College Success Foundation

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Our Students

The College Success Foundation, at its core, serves a very vulnerable population. We serve the underserved—those who might not otherwise get to college without our help.

We serve students with low-to-moderate academic performance, as opposed to high-performing students. Our core student generally performs below the top quartile, but shows great potential to complete high school, graduate from college and succeed in life, given the proper supports.

In Washington state we work in school districts with a high percentage of students living at or below the poverty line. Within these regions, we look for students who show grit, have an academic mindset, demonstrate perseverance—all non-cognitive factors that translate to college success. In Spokane, we work in all of the Spokane Public Schools high schools: Ferris, Lewis & Clark, North Central, Rogers, Shadle Park and The Community School.

Our Strategy

The College Success Foundation is distinctive because it offers direct services in addition to scholarships to students. Comprehensive supports make a big difference to student success.

Our supports are “deep-dive” in specific districts, providing broad services for high schools and their feeder middle schools to help ensure that our students graduate from high school prepared to apply for and succeed in college. Our advisors work in the school as advocates for our students. CSF is in schools or school districts that typically fir a common profile.

Our integrated system of supports addresses the critical transition points from middle to high school, ninth to tenth grade, high school to college and college to career, where students typically encounter difficulties and often step out or drop out.

We support our scholars in the areas where it will have the most impact: academically, emotionally, financially and socially.

Early Awareness and Engagement (Middle School)

In today’s world, students need to stay ahead of the curve. They need to keep their options open and keep doors from closing. CSF provides support as early as 7^th grade so e are able to build awareness of college and career choices.

Advisors and coaches work directly in the schools to create a college-going mindset. With a personal advocate in the school building, students have a resource near them to help follow through with neede3d action. Students attend learning institutes and career academies and visit college campuses.

Our middle school programs include the Higher Education Readiness Opportunity, more commonly known as HERO, and AmeriCorps College and Career Coaches for 7^th and 8^th grade students.

[95% of participants receiving college and career awareness said their college and career coach increased their belief that college is possible]

Advising and Mentoring (High School)

Getting into college is complicated. But for those who have no one to help them avoid the pitfalls and understand the benefits, the process can seem impossible.

CSF school-based college preparatory advisors help students in the schools and districts that share our commitment and agree to join forces. Advisors provide proactive academic advising, college planning information, college readiness support, summer programming, campus visits, scholarship search assistance and high school-to-college transition support.

Our high school programs include Achievers for 11^th and 12^th grade students and HERO for 9^th and 10^th grade students. Achievers Scholars benefit from a mentoring program, aptly named Hometown Mentors.

[95% of Achievers Scholars in Washington state graduate on time from high school and exceed their peers in college enrollment]

Foster Youth

CSF serves foster youth—young people who struggle with family instability, as well as educational and societal barriers that are difficult to overcome without a strong support system.  Students who have experienced foster care are arguably the most vulnerable and underrepresented population that the College Success Foundation serves.

Eighty-four percent of foster youth indicate that they want to go to college, but only 48 percent graduate from high school on time and only 20 percent enroll in college. CSF is passionate about improving educational attainment for Washington state foster youth by partnering with state and community organizations to provide college awareness, readiness and mentoring.

Our Scholarships:

Scholarships create hope for low-income, first-generation students by removing financial barriers. The fewer barriers to success students have, the more likely they are to complete college and graduate. 

CSF scholarship are coupled with our wrap-around supports, such as mentoring and advising, to keep CSF Scholars well supported academically, socially, emotionally and financially. This unique CSF combination is the cornerstone of the CSF model for success.

Scholarships administered by CSF span the spectrum from private philanthropy to corporate philanthropy to public-private partnerships.

CSF scholarship administration services are “best-in-class” and include application design and development, scholar selection and awarding, disbursement of funds, fundraising and direct student support services.  

In the Spokane area, since 2000, CSF has provided more than 3,000 students with more than $38 million in scholarships to area colleges and universities (EWU, WSU, Community Colleges of Spokane, Gonzaga University and Whitworth University). 

Our Story:

Over the past 17 years, the College Success Foundation (CSF) has been a leader in improving college access to thousands of underrepresented students on both the east and west coasts.  CSF was founded near Seattle, Washington in the nearby suburb of Issaquah in 2000 by Bob Craves and Ann Ramsay-Jenkins to provide college scholarships and mentoring to low-income, high-potential students.

It was originally founded as the Washington Education Foundation, but changed its name in 2006 to better align with its mission.  In 2006 Deborah J. Wilds became its chief operating officer.Over time CSF has managed many scholarship programs, including the Gates-funded Washington State Achievers Scholarship Program, the Costco Scholarship Fund, the Washington State Governors’ Scholarship for Foster Youth, and the Washington State Opportunity Scholarship, among others. 

In late 2006 Craves founded the College Success Foundation – District of Columbia (CSF – DC) to address the critically low college graduation rates of the students in the public and public charter schools of the District of Columbia, particularly in Wards 7 and 8. Executive Director Herbert Tillery leads its day-to-day operations. In 2007 CSF - DC announced a $117 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to launch the DC Achievers Scholarship Program, patterned after the successful Washington program begun in 2001.

In 2009 CSF opened the College Success Foundation - Tacoma in Washington State as a public/private partnership with Tacoma Public Schools and the Tacoma community to assist the students attending the high schools and middle schools in Tacoma.  In 2013 CSF launched the College Success Foundation - Spokane, providing support to schools in the Spokane School District.  CSF also works in schools based in several other school districts, including Seattle, Highline and Yakima.

In 2010 CSF celebrated its 10-year anniversary and its proven model of success, inspiring underserved, low-income students to finish high school and providing the unique integrated system of supports and scholarships they need to graduate college and succeed in life.

CSF is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, overseeing its subsidiaries – Mentoring Works Washington and CSF – DC. Through our work on both the west and east coasts we provide pathways for eligible students to succeed in college, and in so doing improve their economic future.