Fresno Unified students could soon be eligible for automatic admissions to Fresno State, thanks to a new direct admit program leaders at the two institutions plan to formally announce in the coming weeks.

The new program should come with other perks available to high schoolers as early as ninth grade, such as receiving a Bulldog student ID card and email address, access to the university resources like the library and campus events.

FUSD Superintendent Bob Nelson said he’s optimistic that getting Fresno Unified students thinking about Fresno State as early as ninth grade could help change their “trajectory” and steer more of them toward pursuing higher education in the region of California that has the lowest share of bachelor’s degrees.

“They’re not thinking (about) Fresno State early enough,” he said.

Leaders from Fresno State and Fresno Unified will finalize the details over the next few weeks, university spokesperson Lauren Nickerson told The Bee’s Education Lab in an email Friday.

“The aim of our pre-college outreach,” she added, “is to ensure that students are aware of admissions requirements, help promote college-going culture, and inspire students to dream big while planning ahead.”

What the program will involve

To help prepare Fresno Unified students to qualify at Fresno State, the direct admit program will put additional supports in place to track and boost students’ progress toward meeting the minimum requirements for admission to a CSU campus.

“What’s happening on our end,” Nelson said, “is our individual high school counselors are monitoring (students’) trajectory in live time.”

The counselors will track whether students are completing the minimum required classes in subjects like history and math that students must pass in high school to be CSU eligible – and maintaining a C average in them.

On Fresno State’s end, officials said the school would offer other benefits, such as access to college readiness and career exploration resources and workshops, conferences, and activities to familiarize students and create a sense of belonging with Fresno State specifically.

Nelson said they’ve also discussed giving high schoolers access to Fresno State sports games and tutoring services through the program.

All of these extra supports are needed to send more Fresno Unified students to college, he said.

“You almost have to go there and hold hands and walk across the threshold together, right?” he said. “So that’s what it’s really designed to do.”

How many Fresno Unified students graduate CSU-eligible?

In recent years, most of Fresno Unified’s college-bound students enrolled in community colleges – not UC or CSU campuses like Fresno State.

In the 2019-20 school year – the most recent data available from the California Department of Education – only about two-thirds, or 64.7%, of high school “completers” enrolled in college at all within 12 months of graduating.

Of the 2,508 students who did enroll somewhere, the majority – 1,418, or about 57% – went to a California community college.

Comparatively, 815 of those students, or about 32%, enrolled in the CSU system, which has 23 campuses around the state, including Fresno State.

An even smaller percentage of Fresno Unified students – about 5% – attended a UC fresh out of high school.

The remainder attended private colleges in California or enrolled out of state.

Not all Fresno Unified students who receive their high school diplomas graduate meet the requirements for admission into a UC or CSU in the first place.

In the 2021-22 school year, slightly less than half, or about 49%, of graduates met UC/CSU requirements.

The district has hovered around the halfway mark for the past few years: about 52% in 2020-21, 54% in 2019-20, and 50% in 2018-19.

These problems aren’t unique to Fresno Unified, however — and other direct admissions programs for Fresno students launched recently to improve college-going rates across the central San Joaquin Valley.

UC Merced entered similar partnerships with both Fresno City College and Central Unified this school year.

Fresno City’s agreement also came with the promise of a counselor knowledgeable in UC Merced’s admissions requirements. That person would help students looking to transfer with anything from making sure they’re taking the right courses to navigating financial aid options.

While these programs are in their infancy, a decades-old guaranteed admission program in Texas has shown success in improving access to higher education for low-income students, one study found.

As for when more specifics about Fresno State’s new program will be available, Nickerson said the university hopes to make an announcement “in the next few weeks.”

The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Learn about The Bee’s Education Lab at its website.

This story was originally published April 17, 2023 at 5:30 AM.

Julianna Morano

The Fresno Bee

Julianna Morano covers early and K-12 education for The Fresno Bee’s Education Lab. Born and raised in Michigan, she attended college at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Previously, she worked as a features intern at The Dallas Morning News and an education and breaking news intern at The Virginian-Pilot.