Keywords: Rutgers, Future Scholars Program, dropout rate, minority dropouts, higher education, college, costs of college, New Jersey university, Latino, Hispanic

For 12-year-old Bradley Soto, spending the day at Rutgers meant catching up with schoolmates, a free lunch and a day filled with "cool science experiments."

"I really like the program," Soto says. "I think I'm going to go to Rutgers."

To his mother, a teacher's assistant, the day means that in eight years, Bradley will be able to do something she never did--go to college.

Bradley Soto is a Latino eighth-grader taking part in the Rutgers Future Scholars program. The program, which plans to enroll 200 students annually, takes academically promising Black and Latino students from the New Jersey university's communities--Newark, Piscataway, Camden and New Brunswick--and offers them "opportunities for educational growth, social development, personal enrichment and economic support," says Courtney O. McAnuff, vice president for enrollment management at Rutgers.

The program then takes a giant leap further in its commitment to these students. The university promises full tuition and fees for students who successfully complete the program and are admitted to the university, lifting the growing financial burden of paying for college.

"No money is coming from the students or families," says McAnuff. "It's all coming from the university and private donations. We are embarking on a very aggressive private capital campaign to raise sufficient funds to keep the program running.

"It was essential as we looked at the demographics in New Jersey and in the nation," he added. "The growing demographics groups are Latinos and Blacks; unfortunately, many of these students, especially low-income students, aren't finishing school. That's very alarming. It shows a very bleak future unless we can reverse that trend."

So where are they getting the money to pay for the program? Fundraisers are turning to corporations for donations, giving them the opportunity to buy into "a national blueprint program that will influence America," says Luke Visconti, partner and cofounder of DiversityInc and a fundraiser for the program.  

"All Americans have to be concerned about the end product of our public schools, and right now, public schools are failing. This is an opportunity for companies to not only effect change in New Jersey but the nation as well," he continues.

"These students have demonstrated the potential to do well in class," said Aramis Gutierrez, director of the Rutgers Future Scholars program. "They have demonstrated that a four-year program is an option for them. Many of them have a B [average] or better. These kids are willing to do what's necessary to make that dream come true."

The groundbreaking pipeline program works with area middle schools to identify promising eighth-grade students whose parents did not graduate from a four-year college. Students must then attend five to eight day programs during the summer before the eighth grade and then attend extended summer enrichment programs during high-school years.

"We are looking at this in three steps," says Gutierrez. "First, students will come to campus and have the opportunity to explore the many fields, from science to literature, through hands-on interactive lessons. Secondly, students will learn how to be successful in the classroom and gain financial-aid tips. Thirdly, students will get academic enrichment and tutoring in their school districts."

Rutgers recently welcomed its first class of Future Scholars and their families at its Piscataway campus, and DiversityInc attended. Each scholar was equipped with a T-shirt printed with the year 2017, the year they can expect to graduate from college. The audience, filled largely with single mothers and non-English-speaking immigrants, sat attentively as they welcomed the opportunity to better their families.

"This is a great opportunity. It's an opportunity to explore things that a lot of other children would never have a chance to explore," says Najiyyah Muhammad, a young mother who was forced to drop out of community college for financial reasons. "This is a chance for [my son] to enter into a four-year school. This is a chance of a lifetime."   

Rutgers hopes the program will serve as a national example to curb the rising number of Blacks and Latinos dropping out across the nation. "We would like to set a state and national blueprint that may be replicated all over the country," said McAnuff. "This is just a tiny pocket, and it's such a vast issue."

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