About CollegeTracks

"We founded CollegeTracks because EVERY child who graduates from a Montgomery County Public School DESERVES the opportunity to go to college or technical school - regardless of his or her economic status or whether his or her relatives attended college."

CollegeTracks Founders Cathie Goltz, Nancy Leopold, and Nancy Zeller


The CollegeTracks Program

CollegeTracks gives students and families at Wheaton, Bethesda-Chevy Chase and Blair High Schools inspiration, know-how and support to:
  • learn about their postsecondary education options;
  • successfully navigate the college admissions process (identify academic and career interests, register and prepare for SAT's and ACT's, select colleges to match their interests and abilities) and
  • secure the financial aid they need to attend. (submit FAFSA forms, apply for grants and scholarships, arrange loans, negotiate with college financial aid offices).
Students and families seek advice from CollegeTracks staff in group sessions and individual meetings held at the schools and in the community.

CollegeTracks is an inclusive program. We do not select students based on grades or test scores.

CollegeTracks works in close partnerships with Montgomery County Public Schools, the high school administrators, counselors, and staff, the Montgomery County Recreation Department, and Montgomery College.

Each year, CollegeTracks trains more than 20 volunteers — parents and other community members who donate time and expertise to work with CollegeTracks students and families.

"CollegeTracks helped me realize that going to college is important for my future. It helped me mature in a lot of ways and prepare for college. They kept me on the right path and kept pushing me so that I would strive for the best no matter what circumstance or situation I was in."

B-CC HS graduate, class of 2006, Montgomery College



Why CollegeTracks?

College Access Matters: Post-secondary education has become the only way to financial security.

"When the doors to higher education are closed, the American dream of upward mobility is short-circuited...Gone, probably forever, are the days when a high school degree alone is an adequate credential for a financially secure career."
William Kirwan, Chancellor University System of Maryland


But...Did you know that Maryland's low-income youth are three times less likely to get to college than their high-income peers? That poor kids with high grades are only as likely to attend college as rich kids with low grades?
  • Students from families unfamiliar with the American higher ed system's complicated admissions and financial aid processes require more intensive time and support than current MCPS counselor staffing permits.
  • Research shows that one of the largest barriers to college access is lack of college-going know how — how to prepare for college, how to apply, and how to get financial aid.
  • Other barriers to college going include expectations about college attendance; reliable information about college affordability and the financial aid process; support during the application process, and lack of money for the gap between financial aid and cost of attendance.

CollegeTracks Works

  • Since 2002, over 300 students and their families have used CollegeTracks services and all but a handful have matriculated to a postsecondary program.
  • Numerous Montgomery County high schools have requested a CollegeTracks program.
  • CollegeTracks is a low-cost intervention with a huge return on investment for the students and for society.

The CollegeTracks Story

  • CollegeTracks gives students hope and turns the dream of college into reality for those who don’t have the college-going know-how to make it happen by themselves.
  • In 2002, three Bethesda-Chevy Chase HS parents realized that students who would be the first in their families to go to college were at a tremendous disadvantage. Unlike their middle class counterparts, not one of them had an adult in their lives familiar enough with the American higher education system to help them successfully navigate the complicated maze of gaining admission to college and securing enough financial aid to attend.
  • CollegeTracks operated entirely as a volunteer program until receiving a two-year grant in 2005 from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation that allowed CollegeTracks to hire staff and expand to Wheaton High School. By December 2006, CollegeTracks was helping over 100 Wheaton HS seniors get to college or technical school.
"What would I do without CollegeTracks? CollegeTracks volunteers have played the role of family and friends throughout my whole college process. They were dedicated to my education and encouraged me no matter what situation I was in."

B-CC HS graduate, class of 2006, Towson University






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