Students from underrepresented backgrounds face considerable barriers when it comes to completing a community college program. Nationally, only 24% of African American, Latinx, and Native American students finish within two years.
But Dougherty Family College (DFC), a two-year associate degree program at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, where almost all the students are minoritized and nearly three-quarters are first-generation, has managed to buck this trend. DFC has graduated an average of 56% of its students since its formation in 2017. How has the college pulled this off? By smothering its students with support.
At DFC, every student gets a scholarship of some amount, and the average student cost is under $3,000. DFC students receive a free laptop, textbooks, a bus pass, and 10 meals a week. They have access to financial aid counselors, college persistence counselors, and a life coach, and are placed into paid internships after they finish a professional development course.
“Staff were everywhere. Resources were everywhere,” said Jalyn A. Hall, a first-generation African American student at DFC. “It made the process so much easier.”
Juan A. Del Valle López, a first-generation DFC student from Guatemala, agreed.
“Getting to school and knowing you’re going to have at least two meals, that’s a great way to focus on your academics instead of other problems,” he said.
That’s just how Dr. Buffy Smith, DFC’s dean, intended it.
