MONMOUTH, Ill. — Even when low-income, minority and other disadvantaged teens beat the odds to finish high school and gain admission to college, most of them give up on higher education before they earn a degree. Nationwide, only about 26 percent of these students earn degrees within six years of entering a college or university, a fact that was alluded to by Gerald Marxman ’56 during his Monmouth College commencement address in 2007.

"That’s what I mean when I say we here today truly are a privileged minority group," Marxman told the crowd that May afternoon. "We must help people participate in the kind of opportunity we enjoy."

A plan to do just that was already in the works.

Launched in the fall of 2006 at eight member institutions of the Associated Colleges of Illinois (ACI), the College Success Network was designed to create a mix of elements that puts success within reach for underserved students. Many such students are the first in their families to pursue higher education.

ACI’s 23 members – mission-driven, private colleges and universities throughout Illinois – maintain the characteristics and practices typical of what The Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education calls "high graduation rate institutions," or HGRs. These characteristics include: a commitment to undergraduate education; tuition discounts; a high percentage of students who are enrolled full-time; establishing and implementing policies that promote retention, financial support and student success; and small class sizes.

"Although the cost of college is often cited as the problem," said Renee Martinez, director of College Readiness and Retention for the ACI, "in reality, college success arises from just the right mix of personal, academic and financial supports."

ACI’s College Success Network builds on these characteristics to create an environment in which underserved students can flourish. The challenge, said Martinez, is that, "as this population of students grows, and more and more jobs demand higher education, it’s critical that we build a workforce that can sustain our economy and ensure that underserved students are prepared to compete in that economy."

At Monmouth College, five students are currently part of the ACI program, which the college calls Scots Diversity Leadership Scholars (SDLS). The students, who each receive a $2,000 annual scholarship, were selected based on their scores on a college success assessment that was administered by the ACI. To ease the transition, they are assigned a student mentor, join a support group composed of other students in similar circumstances, and participate in social and academic activities and skill-building workshops.

In addition to having weekly meetings with their peer mentors, participants talk with the program’s coordinator, Ruby Pentsil-Bukari, and their faculty mentors twice a month. Current students Wendy Lin, Sahar Haghigat, Jenita McCuiston and Jessie Hodierne have all served as SDLS mentors and faculty mentors have included Hannah Schell, Marlo Belschner, Farhat Haq, Craig Vivian, Monie Hayes and Trudi Peterson.

Two of Monmouth’s leadership scholars are Chicagoans Fannetta Jones and Alan Rosiquez, whose high schools were Whitney Young and Taft, respectively. The sophomores say they have enjoyed the opportunity to get involved in a wide range of activities at Monmouth. Much of Rosiquez’s extracurricular time is taken by the cross country and track teams, and he’s also a member of LaRaza and the International Club. He serves as president of the latter organization.

A Scot Ambassador, Jones has plenty of stories to tell as she takes prospective students on campus tours. She can describe to them her work as secretary for the Coalition for Ethnic Awareness, as well as her involvement with Concert Choir, Anime Club, PRISM and Sulci, a new poetry group. An English major, Jones also writes for the department newsletter and is a member of honor societies Alpha Lambda Delta and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. Finally, she is a member of the Illinois Education Association, and her dream is to return to Whitney Young as an English teacher following graduation.

Jones’ path to Monmouth is an interesting and – it turns out – well-traveled one. She had originally hoped to attend a historically black college or university, but when faced with a parent-imposed geographic limit of only picking Illinois schools, she had to choose another route. That route wound up passing through Monmouth – often.

"I came down on a free bus trip on Columbus Day," said Jones, who was talked into the trip by a friend. At first, though, the stark contrast between Chicago and Monmouth was a major hurdle. "I thought, ‘I can’t see myself doing this,’ but I realized I’d focused so much on the small size that I hadn’t really listened to what the college had to offer. So I decided to give it another shot, and the more I learned, the more I really liked it here."

Jones estimates she made a total of eight bus trips and attended two other open houses. It’s understandable, then, the reaction she received in Scots Market on one of those visits. She tried to purchase an item and the cashier asked for her student ID. Admission representative Peter Pitts explained that Jones wasn’t a student, and the cashier replied, "Oh, but I see her down here all the time."

By being thorough, Jones was confident in her college decision, and she’s also sure that the SDLS program has been an asset.

"It’s been very, very helpful," she said. "The mentors have really helped me assimilate myself into a college setting and making the transition from Chicago to a small town. The faculty have helped me with my academic practices and provided professional advice. The student mentors have helped me from a social point of view."

Although it took less convincing for Rosiquez to select Monmouth, he is equally pleased with his decision, which he said was based on a mixture of the college’s academic programs and size.

"In high school, I was part of the International Baccalaureate program, which is a well-rounded program which focuses on subjects like math, English and computer science. I saw that Monmouth was well-rounded, too, and that caught my attention."

The international business major said he also liked the college’s size, figuring it would mean fewer distractions and would represent a "change of life" from what he was used to in Chicago. Like Jones, he also got a fair amount of coaxing from Pitts.

Once on campus, Rosiquez’s SDLS mentors have included Pentsil-Bukari, Vivian and Haghigat, and coaches Roger Haynes and Brian Woodard have also provided support.

"It’s more of a person-to-person relationship with them than athlete-to-coach," he said. "I feel comfortable around them and can talk to them about my life." His official advisers, he said, "offer me advice and help keep me on course."

Like Jones, Rosiquez said he benefited from a trip to Springfield, where Monmouth’s SDLS group got to meet students from other schools who were participating in the ACI program.

"That still sticks with me," he said. "I was able to network with a few students."

Monmouth’s SDLS group is part of an estimated 120 students now enrolled at 13 ACI member colleges and universities participating in ACI’s College Success Network. Although no student has yet completed all four years, the network is already showing results. In its first year, it recorded an 87 percent retention rate from first- to second-year students. That’s significantly better than the national freshman-to-sophomore retention rate, which is only 73 percent.

"This is a great program that helps students to not only do well in school but it also helps them to discover and build on their leadership skills," said Pentsil-Bukari, who is the college’s director of intercultural life. "I am proud and happy to say that those who are currently in the SDLS program are student leaders in student clubs and organizations. After being here for just two semesters, they were voted to take up leadership roles. They are also very aware that there needs to be a good balance between their commitment to student organizations and academics."

Pentsil-Bukari said that with continued support from the ACI, Monmouth will increase the number of students selected for the SDLS program. That will begin in the spring, when five more students are selected.

"This has been a growing process for me," concluded Rosiquez. "I’ve been able to gain independence and do it within a smaller college environment. I’ve also enjoyed the teacher-student relationship a lot."

For Jones, student-to-student relationships have been equally important. She said she has shifted from a small circle of friends at Whitney Young to a much broader social base at Monmouth.

"Being in college has allowed me to see my life in retrospect," she said, "and to see how privileged I am to be here. I’ve gotten to know a lot of other students and hear their stories. I thought my background was rough, but now I see what other students have had to go through, too."