Bold Badger Bound plan explained at Amarillo College Board of Regents meeting – Amarillo Globe-News
A new program called Badger Bound was re-introduced and approved at the most recent Amarillo College Board of Regents meeting. The new scholarship program will expand support for high school students seeking a higher education.
“What we’re excited about with Badger Bound program and the proposal we have is that we believe it’s sustainable, and it expands access,” AC President Dr. Jamelle Conner said. “It’s creating intentional pathways for students starting at elementary school, equipping students to be college-ready, leading to higher success completion and transfer rates, and they require less remediation.”
According to Conner, the program will fund 45 credit hours of college tuition at AC for students who earn 15 dual credit hours at AC while attending high school.
Officials received feedback after the program had been previously discussed. On Tuesday, Aug. 26 at the AC board’s meeting, they approved the implementation of the new scholarship program, which will be available to students across the Panhandle. Following in the footsteps of the previous Thrive Scholarship campaign, the Badger Bound program will be extended to school districts in Potter, Randall, Moore, Carson, Oldham, Deaf Smith, Parmer, Castro, and Swisher counties.
“We need more students taking at least 15 hours,” Conner said. “We need to show people that college can be affordable, and we need to start showing them that in elementary school. This new program can create access to as many students as possible.”
Badger Bound is the progression of what comes after Thrive, which is a collaboration between the Amarillo Independent School District, the college, the Amarillo Area Foundation and the Amarillo Economic Development Corporation. According to AAF, Thrive is a “last money in” scholarship that covers tuition, fees and book expenses for up to 60 credit hours at AC for students who attend an AISD high school.
Conner showed a noticeable difference between Randall and Potter counties as far as attainment.
“One of the reasons our education detainment is lagging is the one that keeps me up at night,” said John Betancourt, AC board vice-chairman. “Basically, in our service area, with our high school graduates, just under 50% of kids are electing not to go to college. That’s a substantial number of students … we’re talking around 1,200 students. And these are students we want to matriculate to college, show up in the workforce and transfer to a four-year institution. I think if we are going to have a chance at raising education and increasing the number of students who are matriculating to AC, we need a model that is going to increase access for us to as many students as possible.”
Betancourt said with the Badger Bound model, AC will not only give them an opportunity to access college at less cost, but will also provide a path toward more likely success.
“We want to put students who earn 15 hours or more of dual credit in AC to be able to come to AC up to 45 hours within three years at no cost,” Betancourt said, noting the need for more of those students with at least 15 credit hours. “We’re going to have to start that conversation with them as early as possible … all the way into elementary school and begin to cultivate a belief that AC is part of their future and a way to move into the workforce or to transfer to an institution. Under this proposed model, K-12 access is credibly important.”
Betancourt said that they need to start outreach at the elementary school level to cultivate a belief that Amarillo College is a part of students’ future and a way for them to get into the workforce or to move on to a transfer institution.
“We want to lift up our whole community and making coming to AC as attractive as it can be. Our state has really put money behind what they want to see happen in education,” he added. “This new model, we believe, is going to improve education. A big part of this model is out ability to get students on these two credited pathways … we’re creating a model that has a very powerful incentive to give students prospects on the belief that now college can be affordable and something that is for them. We’re going to have to start that conversation with them as early as possible.”
AC board member Johnny Mize said that he felt like they needed to address the students who didn’t necessarily want a diploma or brick and mortar education, but were better suited to career or technical training. Betancourt said that a number of students were succeeding under the technical career training, and they were earning certificates while in high school that could provide them with a six-figure salary upon graduation.
A question came up about students who couldn’t afford to pay for meals being able getting free dual credits. The answer was that they could get free dual credits and in turn, free education. Colleges are reimbursed by the state of Texas for those, but not as much as they would get from private pay. Efforts are being made to locate business and sponsors to help students who are not able to pay for the 15 hours, but don’t qualify for free or reduced meals.
A student who participates in the program and gains 15 credits will have three years to go to AC to finish the program, even if they attend another college in between. It’s just important that they re-enter the program before the three-year window is closed, according to AC.
Collin Witherspoon, Executive Director of Analytics and Institutional Research at AC, showed a graphic during the AC board meeting that demonstrated how many students had entered the college with 15 credits and completed the requirements, as opposed to those who didn’t — and the difference was significant, showing up to 20% on those entering with dual credit. He also checked to see how many students they would need in order to have their cost equal to the revenue. The results showed, he said, “we would have always been well above the breaking game,” if the program had been in effect.
Witherspoon spoke to the state involvement in the process. Based on the fact that they get $3,500 from the state for each student that earns 15 hours, along with those who pay tuition, it came up showing that they would have been making money if they had been using the program throughout the last several years.
The Badger Bound program could be implemented by the fall of 2027, according to Conner. The Thrive Scholarship contract ends July 30, 2030, which would benefit the final AISD class of students who would start in 2027.
