According to Access ASU, college enrollment is on a steady decline in Arizona, falling from 55 percent of high school graduates enrolling to 47 percent, and the program is committed to turning this trend around via a new digital college preparation curriculum for students and their families.
Access ASU, a K-12 outreach division at Arizona State University (ASU) announced WeGrad, a program that provides digestible courses that help support busy families in preparing their students for college, is now available directly to families for the first time. Thanks to grant funding through 2024, families with middle school and high school students can access the program digitally, at no cost.
The program, once offered only through high schools, can now be accessed directly using SMS text messaging and WhatsApp. The digital, self-paced WeGrad course is available in English and Spanish, and helps prepares middle and high school students for academic success and equips parents to be the primary support and mentor as their children apply to attend college.
The middle school curriculum covers 10 lessons on topics such as parents’ role in academic success, making the most of parent-teacher conferences and building responsibility to achieve academic success. The high school curriculum delves deeper into college preparation with 16 lessons offering insight into university admissions, college entrance exams, high school transcripts, cost and financial aid and investing in college. The elementary curriculum will be released this month.
To participate in the WeGrad college readiness program, individuals can sign up for the Access ASU K-12 Family Fusion newsletter at https://eoss.asu.edu/access-newsletters. Subscribers to the newsletter will receive complimentary access to the digital course. Learn more at https://eoss.asu.edu/access.