College Visions

Advising Undocumented Students in Rhode Island for College Access

Our mission at College Visions is to empower low-income and first-generation college-bound students to realize the promise of higher education by providing advising and resources to promote college enrollment, persistence, and graduation. College Visions advances equal access to educational opportunities in historically under-served communities.

At College Visions, we believe our work is an embodiment of our core values:
– Empathetic, compassionate, and transformative relationships drive strong organizations.
– Equity creates strong communities.
– In our community we honor the voice, agency, and identities of all.
– Success means reaching our goals through hard work, failure and growth.

We live and operate through these values daily within our two core programs, the College Access Program (CAP) and the Kolajo Paul Afolabi College Success Program (CSP).

The College Access Program provides the intensive, individualized advising that closes the gap between college aspirations and college enrollment for first-generation, low-income students. Students are provided with one-on-one admissions advising, college knowledge workshops, campus visits, family engagement opportunities, access to technology, financial aid coaching.

The College Success Program provides our college students and graduates of CAP with continued support through college. Students are provided with one-on-one coaching, college success workshops, connection with on-campus resources, transfer coaching, financial aid renewal assistance, and access to our emergency grant fund.

Both of our programs are free to our students and are supplemented with providing social-emotional support for our students. At College Visions, we understand that the journey to and through college can be met with many different challenges, as well as the great successes, especially for first-generation low-income students. We are proud to be a resource for our students, help them navigate through different challenges, and celebrate their accomplishments.

Tina Meetran
College Access Program Director
College Visions

CLICK HERE to download the guide: Advising Undocumented Students in Rhode Island for College Access, 2019-2020

The New College Visions Summer Program!

College Visions, in collaborations with the Providence Public schools, offered a four-week summer program for high school students that introduced them to the college admissions process, potential career options, and building academic and interpersonal skills while preventing summer slide!

We received over 200 applications from young people willing to commit to 80 hours of summer programming, but only had space for 100 students. Students came to us from high schools throughout Providence including 360, Alvarez, Central, Classical, E-Cubed, Evolutions, Hope, Juanita Sanchez Educational Complex, Mount Pleasant, and Providence Career & Technical Academy.

Students had a lot to say about the program:

“The best thing about the program was being able to get life advice from people who have already gone through it and lived it.”

“The most important thing that I learned is what it’s like to be in college. In the program, they taught us what’s required to get into college and they motivated us to go and achieve our goals.”

“The most important thing that I have learned was my resume. I felt as though I learned a lot I will be able to use that resume for a job that I would like to apply for.”

Providence has so many talented, energetic young people. It was our privilege to work with them to plan their path through high school to college and career!

Student Letter to CV Staff:

15th Anniversary Campaign Kickoff Party!

Join us to launch our annual fund in support of first-generation students! There will be live music, complimentary appetizers, and a cash bar!

Date: Wednesday, October 16th, 2019
Time: 6 – 8:30pm
Location: Roger Williams Casino | 1000 Elmwood Ave., Providence, RI 02907

RSVP: bit.ly/CVKickoff19

For more information, please contact Moira Hinderer at moira@collegevisions.org or 401.490.3996

Advising Undocumented Students Guide Release!

Join us on Thursday, September 12th from 4-6pm to grab a copy of the Advising Undocumented Students Guide and learn from the author and CV Access Program Director, Tina Meetran!

If you have any questions, please contact Tina Meetran at tina@collegevisions.org or 401.490.3996

The Beautiful Thing About Learning is That No One Can Take It Away From You

“As a first-generation college student, society has given us the social pressure of having to be successful at everything we do to show our worth. We pride ourselves in attaining the dreams and goals our parents set out for us to achieve. Our parents give us the building blocks to succeed, but it is up to us whether or not we want to be successful.”

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