Milton Hershey School Partners with Northampton Community College to Improve National Graduation Outcome for Low-Income Students
Milton Hershey School recently signed its 14th memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Northampton Community College. The partnership will allow the schools to collaborate and offer multilayered support to its low-income, first-generation college students.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, only 14 percent of students from low-income backgrounds graduate from college. By establishing a formal partnership, the schools will provide individualized support and resources to low-income students to help improve the national graduation outcome.
“Partnering with Northampton Community College is an important step in our mission to help our students break the cycle of poverty,” MHS Vice President of Graduate Programs for Success Tanya Baynham said. “By working alongside Northampton Community College, we can better support students as they achieve their goal of being one of the first members of their family to receive a college degree.”
MHS students who attend Northampton Community College will receive focused and sustained support to ensure student success throughout their entire college experience. Support services include academic coaching, student engagement resources, and retention support.
“For more than 50 years, NCC has been a place that has transformed lives. Our purpose has always been to provide excellent and accessible learning experiences to all who seek higher education. We are also a college dedicated to the idea that education can change the trajectory of not just our students’ lives, but their families’ lives for generations,” said Vice President of Student Affairs and Enrollment Sedgwick Harris. “This partnership with MHS will allow NCC to help even more students with the rising cost of post-secondary education in addition to aiding first-generation college students in realizing their dreams.”
Milton Hershey School’s Graduate Programs for Success (GPS) Division provides young alumni with a comprehensive support system, which includes 14 partnerships with postsecondary institutions across the state of Pennsylvania. In addition to the individualized support offered at each institution, MHS career and higher education specialists support graduates throughout the entire duration of college. In 2017, they organized a total of 123 on-campus postsecondary visits and sent 13,856 text messages with words of encouragement and guidance.
The partnership with Northampton Community College is part of Milton Hershey School’s ongoing commitment to strengthen its graduates’ postsecondary experiences and improve the national college graduation rates for low-income students. Learn more about the school’s Graduate Programs for Success Division.