MVCAP results: Almost 70% of ’04 class went to college

The agency has a good track record of encouraging students to attend college.

STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — Nearly 70 percent of the members of the high school Class of 2004 receiving advice and assistance from the Mahoning Valley College Access Program went on to enroll in college.

There, 568 students received some form of advice from MVCAP that year, and 389 went on to college, said Joseph Rottenborn, executive director.

A frequent query made of nonprofit organizations, particularly by foundations and other prospective funding bodies, remains “How effective is your program?” he said.

As it relates to college access programs in Ohio, results can be expressed in a number of ways, including the percentage of advisees that goes on to post-secondary education and the percentage that graduates with either a two- or four-year degree, Rottenborn said.

To determine MVCAP’s effectiveness, the agency submitted the names from its Class of 2004 advisees to the Ohio College Access Network to check enrollment and graduation rates with the National Student Clearinghouse data.

The results are consistent with the approximately 70 percent of students who indicated a desire to pursue higher education in the self-reported Senior Survey on Prep HQ the agency has collected from advisees in graduating classes over the last three years, Rottenborn said.

The agency learned that 78 of those advisees had already graduated from college in four years, with 73 earning four-year degrees and five completing two-year degrees. Of the 17 students who received an MVCAP Last-Dollar Scholarship of $1,000 on Aug. 11, 2004, seven had graduated four years later.

The largest number of college graduates from the Class of 2004 graduated from Youngstown State University, which gave diplomas to 20. Ohio State University had 14 and Kent State University had eight. The others were scattered across 21 institutions of higher learning.

Rottenborn said another 190 members of the Class of 2004 were still enrolled during 2008, about half of them at YSU.

MVCAP is a nonprofit, charitable organization, launched by The Raymond John Wean Foundation in 2001, with a mission to increase the number of students in the Mahoning Valley who continue their education beyond high school.

Grant-funding and charitable contributions, now approaching $975,000, have made possible free advising and information on university admissions and financial aid, early-awareness of college books for elementary students and “gap” scholarships to benefit students and parents in Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana counties.