Dallas Nonprofit Helps Students Succeed With Post-High School Education

The founder of a Dallas nonprofit focused on helping students succeed in post-high school education says there are significant "flaws and gaps" in the education system that are leading to failures in achieving degrees across Texas.

"Our mission is to get kids out of generational poverty with a career-ready degree and sadly, our state and our country do a terrible job transferring kids from high school to at least a livable wage, and particularly for first-generation low-income kids," said Dan Hooper, founder of ScholarShot and author of Fleece U.

He started the nonprofit in 2009 after he saw the need to help advise students through the college process. It's already a challenging transition, especially for those who are the first in their family to attend post-secondary education and may come from low-income households.

Hooper also takes data from the state to press issues he said are impacting the state as a whole. He referenced the state's 60-by-30 plan, which was created to address the issue of not nearly enough students completing higher levels of education to either earn a certificate or degree, which ultimately helps the Texas workforce and economy.

“This is going to hurt some people's feelings, but advisement from high school is very, very flawed, statewide. Fifty-four percent of our high school kids who graduate do nothing to earn any post-secondary credential, meaning a vocational certificate, and Lord knows we need those, an associate degree or an undergraduate degree," explained Hooper.

He said for those who do try, less than 26% succeed. He said nine out of 10 first-generation low-income students who go to college in Texas drop out.

"But the other side is our universities being way too willing to take a student's grants and loans but make no commitment to see him or her succeed," said Hooper.

"We've heard it from a number of universities across the state when we've had to challenge them and they've said, 'Well, look, we are not responsible for the financial or academic status of our students.' And, you know, think about that and ask what restaurant or airline would be in business a week from now, if they said, 'Hey, we're only going to get half of you there, or we can't guarantee how you'll feel after this meal.' Somehow we have lost accountability for our public education system, call it K-16," said Hooper, who hopes his book will help shed light on the issue.

The ScholarShot program tries to buffer the gap and turn dropouts into degrees through financial support, planning, budgeting and guidance on how to navigate through college and land the first job.

"The system is designed to make the system look good, but sadly at the risk of our kids, and that's what ScholarShot focuses on is to try to help a couple 100 kids who are in our system," said Hooper.

The organization, which is made up of eight employees, has four active academic managers who are assigned about 50 students each to help them navigate their next-level education.

"That was very helpful for me, just the academic advising part, having someone to explain what is happening with college and letting me know, that everything is under control you’re on track, just go to y our classes, do your best I really enjoyed that aspect for me," said Ifeoluwa Kehinde, who is an academic manager at ScholarShot and participated in the program herself.

Kehinde, 22, was born and raised in Nigeria and came to Texas as a teen, and graduated from Grand Prairie High School.

"In my mind, I was thinking, 'I don’t know anything about the college system here. I don’t have any idea on how to go about this,' being the first one to go to school here," said Kehinde. who applied to the program after learning about it from a recruiter at her high school.

She credits ScholarShot for helping her graduate from the University of Texas this past May where she earned a degree in Human Development and Family Sciences. She's now mentoring others who are in the shoes she used to wear.

“Just managing a subset of students and advising them to make sure they feel good, mentally, socially and academically through their college career," she said. "I think there’s this misconception when you graduate high school. You’re 18, they slap the title of 'adult' on you and they send you on your way, but this is another transitionary period and I think a lot of students don’t have that person to help them and guide them as they transition through this next stage of their life.”

Part of that counseling includes learning how to minimize student debt, which remains a problem for millions of Americans who are still paying it off.

"Debt is such a, an evil trap. It takes an 18-year-old less than three seconds to sign off on $7,000 or $10,000 of debt in an online portal and not know, 'what the payment is going to be? How much debt do I already have? Is this enough to cover the year?'" said Hooper, who encourages parents and students to be careful when finding ways to pay for school.

He said that is a subject they focus on heavily at ScholarShot which Hooper said has a 90% success rate of getting students to complete their certification or degree.

"As a parent and student be very, very weary of debt and alert to avoiding it," said Hooper.

The nonprofit said their students take on less than one-third of student loan debt compared to their peers.

"If you're in if you're a typical first-generation low-income kid, you're going to graduate, if you do graduate from a four-year school in Texas with $45,000 in debt, and that means your credit unworthy, day one when you go to work, and you're a subject and a target for subprime lending practices. You'll have to put a three- or four-month deposit down on your first apartment. It's just to trap and there's so much more to talk about there, but I can tell you that if parents recognize that for a one- or two-year, degree or certificate, there's no debt required even though the school will offer it. Don't take it. For a four-year degree. You should be able to graduate and earn a degree for less than $15,000 total in debt," said Hooper.

He said the average for ScholarShot is $1,500 for its graduates.

Hooper said their financial support for students in a two-year program can get up to $3,000 a year and students in a four-year public school in Texas can get up to $6,000 a year.

To learn more about the program and apply click here. Hooper said they'll start taking high school senior applications in October.