OLYMPIA, Wash. – Not all teens or young adults who show up at college are ready to be there, but a program at Washington's community colleges has been so successful at transitioning them that it's gained national attention.

I-BEST turns seven in January. It stands for Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training.

A career-specific course is combined with basic reading and math skills, from two instructors in the same classroom.

Louisa Erickson, program administrator for adult education with the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, says an 88 percent course completion rate has spurred a lot of interest in I-BEST.

"We are doing more than fielding inquiries,” she explains. “We have, in the last year alone, worked with about 20 states that are already directly implementing and replicating I-BEST or I-BEST-like programs, or want to learn how."

She says about 3,500 Washington students have completed I-BEST programs in fields from health care and trades to aeronautics and engineering.

Erickson says often, lower-income students are one personal or financial crisis away from dropping out. So, part of I-BEST is helping them find the resources they need to stay in school, from housing or utility assistance to child care.

Today, she says, Washington's I-BEST students have higher grade-point averages than traditional community college students.

"And when they get into that program and they start experiencing that success, there's an absolute transformation, how they perceive themselves and also how they perceive their futures and where they can really go," she adds.

Erickson says changes to the federal Pell Grants for low-income students have effectively shut out some from being in the I-BEST program. The grants now are available only to students who already have a high school diploma or GED.

The state board hopes I-BEST's record will help prompt Congress to rethink that change.




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Navigating college can seem overwhelming for first generation students, but an early outreach program at Arizona State University aims to change it.

The Hispanic Mother-Daughter Program is for middle and high school students going on to higher education. Although the program was created in 1984 to increase postsecondary education rates among Latinas, the university said today, neither gender nor ethnicity are considerations, only whether the student is the first in their family to go on to college.

Stephany Hernandez, a recent high school graduate, said the initiative has provided her the guidance and information she needed to feel more prepared.

"I didn't really know where to start with the college-going process," Hernandez acknowledged. "'Middle school me,' I wasn't very sure where to go. Where should I look? Where should I begin?"

Hernandez explained the program has helped her understand the requirements and steps necessary to be accepted into Arizona State. The Hispanic Mother-Daughter Program is one element leading to the university to be named a Hispanic-Serving Institution last year, meaning at least 25% of the full-time undergraduate student body is Hispanic.

Parents and students attend monthly workshops at the university and work with mentors during the five-year program. Hernandez added the way the program functions has had the side benefit of bringing her closer to her mom, and both are excited about what lies ahead.

"The Hispanic Mother-Daughter Program has impacted my life mostly through bonding more with my mom, so we both can understand what I want for my future and what she wants for my future," Hernandez concluded.

The university said students in the seventh grade are encouraged to apply. Recruitment cycles are open year-round.


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A proposal from the federal government could provide a better path toward student loan debt repayment, but a new survey finds many borrowers don't know about this option.

While the fate of the Biden Administration's debt erasure plan is in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court, income driven repayment plans offer a next best option for former students. Through such plans, people pay based on their income rather than the amount they borrowed.

Lane Thompson, student loan ombuds for the Oregon Division of Financial Regulation, said a proposal from the U.S. Department of Education would make this type of plan even more attractive.

"Let people keep a higher percentage of their earned income, be a smaller percentage of monthly income and allow for forgiveness after 10 years, rather than 20 or 25," Thompson outlined.

However, a survey from New America found the people who would benefit most from income driven repayment plans do not know they exist. According to the report, more than 40% of low income borrowers had not heard of the plans.

Thompson stressed it is a problem.

"It really is an issue that more folks don't know about these," Thompson noted. "I think it would be to the benefit of everybody if we knew more about the income driven repayment plans, as borrowers."

Thompson added borrowers also should know about the Fresh Start program. The temporary program gets people out of default and removes the default from their credit report. Borrowers need to contact their loan provider to access the program.

Loan repayment is likely to begin later this summer.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.


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In Tennessee and across the country, the rapidly growing Hispanic population made remarkable strides in college enrollment and educational attainment, according to a recent analysis by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The number of Hispanic students ages 18 to 24 enrolled in college increased to 2.4 million in 2021.

Emily Labandera, director of research for the group Excelencia in Education, said its mission is to accelerate Latino student success in higher education. It came about from its knowledge of the community and the data, tracking with the census report, showing the Latino community has been growing for decades in the nation.

"The future of our country for an improved workforce, civic leadership, the economy and really looking ahead to the future," Labandera asserted. "This is an important community and group to pay attention to because of those key statistics and population demographics."

Labandera noted some of the networks of institutions with which they partner and collaborate are Hispanic-Serving Institutions. She explained they created the Seal of Excelencia, a national certification for colleges and universities striving to go beyond enrollment and more intentionally serve Latino students in order to become institutions where Latinos thrive.

Labandera pointed out their website includes a Latino college completion interactive map showing state-by-state data including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, which looks at enrollment metrics, population demographics, completion, and degree outcomes. She added they are working on a series "Finding Your Workforce" which will focus on three specific disciplines.

"In STEM-related disciplines of science, technology, engineering and math, in the health care field, as well as in education," Labandera outlined. "Those are key disciplines, key areas that we've noted Latino students earning degrees in."

Labandera said the group is also working on four different reports coming out later this summer with additional information on degree attainment for Latinos students at Hispanic-Serving Institutions.

A recent analysis from Excelencia in Education found Latina students at Hispanic-Serving Institutions earned more than 300,000 degrees in 2020 and nearly 120,000 more than their Latino counterparts.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.


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