3/1/2011 – Riverdale, NY – Manhattan College is proud to announce its newly formed partnership with CollegeBound Initiative (CBI) launching in fall 2011. CBI is a school-based college guidance program that helps students in inner-city public schools reach their potential and attend college. The partnership further represents the College’s commitment to educating first-generation college students rooted in Manhattan’s Lasallian Catholic traditions.
“Manhattan College is excited to collaborate with the CollegeBound Initiative considering our common goals of providing first-generation college bound students with opportunities to extend their academic talents beyond the high school classroom,” said William J. Bisset, Jr., vice president for enrollment management at Manhattan. “Since the College’s founding in 1853, Manhattan’s mission has focused on providing a student-centered undergraduate experience and is very consistent with what the CollegeBound Initiative looks for in its partner institutions.”
The CollegeBound Initiative collaborates with public high schools by placing full-time college counselors in the schools to interact with students and make them more aware of the various college options available including financial aid assistance and scholarships. In the next school year, CBI will serve nearly 800 seniors in 13 schools in New York City and Philadelphia. Since 2001, CBI has operated in coed and single-sex public schools and has a demonstrated track record of success with 95 percent of CBI graduating seniors being accepted to college (over 4,000 students). In addition, CBI has generated more than $48 million in financial aid and scholarships to make higher education affordable.
CBI is a program of the Young Women’s Leadership Network (YWLN). In fact, YWLN also supports The Young Women’s Leadership Schools (TYWLS), a network of all-girls public high schools, including TYWLS of East Harlem, the program’s flagship school. From the June 2010 graduates of TYWLS of East Harlem, 100 percent were accepted to college.
As a university partner with CBI, Manhattan will gain assistance in further diversifying the College’s student body, allowing students to receive a first-rate education that they may not have had access to without the program’s resources.
“CBI is thrilled to partner with Manhattan College in an effort to increase the number of first-generation and low-income students having post-secondary success,” said Jon Roure, director of CBI. “We have already seen our students reap the benefits of the support and resources offered at this fine institution by way of the undergraduate and graduate degrees that our alumni have earned, and we look forward to developing outreach initiatives and on-campus supports with the college to ensure more students are on the right path to securing their dream of a college degree.”