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north jersey's trusted source and northjersey.com [music playing] [music playing] welcome to caucus new jersey i'm steve adubato community college studence face many obstacles completing their degrees here in the studio to discuss those obstacles and how to overcome them we have felix german contreras who is the new jersey state president of phi feta kappa honors society sofia medina student at essex county college doctor paula pando vice president for north hudson center and student affairs? at hudson county community college and finally doctor guy generals vice president for academic affairs at mercer county community college i want to thank you all for joining us we are talking about the challenges that students face overcoming those challenges getting through that

very challenging time at community colleges but also the value and the benefit of a wonderful program called if i get this wrong help me on this doctor it is called the njc4 program? that's correct? which is? the new jersey community college completion core what's it all about? it's about galvanizing the resources within the college and partnering with students and administrators and faculty to ensure that students have the skills and the abilities and the support that they need to get through community colleges and to remove all the barriers and the impediments that they may come in contact with yeah let's talk about that there wouldn't be a program if there weren't issues and challenges so first of all my understanding is that you're doing real well both of you are doing real well or you wouldn't have been picked to be in the program right? or to be a part of this program to be mentors to others describe your experience in terms of where you decided to go to school right and the

challenges you faced and then ultimately the other part of the question is how are you helping others when did you decide to go and where? well i decided to go to atlantic cape community college i started off right after high school when at that time i didn't really know much about the school system cause my family and i we both immigrated from the dominican republic and the system in itself it's just very new to my parents so i was going in there without any kind of guidance so going to college was like you know very scary especially the fact that many students such as myself in community college we didn't do as well as we wanted to in high school so when we first went in there this was like the time for us to redeem ourselves and try to better ourselves but at the same time we didn't really know of the opportunities available you were the first in your family? first generation you okay first generation yeah we were like first my sister and i were the first ones so describe some of the obstacles and challenges you faced well first off we didn't really

i didn't really know much about financial aid i didn't really know that ways of paying for college i never had the idea to have somebody who will pay for me to go to college you know like it's a great country right? [laughter] yeah exactly yeah [laughter] everybody else was signed up for college at first thought also it was like like the transportation issues cause in galloway there's like that's in south jersey? south jersey i have to if you don't have a car it's kinda hard to get around so we have to adjust to that system without having any cars around i mean thank god like my family was able to get one but i'm saying like in general that's what many of us did face in the beginning and also like the challenges that face us also overcoming the barrier that i am good enough to go for college hold on wait a minute you got transportation barriers you've got financial barriers and then you've got the emotional and psychological issues playing out in your head am i good enough? exactly because it was a very tough especially on... i know a lot of minorities go through a lot of sometimes we

don't have the guidance of telling... especially growing up like in middle school in high school yeah we didn't... i didn't receive as much education support as much as i should have like i was always never tested to my maximum it was always like the minimum i never really faced like an ap or college level or anything advanced placement? yes but somehting happened here cause you're going... is it true you're going to penn? in penn yes you're going to university of penn? yes so what's up with that? [laughter] [laughter] so something happened [laughter] cause when i went to rutgers and i'm proud of it but you're going to the university of penn [laughter] come on how proud are you? i'm very proud so you're not questioning it anymore whether you're college material? [laughter] no no no no not anymore [laughter] [laughter] it had something to do with the system of since my parents didn't go to college and since my parents and since going into there my family first and a lot of

my friends like dropped out of high school while a lot my freinds ended up incarcerated and all that so all of that and especially emotional ties of i was told i had a learning disability growing up and that kinda you know once somebody tells you enough times that you have a problem you start to believe it and i had to overcome all of that at my community college and now you're helping other people we'll go back to you so yeah what's your story? go ahead beat that [laughter] um well my parents immigrated and they moved the whole family from ecuador in the year 2000 because the country was going into their worst economic crisis so my parents believe in the power of like education i had been very fortunate to have been reared in a family that values education so seeing the possibilities like educational opportunities here they moved the family um and similar to how felix is it's very difficult coming as a first generation immigrant describe the challenges um well first there's the

language barrier so you're faced... but you speak english? i did not speak english at all you didn't wait? so did you speak english? okay so you come here going to college and did not speak english? oh no i went to college speaking english i did come hear learning english okay right well i moved when i was six so i went to elementary school i went to esl classes so when i went to college i already was speaking english got it but that was an initial challenge throughout high school i didn't become a us resident until november this last november so it was definitely a challenge most of my life here um and when i graduated from high school i had possibilities to go to four year universities but i coudln't pursue those opportunities because my parents couldn't pay for it i wasn't eligible for financial aid so it was definitely like very upsetting that was a whole challenge in and of itself because... and you decided to go where? and i decided to go to essx county college why was that the right choice for you? um well i have three older brothers at that time they had all gone to essex county college

and my dad took esl classes there so i already knew community college was my option english as a second language? yes english as a second language so i already knew i had that door when all other doors were closed to my parents' financial circumstances due to my immigration status which made me ineligible for most grants all financial aid so when i went to essex i was faced with the challenge that same as felix like you already have like your self esteem kind of down because of the obstacles that you face so i had to go like overcome the fact that like i can do this and although i've had like obstacles and even trying to pursue like a four year education um i can do this but today you are ready to move forward? yes absolutely have you made the decision? nope i'm still applying to universities so i graduate this may and... but you have a lot of options? uh yes absolutely good options? yes options that may have not

have been available to you had you not had this opportunity? yeah definitely i can at essex? yeah jump in doctor i'm just... what's it like for you listening to this [laughter] i have to say my heart's about to explode out of my chest [laughter] because their stories are the stories we hear every day and why i consider myself blessed going to my job every single day we... describe your job i am the vice president of our north hudson campus and for student affairs so basically a student affairs vice president as in charge of all of the areas outside of the classroom outside of instruction by faculty that support student success inside of the classroom their stories are stories we hear every day their parents valued education hmm they value their children goind but they don't necessarily have the language and i'm not talking about english or spanish but the college the college language skills what does that mean? college language skills? the college language skills we see so many students and doctor generals will

probably agree with me so many students that come to our door they're ready to go they don't understand what matriculation means they don't understand what a college credit means they don't understand the difference between full time and part time and how to carry that courseload another so what's my major? what's an associates degree? what's a certificate program? what about when the student is academically unprepared? what about that? and unprepared and so we have some patch up work to do for a student how do you do that? well one thing that we have in new jersey which is wonderful in our community college system is a very robust assessment program in other states in the nation a student has to take a placement test and that placement test might say you know what? you need a little work in your math to be successful in math level college classes in some states it's your option whether or not to do that what about new jersey? required so what happens? so a student then would take a remedial course to prepare

them kind of like a boot camp to prepare them to do college level work and it's our job it's our job to provide those support services so that those promises are not empty promises it's not just about access yes our door is open yes we will welcome you what happens when they get there? exactly jump in doctor cause i know this is your field well everything paula just mentioned is absolutely true we really work hard in supporting students as they come in to help them adjust to the culture of college but specific to your point about readiness in terms of academics developmental education and esl one of the things that has been led by the vice president and you know with the support of the council office is the transformation and the redesigning of developmental education so we're trying to make it more engaging we're trying to make it less onerous for the students students who come to our college with the dream of being premed or biology or business and they take these tests or test

right and are placed into developmental education it can be a very discouraging part so we found that that was one of the impediments for students to be successful that they come to college and all of a sudden they're in remediation so part of what we're doing is redesigning the curiculum providing more support trying to find ways to accellerate students through those developmental and esl courses and just being more precise about meeting their needs with regards to who they are at that point let's break down the njc4 program which in fact is a cooperative program between the new jersey council of community colleges and the new jersey education association as we talk about it well let's put some information so people can get more information about it but as i understand it a lot of the focus of njc4 is student to student mentoring and coaching right? explain that to me and why that's so important students helping other students get through this... these challenging times talk about it well i believe it's very important because in a sense when you have

administration talking to students sometimes students don't sometimes students can feel like disconnection cause they don't really know exactly if the administration is doing it because you know that's their job or they're doing it cause they really you know they want to help out sometimes some students can't really connect the two but when they see a student helping other students it shows that the student is going out of their way cause obviously they're in college more likely to study or work or one of the above that they have to do if they see a student going out of the way and trying to help them to achieve their goals it shows that to the other students that this guy must be telling some valid information because a he's working probably alongside with an administrator administrator wouldn't allow just any student just to blab out any information how about one that's going to penn? [laughter] no seriously when the other students find out mm hmm that you're going to penn and you say listen i want to help you with whether it's math or financial aid or whatever you're talking about yeah be serious i know this is tough for you how much

impact do you think it has for certain students when they find out what your future holds and you're going to the university of penn? i think since i found out i've been accepted to penn it's almost a month ago many students have been reaching out to me and many students have been trying to find out how to get on the same path that i was doing because they see that if this guy regular guy from atlantic county same community college and courses everyone else if he can do it why can't i? what does that tell you? it tells me that people are starting to believe in themselves they just need they need somebody to be an example for them cause many of them don't have an example you know you're a role model now? do you know that? yes to teach them what? to teach them to believe

in themselves so they can admit that cause every day i hear many students say they're not smart enough and i was there before i want them to believe in themselves so they can say that they are smart and the njc4 events you have a lot of events and rallies they make a pledge right yeah what's the pledge? the pledge is just... it's a symbolic committment that they make well they have the physical pledge that they sign ut i think more to is it is like what's the pledge say? t's the symbolic... it says that they're committed to completing their degree they're committed to seeking help from all their resources to complete but i think what's the most important about the pledge is that students reflect that they made a committment and especially at essex any time a student signs a pledge we give them a wristband that says i'm committed and students wore it around the campus o i think when they look at that it's like they remember like their... it's a symbol for their

committment and i think many times they feel typically.. committment to i'm not gonna quit? i'm gonna finish yeah absolutely and so when they finish and they finish that two year associates degree how much better off are they what do the statistics show us? what anecdotally do we know? talk to us what is their future? and how much better off are they when they commit and they execute not just with the wristband but with their actions? well community colleges have a history of being known as the gateway to the middle class it is the gateway... the gateway to the middle class? the gateway to the middle class so many of our colleges serve underrepresented populations poor counties underprepared students and students like these who they're the first in their family to go to college and in many ways these are people who are going to community colleges graduating in two years and they have choices they have choices to go out into the workforce and we have wonderful certificate

and applied signed programs that prepare students for the workforce and for the demands of today's workforce and then we have students like the ones on the panel today who have more educational goals to attain and the great thing about that about starting at a community college all of the national research shows us not our study not the hudson study or the mercer study but national research shows that students who do complete a degree at a community college achieve an associates degree to community college graduate at higher rates and with higher grade point averages from the four year institution than the ones who started there so felix if he were to attend rutgers university in the fall and graduate from rutgers university he is more likely to graduate rutgers and with a higher grade point average than the student who started at rutgers from the very beginning why is that? because they've been very well prepared our colleges are teaching

colleges you're not getting taught by a graduate assistant or a research assistant it is teachers teachers who their passion is teaching in that classroom they take students like felix like you who whatever level they're at whatever they're at they take them where they are and get them to where they need to be and students also have that little taste of achievement hmm have achieved an associates degree they're not playing games when they arrive at junior year on a senior campus right but here's the thing with sofia and folks i'm curious about this there's always for some people there's still a stigma mm hmm there's still a stigma about community and county colleges but i'm wondering as people watch this program and we've been partners with the council for a while the new jesey council of community colleges i'm curious about something when people hear that you're going to penn and when people find out about the bright future you

have in front of you are we making any real inroads a dent in doing away with the stigma of hey you know you're going to community college as opposed to hey you're getting ready to go to a really solid school and you're gonna have a very bright future are we making a dent? absolutely i think we've made the dent i think the modern day community college is a far cry from the community college of even 10 or 20 years ago i would... we're talking about perception i'm not talking about what is well yeah i'm talking about perception what people perceive their perception is based on the reality which is the likelihood that they're going to be successful is far greater the likelihood that they're going to have greater economic chances with the community college degree and there is research that shows that the community college degree you're more likely to have a you know an in the start up of your career a higher paying job

that many students and with a four year degree hold on wait a minute say that again? it's important there is research that shows now that it levels out after a period of time but there is research but out of the box? out of the box community college students on average are making more money than a student coming out with a four year degree what is the explanation for that? the explanation is that they're more focused and the community colleges there are a lot of career and technical focused professions so they go and wth a nursing degree starting $60,000 a year versus someone with a four year degree and i'm not trying to cast aspersions on english majors but whatever it is they're going to make a lot more money they're going to well we're all in favor english majors i just want to be clear [laughter] we're all in favor of english majors you got it and you know the research also shows that over time that and philosophy thank you very much [laughter] [laughter] if they don't continue over time if they don't continue those comparisons got it strengths but i think the cost is a big factor students now know that the quality of education is comparable to any four year college they now know that you can go through our

honors programs to ivy league schools in top ten universities and save hundreds of thousands of dollars so parents are starting to take notice their children are starting to take notice the school councelors are starting to take notice yes and that's changing but i'm curious about this okay if this option were not available to you the community college option at the time and i don't know if you can go back and know for sure mm hmm atlantic right? right essex? mm hmm if those options were not available to you at the time are you 100 percent sure that you would have gone to college? probably not like i know like my family would have tried to find ways to like send me to an affordable school but i probably would have had to like take off after high school and work several

years save up or maybe work part time and maybe take one or two classes i think it would have taken me eight years or a really long time to complete a bachelor's degree because i would have probably been working and paying did it absolutely change the course the trajectory of your life? by making that decision? absolutely it was very transformational and what has it been like for you in this fabulous program i want to put it back up here again it's new by the way when did the njc4 program start? believe it's... well it started only a couple years old right? yeah two or three years ago it's only a couple years old what has it been like for you i ask felix's question what has it been like for you mentoring and coaching others? it's been a great experience i really see a great value in a support network if i've been able to achieve everything that i've been able to achieve up to today i owe it to support network of like faculty of administrators at essex with my parents

my siblings you owe? yeah like well it's like if i didn't have that support network then i probably wouldn't be where i am today i wouldn't have achieved everything that so you feel like you need to be the support network for another student? right absolutely um i think it's crucial because sometimes students aren't fortunate to have like a family who guides them through an education like felix mentioned sometimes they don't have the right set of friends who are like motivated to go to college so they don't know about the scholarships? they don't know about tutoring opportunities mm hmm right? you're shaking your head by the way real quick we have two minutes left are you sure you would have gone to college if that option were not available? probably not i probably wouldn't not only because at the time going to atlantic cape community college was affordable and most other colleges well colleges in general way more expensive than community colleges in... at the time i didn't know about the loans and all that

stuff so if i can't afford it i'm not going there [laughter] what do you think you would have done? probably would have joined the armed forces or working not that there's anything wrong with that yeah could you ever when you used to back and imagine what your life would be like how old are you right now? 23 did you i don't want to keep harping on the fact that you're going where you're going you're going to an ivy league school and you know for a lot of us who never went you know and you know thought that what that could be and want to make believe that rutgers is in our heads but we know it's not did you ever imagine yourself going to an ivy league school? never what does it mean? life is full of surprises

never ever what does it mean to your family? my family broke down they were like i mean i was in tears when i got my acceptance letter what did you look that way? [laughter] you said you're in yeah [laughter] [laughter] it was a shock i didn't believe it and my parents they were just as happy as i was they... they're happy for you right congratulations thank you congratulations thank you i wish you nothing but the best thank you you do good things thanks to both of you as well thank you thank you the preceding program has been a production of the caucus educational corporation celebrating 25 years of broadcast excellence and thirteen for wnet njtv and whyy funding for this edition of caucus new jersey has been provided by the new jersey council of county colleges holy name medical center in teaneck new jersey

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captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> woodruff: islamist insurgents seized control of iraq's second largest city today, after staging an audacious assault that forced government soldiers and police to run away. good evening, i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. also ahead this tuesday, from primetime t.v. to a cross- country book tour, hillary clinton's out selling a hefty new memoir. but is she also laying the groundwork for another campaign for president? >> woodruff: and from high atop the shenandoah mountains, the story of a project connecting today's young adults to yesterday's storied structures. >> it continues a historical conversation that started in the late '30s into 2014. so