Catholic Charities program seeks to increase college graduation rates

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (KAUZ) - With back-to-school season in full effect, many students are finding themselves in a financial bind when it comes to paying for school.

Catholic Charities Fort Worth is seeking to ease that struggle through its education navigation program, which recently expanded to include schools like Midwestern State University and Vernon College.

“We’re easily accessible to students, they can just pop in the office,” Laura Sotelo, endowment director at Northwest Fundraising, said. “I’ve heard students say that Catholic Charities, their client navigator, is like family to them and I can’t think of a higher compliment than that, than to say that they think of Catholic Charities as their family.”

Since starting in 2015, the program has been so successful in increasing college graduation rates that it has expanded to more universities.

Sotelo says it is a very competitive program that students must apply and be accepted into, and that they are looking for highly motivated low-income students.

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