After Heritage University, Sister Kathleen Ross will help others find their way to college

TOPPENISH, Wash. -- The daughter of sharecroppers, Mary Ross was the only one of her nine siblings to go to college.

It was unfamiliar territory.

She couldn't afford trips other students took and she often was uncomfortable attending receptions and tea parties.

"She didn't have the proper clothes," said her daughter. "She said she often felt put down, out of place because her parents didn't prepare her for college."

Despite the hurdles, she pushed forward and became a physical therapist.

Now her daughter, Heritage University president Sister Kathleen Ross, wants to ease the way for others who face similar challenges.

She's already done that in the Yakima Valley, where in 1982 she founded Heritage, located just west of Toppenish on the 1.2 million-acre Yakama reservation, where poverty is high and opportunity slim. Roughly 85 percent of students are low-income and the first in their families to attend college.

Now, the school is about to become a national model for other areas looking to make similar strides.

Ross, 67, plans to step down as president sometime next year to begin a national institution geared to help students similar to those at Heritage earn degrees.

She isn't ready to divulge too much about her project because plans are still being discussed. But it will include partnerships with other colleges and universities to attract and retain such students, she said.

"There couldn't be too much effort put on this," she added.

Her plan comes at a time when public schools nationwide are seeing increasing numbers of low-income students whose parents lack any college background.

Recent statistics from The Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education show that nearly 45 percent of students nationally now qualify for free or reduced-price school lunches. Every state has seen significant increases in the need for free or reduced lunch programs, said higher education policy analyst Tom Mortenson, a senior scholar with The Pell Institute in Oskaloosa, Iowa.

Over the past two decades, Washington state has seen its free and reduced lunch programs increase from 23.9 percent to 38.2 percent of students, Mortenson said.

Many of these students are children of immigrants drawn to the country by jobs. There needs to be a better conduit to get these students into college to earn degrees, Ross said.

"In order for our society to produce as many four-year degrees (as in years past), something has got to change," she said.

Out of 23 developed countries, the United States showed the least increase in the number of students between ages 25 and 34 with bachelor's degrees, according to statistics from The Pell Institute.

Mortenson blames lawmakers for failing to respond to a dramatic shift in demographics.

"I think there's this sense of racism and classism still buried in our public policy," he said. "Demographics are a fact of life and we're making public policy oblivious to this."

If strides in education aren't made here, then the country will continue to lose ground in the world economy, he said.

"You have to believe that income and wealth will be redistributed around the world according to educational attainment," he said. "And other countries have been doing a much better job of educating."

But getting these students into college is the first step, and the next is keeping them there, Ross said.

And that means helping them understand campus life, student services and financial options. It also means helping them navigate a cultural divide between the blue-collar and white-collar worlds that often shows up in the way people dress, talk and think.

"People don't think about the cultural differences between socioeconomic classes," she said. "If you're distracted by feeling uncomfortable because the environment is unfamiliar to you, then it's much harder to concentrate on your studies and continue your education when things get harder."

One student didn't even show up for classes after being accepted into Heritage.

His schedule consisted of classes for only half the day, and he thought it meant that he wasn't too smart and decided to drop school all together, Ross said.

He didn't understand that classes consisting of a half day in college was a full load, she said.

"That's an example of a first-generation college student not knowing things that college-educated families take for granted," she added.

While Heritage has focused on reaching and educating such students, other schools are now seeing the need to do so as well.

Increases in students from low-income backgrounds with parents lacking any higher education has led Easter Oregon University to offer a one-credit course introducing freshman to campus life, good study habits and student services, said the university's interim president, Dixie Lund.

"It's a high priority for the Oregon university system," she said.

Other distractions come into play as well, Ross said.

Many students from poorer backgrounds must work while attending college. There are young mothers who have to take care of children and even some students helping to take care of their parents.

That's why Heritage offers half its classes during the evening, and several courses online, she said.

There isn't one answer to improving education options for such students, but an effort to centralize several solutions needs to be made, she said.

"I believe that there are a lot of different projects that look at certain aspects, but a concentrated effort to look at the problem as a whole is needed," she said.

* Phil Ferolito can be reached at 577-7749 or pferolito@yakimaherald.com.

• Jobs
  www.yakjobs.com
• Homes
  www.yakhomes.com
• 
• 
  
• Autos
  www.yakwheels.com

• All Special Pubs Yakima Magazine Channels YakJobs.com YakWheels.com YakHomes.com Playdate Yakima Bride Yakima Wheels (Print) Home Buyer's Guide Baby Brag Book Graduates 2009 Summer in the Valley Prep Football 2009 Women in Business Holiday Gift Guide
• Advertisement