Texas A&M University-Kingsville program brings students back to campus to finish degrees
When Etta Enow stepped onto campus at Texas A&M University-Kingsville in 2014, she had a plan — she’d walk back out in about four years with a degree in biomedical science.
But things don’t always go according to plan.
Along the way, Enow lost the financial support she needed to pay for her education. On her own, Enow juggled work and school. When she didn’t have the money, she had to stop school.
During the 2022 fall semester, Enow was taking one of these breaks when the university welcomed a new leader, Robert H. Vela Jr. One of his first acts as president was to introduce a new program targeted specifically at students like Enow.
In just under a year, the Javelina Relight program has brought about 50 students back to finish their degrees, offering scholarships and advising to help them cross the finish line.
The stop-out problem
John Carrillo, A&M-Kingsville executive director of student completion and community college relations, said the state of Texas has a “stop-out” problem, where some students that start a college degree never complete it.
About a fifth of Texans aged 25 and older had some college education, but no degree, in 2021, according to U.S. Census data. The median earnings for this group were about $40,333 in 2021, nearly $20,000 less than median earnings for those with a bachelor’s degree.
There are a variety of reasons a student might leave school, even if they are doing well academically and want to finish.
“I have seen some of these students so close to degree completion with high GPAs,” Carrillo said. “They leave because somebody passes or they have a child or they don’t have money. It’s very rarely because they couldn’t do it (academically).”
For Enow, it came down to money.
Growing up with parents in the medical field, it was always instilled in Enow that she should pursue a similar career, because there were opportunities in medicine, and it was a stable field.
But biomedical science never quite felt right for Enow.
“I would go to class, but for some reason it just never really registered in my brain,” Enow said. “I never had that aha, epiphany moment like, ‘Yes, this is what I’m meant to do with my life.’”
When that moment finally came, it wasn’t in a biomedical science class. Instead, Enow fell in love with communication, finding a mentor in Professor of Journalism Manuel Flores.
She began networking, and became involved in the university radio station, 91.1 KTAI.
When she changed her major to communications in 2018, her family stopped supporting her financially. She accepted that but didn’t change her mind.
“Now being a sheltered kid, that can be very overwhelming and very scary, but I knew that in order to live my best life and be happy with my life choices, I needed to pursue a career that ignites me and makes me happy and is something that I’m very passionate about,” Enow said.
Enow worked jobs on campus and in town to put herself through college. Along the way, she worked for Corpus Christi-area radio shows, wrote freelance about music and traveled across the country to work at concerts and festivals. She even interned at Good Morning America’s summer concert series last summer.
“I had different ups and downs during my time here at TAMUK — not because I couldn’t do the work — it’s just I always struggled paycheck to paycheck to even afford tuition,” Etta said. “Because I had been in school for so long, I struggled to get financial aid.”
Enow jumped on the chance to take part in Javelina Relight, which paid for the tuition and fees related to her remaining classes.
Last week, she graduated with a degree in communications with a minor in journalism.
“Honestly, without the Relight program, I feel like I would still be working on it,” Etta said.
Sari Flores is an administrative associate in the university marketing and communications office. She’s worked in various departments on campus since 2016.
When President Vela announced Javelina Relight during his inauguration in November 2022, Flores was in the room.
She immediately knew that she could benefit — Flores stopped taking classes in 2012 after she had a child.
“I didn’t think that there was much hope for me, given my age, given the years that I had been out of school,” Flores said. “I didn’t think it was possible. Then I talked to John (Carrillo) and he said, ‘Nope, it’s more than possible, let’s do it.’”
Flores came back through Javelina Relight this summer. This fall, she’ll take her final nine hours before graduation in December. Flores has begun thinking about law school, something that would not be possible without a bachelor’s degree.
Kingsville’s solution
Recently, the Texas A&M University System has placed emphasis on trying to get stop-out students back on track for graduation, Carrillo said.
A&M-Kingsville's response to the challenge was to dedicate some of its state funding for scholarships for returning undergraduate students in good academic standing with 90 or more credit hours completed towards a degree. Along the way, the university has also received anonymous private donations to support the effort.
The scholarship covers up to six credit hours.
The university knows how many students stopped enrolling before their degree was finished. Carrillo’s team has been using this information to reach out to stop-out students directly, letting them know about the scholarship opportunity, as well as about a degree program the university introduced several years ago that many might benefit from.
The university began offering a general studies major in 2019, where students can choose an emphasis in two major programs. For students whose education was delayed because they changed majors, the general studies degree program means they might be able to graduate sooner than with a more specified major.
They found that if they switched to general studies, some stop-out students didn’t even need to take any more classes. All they had to do was apply for graduation.
Michael Martinez was shocked when he saw an email in his inbox about the program this spring. He’d left the university in 2021 two classes short of a degree in psychology, moving south to the Rio Grande Valley for a relationship that later ended.
“I got an email from Texas A&M-Kingsville and the subject line was ‘Graduate without taking anymore classes’,” Martinez said. “At first, I thought it was spam. I thought, what the heck? I didn’t finish. There’s no way I can graduate.”
But with a switch to general studies, he could. Martinez graduated last week. The ceremony fell on his dad’s birthday. Martinez lost his father when he was a teenager.
“Being able to celebrate this big accomplishment with my family was definitely momentous,” Martinez said. “...it was a very emotional day for me and my family. I just knew that it was meant to be.”
Though thousands of stop-out students might benefit, the university has been focusing first on identifying and contacting those who left most recently, since about 2010, and are closest to graduation.
But students who have been away longer have heard about the program and asked to participate, Carrillo said.
“I’m hoping that we have so many students that we run out of funding and have to ask for more money,” Carrillo said.
Carrillo said that students are signing on every day. He estimates the Javelina Relight program will have brought back 50 or more returners this fall.
Fifteen Javelina Relight students received a degree this summer. Over 20 are scheduled to graduate this fall.
“I think it is such a great and amazing program,” Martinez said. “It gives people hope when they think that they don’t have any hope at all... it’s very nice to hear that they’re willing to go above and beyond for the students who left college so abruptly. It’s benefited me in every way possible.”
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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: A&M-Kingsville bringing lost students back to finish degrees
