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Campaign Introduction

Education. Go Get It, Campaign for College Readiness.  An Initiative of the Southwest Georgia Higher Education Consortium

No longer is a high school education enough to produce a middle-class America. The value of higher education to the student and to the economy is readily apparent when one looks at the salaries of those who acquire two-year or four-year degrees and the salaries of those who go into the job market directly out of high school. For the benefit of future families and for the health of the economy, students must be encouraged and guided to complete high school and go on to college. Nowhere is higher education more important than to the students who grow up in the rural areas of Southwest Georgia. These students live in counties that show persistent poverty, and someday they will assume the leadership in the towns that they grew up in and love. Tomorrow's leaders must be prepared to make good decisions to break the cycle of poverty and to provide sound finances (make a "good living") for their families. Industries look for an educated populace in choosing a site, so not only is education great for the student, it's great for the economy.

Because of education's positive impact on families and communities, the Southwest Georgia Higher Education Consortium, a regional economic development component of the University System of Georgia's Intellectual Capital Partnership Program (ICAPP@), initiated the Campaign for College Readiness to ensure that parents and students understand the importance of higher education and how to prepare for it academically and financially. This Campaign, patterned after one recently launched statewide in Texas by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB), has the support of the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) and the Chancellor of the University System of Georgia. The enterprise serves as a pilot project for an anticipated statewide initiative in Georgia. Its goal is to increase the number of students completing high school and entering academic and technical colleges and universities. The leading partners in the Campaign are Albany State University, Georgia Southwestern State University, the University of Georgia, and Valdosta State University .The other Consortium members supporting the effort are Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, Bainbridge College, and Darton College.

The message of the Campaign for College Readiness is being delivered to parents and students through a variety of media, but primarily through the actions of Community-Based Organizations (CBOs). CBOs that serve families, i.e., parents and/or children or youth, are voluntary partners in this Campaign. They are the local distribution networks for the information because parents trust and listen to them. CBOs know that they have a large stake in helping students and their parents to build their own futures and the future of their communities.

The slogan for the Campaign is Education. Go Get It. The College for Georgians Training Kit, which is designed to support the Campaign, contains information especially helpful for parents who did not go to college and for their children. There re activities designed for children of all ages, preschool through high school, and their parents.

Presentations cover how to:

  • Succeed academically in school.
  • Prepare for, and apply to, college.
  • Save for college.
  • Learn about and apply for student financial aid for college.

The kit includes colorful slides for parents and students to view during the presentations, take-home information guides, and activity sheets. Materials include background information with "talking points" for presenters to use as they speak with parents or students.

The trainers who use this kit as a guide and resource help students and their parents understand the process of continuing education beyond high school- at a four-year university, a two-year community college, or a technical college. The message is to motivate students to pursue higher education. The kit and the presentations do not serve as substitutes for an individual institution's specific admissions and financial aid procedures, policies, or deadlines. In addition, they do not preclude the role of the high school counselor.

The kit should be used as an educational tool to inspire the youth of each community to graduate from high school and to continue their educational journeys. Also, the kit is a vehicle to inspire parents to expect that their children will go to college, realizing the dreams of both.