Students with disabilities now have a higher chance of transferring to a four-year university with the help of the GO Project.
The GO Project is a program that helps students with disabilities to transfer out of community college.
According to GO Project Supervisor Erika Thomas-Eddens, it is specifically designed to increase retention, graduation and transfer rates, as well as receiving an associates degree for those with disabilities.
“There’s a lot that we do to support our students and the goal is pretty much to graduate,” Eddens said.
The program contains 103 students and offers counseling, college field trips to four-year universities, tutoring, and cultural field trips like visiting the Museum of Latin American Art.
It also offers tutoring sessions for students, where tutors are able to engage more with students, unlike other programs like DSPS, where they tend to be limited with time.
“Our tutoring is usually one on one, the good thing about our tutoring is that the time can be expanded because we’re so small, it can be from an hour and thirty minutes, unlike our traditional free tutoring,” said Eddens.
Counselors also sit with the students individually and speak about financial aid, financial literacy, and what classes to take.
Adjunct Counselor Sophy Hout said, “I meet with students to discuss about their educational goal, I provide application workshops and help students with transferring applications.”
“I try to help students understand the difference of the general educational pattern they’re following, if they’re meeting their goals, for example if they’re planning to get an associates degree then they probably need to follow Plan A.”
LBCC student Judith Wise and member of the GO Project said, “What I like about this program is that they give students hope that they are capable, because everybody who suffers with a disability, doesn’t mean they’re dumb, because you have some students that are smart.”
“What this program does is reach out to them, so they can finish their educational goal in a timely manner, and that gives them hope, saying hey I can move on further but they have to be willing to transfer to a four-year university.”
To qualify into the program students must be a U.S. citizen or a permanent legal resident, enrolled at LBCC, planning to get an associates degree or plan to transfer to a four- year university, and be registered DSPS.