PROOF POSITIVE
Written by Michael Davis (B.A. '03)
Four years ago, a group of 40 high school seniors from low-income backgrounds received the State Farm Scholarship at Georgia State’s Perimeter College. For many, it was the only way they could go to college. Now, they’re earning degrees at remarkably high rates, demonstrating that, with the right supports, all students can graduate.
As a senior at Southwest DeKalb High School in 2017, Keyanna Johnson (B.A. ’21) wasn’t sure she should go to college. It would take time. It would take money. She’d watched both of her parents and her older sister earn degrees and certificates only to work in jobs wholly unrelated to the educations they’d received.
And there were other factors at play to make Johnson’s path to college a bit less likely. Her school was underperforming at the time, with a number of issues flagged for improvement on that year’s College and Career Ready Performance Index, a state report card on a host of quality indicators. Of the 299 members of her senior class, more than a quarter didn’t graduate, according to Georgia Department of Education data. And Black students, who make up the vast majority of the school population, weren’t meeting expectations on end-of-course tests in algebra, geometry, biology and physical science.
“I was trying to figure out if I was going to go to college or if I wasn’t going to go to college,” Johnson says. “I didn’t want to spend all of this money to not get a degree, or to get a degree in something I may not want to do.”
One day during Johnson’s senior year, an adviser handed out information on the State Farm® Scholarship at Georgia State’s Perimeter College.
What did it have to offer? As much as $4,000 a year in financial assistance. Leadership training and workshops on money management and resume writing. Mentoring opportunities in local high schools. Personalized academic advisement. A network of fellow students to lean on. Oh, and an associate degree that says “Georgia State University” with a direct path to a bachelor’s degree program on the Atlanta Campus, should she choose to pursue one. (Hint: She did. She’s majoring in political science.)
“When I got the scholarship, I kind of felt like, at least for two years, some of my problems had been solved,” Johnson says. “It removed a weight from my shoulders and gave me the time to figure out what it was that I actually wanted to do.”
Johnson was among the initial cohort of 40 selected for the State Farm Scholarship in 2017. Aimed at students from more modestly resourced schools — with students from low-income and minority backgrounds who are often the first in their families to go to college — the scholarship is part of Georgia State’s Learning, Income and Family Transformation (LIFT) Program, which the State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company helped fund with a $14.5 million gift to Georgia State.
But the story of LIFT really starts two years earlier.
“When I got the scholarship, I kind of felt like, at least for two years, some of my problems had been solved. It removed a weight from my shoulders and gave me the time to figure out what it was that I actually wanted to do.”
— Keyanna Johnson
As a senior at Southwest DeKalb High School in 2017, Keyanna Johnson (B.A. ’21) wasn’t sure she should go to college. It would take time. It would take money. She’d watched both of her parents and her older sister earn degrees and certificates only to work in jobs wholly unrelated to the educations they’d received.
And there were other factors at play to make Johnson’s path to college a bit less likely. Her school was underperforming at the time, with a number of issues flagged for improvement on that year’s College and Career Ready Performance Index, a state report card on a host of quality indicators. Of the 299 members of her senior class, more than a quarter didn’t graduate, according to Georgia Department of Education data. And Black students, who make up the vast majority of the school population, weren’t meeting expectations on end-of-course tests in algebra, geometry, biology and physical science.
“I was trying to figure out if I was going to go to college or if I wasn’t going to go to college,” Johnson says. “I didn’t want to spend all of this money to not get a degree, or to get a degree in something I may not want to do.”
One day during Johnson’s senior year, an adviser handed out information on the State Farm® Scholarship at Georgia State’s Perimeter College.
What did it have to offer? As much as $4,000 a year in financial assistance. Leadership training and workshops on money management and resume writing. Mentoring opportunities in local high schools. Personalized academic advisement. A network of fellow students to lean on. Oh, and an associate degree that says “Georgia State University” with a direct path to a bachelor’s degree program on the Atlanta Campus, should she choose to pursue one. (Hint: She did. She’s majoring in political science.)
“When I got the scholarship, I kind of felt like, at least for two years, some of my problems had been solved,” Johnson says. “It removed a weight from my shoulders and gave me the time to figure out what it was that I actually wanted to do.”
Johnson was among the initial cohort of 40 selected for the State Farm Scholarship in 2017. Aimed at students from more modestly resourced schools — with students from low-income and minority backgrounds who are often the first in their families to go to college — the scholarship is part of Georgia State’s Learning, Income and Family Transformation (LIFT) Program, which the State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company helped fund with a $14.5 million gift to Georgia State.
But the story of LIFT really starts two years earlier.
“When I got the scholarship, I kind of felt like, at least for two years, some of my problems had been solved. It removed a weight from my shoulders and gave me the time to figure out what it was that I actually wanted to do.”
— Keyanna Johnson
CONSOLIDATING SUCCESS
By 2015, Georgia State had made a name for itself with data-driven strategies to boost student achievement on its Atlanta Campus. It was using predictive analytics to flag an army of advisers to potential hiccups in a student’s path toward a degree. Advisers were reaching out to struggling students instead of waiting for students to come to them.
A summer academy was helping to smooth the transition from high school to college, micro grants were helping students bridge gaps in their finances and a chatbot was helping to answer a host of questions about financial aid, registration and other topics.
And it was working.
In January 2015, the state’s Board of Regents, which oversees Georgia’s public colleges and universities, announced plans to merge Georgia State University with what was then Georgia Perimeter College, a two-year school, creating the state’s largest university with an enrollment of more than 50,000 students. That merger was completed in 2016 with the hope that the special sauce Georgia State was using to boost graduation rates and erase equity gaps based on race, ethnicity and income would translate to improvement in Perimeter College’s single-digit completion rates.
By the next year, with the help of State Farm, Georgia State began rolling out some of the same strategies in use on the Atlanta Campus to Perimeter students as part of the LIFT Program, and enrolled its first class of State Farm Scholars on the Decatur Campus.
“State Farm approached us about wanting to do a large project that would target low-income students,” says Tim Renick, the executive director of Georgia State’s new National Institute for Student Success, who, as the former senior vice president for student success, oversaw the creation of LIFT. “They focused on the Decatur Campus of Perimeter because it serves mostly low-income and mostly African American students.”
DeWayne Griffin, vice president and chief data officer at State Farm, says the company looks to invest in education programs that not only enable access, but lead to higher graduation rates and gainful employment. The company also donates toward transition scholarships, emergency assistance funds, military support and retention grants at Georgia State, Griffin says.
“One of the goals for the LIFT Program and State Farm Scholarships was to increase the number of underserved high school students and non-college-credentialed adults who enroll in postsecondary education in DeKalb County,” Griffin says. “We want to ensure students graduate with the knowledge and skills to succeed in the workforce and life. That isn’t always in the form of a four-year degree. For some, it is a credential or a two-year degree.”
“I think LIFT and the State Farm Scholarship are a model for what can be done with public-private partnerships to keep students on a path to success.”
— Descatur M. Potier
Descatur M. Potier is the director of the Georgia State LIFT Program, which combines data-driven academic advisement with scholarships, employment opportunities, leadership training and more to help students from every background stay on track for graduation.
Descatur M. Potier is the director of the Georgia State LIFT Program, which combines data-driven academic advisement with scholarships, employment opportunities, leadership training and more to help students from every background stay on track for graduation.
“I think LIFT and the State Farm Scholarship are a model for what can be done with public-private partnerships to keep students on a path to success.”
— Descatur M. Potier
SURROUNDED IN SUPPORT
Along with the same proactive advisement strategies at work on the Atlanta Campus, LIFT students also benefit from Perimeter Academy, a three-semester learning community that provides coaching and guidance to incoming students similar to the Atlanta Campus’ Summer Success Academy.
LIFT-State Farm Scholars also have weekly meetings and check-ins with LIFT Program staff, access to employment opportunities and a team of people to reach out to for help with problems outside the classroom that might impede their progress in it.
“I tell students, ‘I can’t go to class for you, but if there are obstacles, I can help get them out of the way,’” says Descatur M. Potier, the LIFT Program director. “My goal is to remove obstacles so students can focus on being the best versions of themselves they can be. I surround my students with multiple people who are checking in with them.”
All of that support has led to astoundingly high graduation rates among State Farm Scholars. Of the 40 students in the initial cohort, 92 percent earned a degree by 2020, according to Renick, and the majority have moved on to bachelor’s degree programs.
By contrast, the three-year completion rate for public community colleges nationally is only 27 percent, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. The rate is far lower for Black students.
“There’s a combination of really great things that happen through the LIFT Program and the State Farm Scholarship,” says Jennifer Colatosti, assistant professor of English and assistant department chair at Perimeter’s Decatur Campus, who has taught several Perimeter Academy groups. “The students who are put in blocks of classes together usually develop a really great rapport with each other, and that seems to turn into a sort of intrinsic motivation for them to keep on top of their work.”
She points to one class that started a social media chat group, using it to share information and hold each other accountable.
“They, as a class, seemed to develop the social expectation that they were going to show up, they were going to pay attention and they were going to take the work seriously. It led to this group-success mentality,” Colatosti says. “They knew they had professors, staff and administrators they could go to, but they also knew they could go to each other.”
For students like Johnson, who reach their senior year of high school and are either unsure of their next steps after graduation or have not yet secured the funding needed to go to college, the State Farm Scholarship and Perimeter’s Decatur Campus offer a cheaper, close-to-home experience. Potier also points out that Perimeter’s Decatur Campus provides a contrast to Georgia State’s sprawling downtown campus, which may not be attractive to all students.
“It’s really changed the way students are looking at the two-year option,” says Potier, who cites State Farm Scholars who, in addition to Georgia State, have gone on to Spelman College and Louisiana State University. “I tell students, ‘You never lose in pursuing higher education. All it does is keep more options open.’
“I think LIFT and the State Farm Scholarship are a model for what can be done with public-private partnerships to keep students on a path to success.”
Jennifer Colatosti (left), an assistant professor of English and assistant department chair at Perimeter College’s Decatur Campus, has seen LIFT-State Farm Scholars work together to help each other succeed. Allissia Florence (right) is a first-generation college student and State Farm Scholar who is working toward a bachelor’s degree at Georgia State’s Atlanta Campus.
Jennifer Colatosti (left), an assistant professor of English and assistant department chair at Perimeter College’s Decatur Campus, has seen LIFT-State Farm Scholars work together to help each other succeed. Allissia Florence (right) is a first-generation college student and State Farm Scholar who is working toward a bachelor’s degree at Georgia State’s Atlanta Campus.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Like Johnson, now 21 and in possession of an associate degree, Allissia Florence (B.S. ’21) of Decatur is also enrolled in a bachelor’s program on the Atlanta Campus.
A first-generation college student, Florence says she considered enrolling downtown after graduating from DeKalb’s Columbia High School, but was swayed by the smaller campus and lower cost at Perimeter, as well as the support services available to her through LIFT.
“On a smaller campus, I was able to ask people for help and navigate better,” says Florence. “I don’t know if I would have done as well if I had to do it by myself.”
Sedrick Alphonzo, who has been a guidance counselor at Columbia High since 2016, has worked with several LIFT Program State Farm Scholars. He’s watched students graduate high school with middling grades — not the most accomplished but certainly capable — only to excel in college with the support of LIFT.
They’ve come back to Columbia to talk to students. They’ve worked at the DeKalb school district’s college and career fairs held in partnership with Perimeter’s Decatur Campus. They’ve developed self-confidence, improved communication skills and leadership ability, he says. They’ve earned degrees. And many have gone on to four-year programs that may have seemed out of reach as high school seniors.
“You can take a student who has a 2.7 or 3.0 grade point average, who has the capability, and you can get them to improve not only their academic ability, but improve in other areas that require independence and a certain level of self-confidence and self-esteem,” Alphonzo says.
“I wish this model would be how more universities would welcome and onboard first-year students. It would make a tremendous difference.”
Photos by Steven Thackston; Video by William Davis
