district include lowering the ratio of students assigned to each col- lege advisor while starting the process of advising more students for college by grades nine and 10. “We wanted to streamline our career and college readiness options so stu- dents are making the best- t options for them as early as possible. We really wanted to create this seamless [college]
ing-wage job,” said former DISD trustee Karla Garcia during her last meeting as a board member in May. “That is huge and instrumental to the success of our neighborhoods and our city.” College advising An update to the district’s college and career advising program is underway to address declining college enrollments,
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LAKE HIGHLANDS LAKEWOOD EDITION • AUGUST 2022
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