Urban
College Opens Doors to Non-Traditional Students
by Judy Vance, Mattapan Reporter, March
13, 2004
Tucked
away behind the purple and gold banners of Emerson
College, in walking distance of Suffolk University,
is a two-year college of a very different ilk: the
Urban College of Boston, where the typical student
hasa full time job, children and in many cases they
are living below the poverty level.
Located
at 178 Tremont Street in downtown Boston, the Urban
College opens the doors for a higher education
to students
who thought the doors were closed. "It was like being
on a desert and finding and oasis,” said
Yudelkys (Judy) De Los Santos, a student at the Urban
College. De Los Santos immigrated from the Dominican
Republic to Boston
where after graduating from Dorchester High School, she
spent two years at Suffolk University before leaving
the college.
De Los Santos, with two children, a husband and a
full time job, said Suffolk didn’t have the personalized
attention she sought and enrolled at the Urban College
instead. This
time she said it was a very different experience and
she was amazed that school did not become over whelming.
"The
school was flexible and they were reasonable and they
understood what it was like to have a family and
try to go to school,” she explained.
College
President Dr. Linda Edmonds-Turner says the Urban
College fosters a comfortable learning environment
to help
students get through their studies while understanding
the every day challenges. "We serve the non-traditional
students, who in many instances, would not go to college
if the Urban College was
not here,” said
Edmonds-Turner. More than just the academics are
the moral support the school provides to help the
students
be successful.
"I
feel right at home at the Urban College. It has a welcoming
environment and I feel like family there,” said
De Los Santos.
Students
like Sherri Ann Hodge of Mattapan are living proof
of the program’s
success. Hodge will be awarded her Bachelor’s
Degree in Psychology from Endicott College
this May and has been accepted into the Master’s
Program in Social Work from Simmons College.
Only a few years ago,
Hodge was working as a nanny caring for children
and had few prospects for furthering her education.
Then
twenty years
old and two years out of high school, Hodge
said she had become par of the working class
and thought
college
was not
an option.
"I
can’t enter any school
because I’m not the
typical high school student,” said
Hodge. Through a family friend, Hodge learned
about
the Urban College of Boston
and saved up $200 to pay for her first course
towards her Associate’s Degree.
The
Urban College of Boston is the brainchild
of Boston’s
anti-poverty agency, Action for Boston
Community Development (ABCD). Started in
1967 as a
college program, today the
Urban College is a chartered, fully accredited
two-year institution.
Its main premise is to provide educational
and professional mobility to members of
the urban community who have
been traditionally underserved by higher
educations.
"It’s
a vehicle to move Boston residents out of poverty
through education,” said Tina Cabral,
an Assistant Director of Institutional
Advancement at the college.
Seventy-eight percent of the students
attending the Urban College have
annual incomes below $20,000. Today the
Urban College is a non-profit educational
institution offering
Associates Degree Programs in Early Childhood
Development, Human
Services
Administration and General Studies with
several certificate programs as well.
In
October 2001, the college was granted accreditation
by the New England Association
of Schools and
Colleges. The
Urban College is respected by the better-known
institutions like Emerson College,
Simmons College, Lesley University,
Wheelock and the University of Massachusetts,
which accept credits from the Urban
College to their
respective bachelor
degree programs. There is even some
financial assistance to help a student continue
their education. Hodge
was the first recipient of the Urban
College Robert M.
Coard Scholarship.
The scholarship, named after the president
of ABCD, provides free tuition, room
and board for
a graduating
Urban College
student to pursue a bachelor’s
degree from Endicott College in Beverly,
Massachusetts.
De
Los Santos will earn her Associates Degree in Human
Services
this June
and has plans
to continue
her education
at Cambridge
College. Hoping to be an inspiration
to her children, De Los Santos said, “If
I didn’t go to school I
would have just been stuck where
I was at and now I am trying to do
more.” She
said.
Educating
close to 700 students each semester, Edmonds-Turner
views
the
college as a lifeline, “We
provide the option to make college
a reality.”
|
