UA News

Individuals can contribute toward the Arizona Assurance campaign through the UA Foundation or the UA Cares campaign.

Arizona Assurance, a University of Arizona program that supports Arizona resident students who otherwise might find it difficult to finance an education, is seeing marked retention. 

Of the nearly 590 Arizona Assurance Scholars enrolled during the 2008-2009 academic year, 96.1 percent persisted from the fall to the spring semester and 80.1 persisted to the fall 2009 semester.

That rate is higher than the persistence rate for the full freshman class, which was at 78.1 percent. Also, the persistence rate for UA freshmen who would have been eligible for Arizona Assurance and enrolled in 2005, 2006 and 2007 – prior to the launch of the Arizona Assurance program – averaged at 74.4 percent.

The Arizona Assurance program, which was launched by UA President Robert N. Shelton to offer eligible students with a debt-free education, has expanded greatly with added programs and services offered to the scholars.

Additional campus collaborations, student-focused workshops and added student, faculty and peer mentors are among the improvements the program has made in its second year, said Arezu Corella, a senior coordinator for the Arizona Assurance program.

Also new is the Arizona Assurance Scholars Organization, a student club that involves scholars in service-oriented projects.

"It's nice to see that we've had pretty good retention when we did not have all the staff and resources in place during the first year," Corella said.

"We're really trying to make sure that their transition is successful and to make sure they know that there are people here to help," she added. 

She said this would only serve to boost retention even more in subsequent years.

Chancis Benjamin is a sophomore Arizona Assurance scholar, and is studying psychology at the UA.

"Besides financial help with my college tuition and work study, I have met an awesome mentor, who show that she really cares and helps me through school by backing me up and just being there for me," Benjamin said.

Noelani Verdy is a freshman Arizona Assurance scholar from Phoenix, Ariz. She is majoring in sociology and working as a tutor.

"I had never been to the University before I applied to the school. "The UA was my first choice," Verdy said. "Everyone was so welcoming and there were people to help with each individual and so many resources to help you."

Verdy also have been helped significantly through the Arizona Assurance student support programs.

"Through the program we have had different workshops, so one of the workshops was about organizing yourself," Verdy said. "One was goal setting. Then we went over what goals we had accomplished, and also did worksheets to help us. Little things that just showed us who we are." 

The Arizona Assurance program, which has been funded by the Helios Education Foundation, Cox Communications and other donors, is continuing to receive new sources of financial support.

Currently, the UA Cares campaign is underway, which is funding programs and services across the University.

Those interested in providing funding to the Arizona Assurance program can visit the UA Foundation Web site to make a contribution to the Arizona Assurance Endowment, which will provide scholarships to students involved in the program.

"We want to make sure that our scholars are on the right path so that they can meet their requirements within four years," Corella said. 

Arizona Assurance students persisted better than comparable freshmen from previous years, better than the entire freshman class and also as well as all Arizona resident freshmen.

A major contributor to student retention, the program's staff noted, are the faculty and staff mentors.

"This year, our goal was to make sure that every scholar has a mentor, and we were able to meet that goal," Corella said. "We feel that mentoring is probably one of the most important and unqiue features of our program."

A class of 770 students were welcomed this year into the program, which covers tuition costs as well as books, room and board for Arizona residents who meet the program's requirements.

The program is specificially for in-state students whose families with an adjusted gross incoming $42,400 or less each year, and who also are eligible for the federal Pell Grant program.

Emily Butler, an Arizona Assurance mentor who was assigned two students ended up co-opting a third student who is a first-generation college student.

"They seem to appreciate the contact with a human being," said Butler, an assistant professor in the UA's John and Doris Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences.

Butler and the scholars have gone to lunch and spoken informally. She also invited them to meetings with her research team so that they could learn about her work and alslo meet her undergraduate and graduate student researchers.

"Mentoring is important. This is a pretty big university, and kids coming in from small communities can be overwhelmed," Butler said. "I think it's a good thing to make the University more human, especially for students who are not used to what looks like a big city to them."