June 19, 2018
ECMC College Nights events, held annually in the spring at 170 sites across California, Connecticut, Oregon, Tennessee, and Virginia were a fantastic success in 2018. In this, our 12th year, we reached over 17,000 high school students and their families where they were given essential information to help them plan and pay for college.
ECMC's focus is on reaching the highest-need students and families. College Nights are traditionally held at high schools where eligibility for free and reduced lunch is 50 percent or greater. In addition, we sponsor the events at a few community college sites in rural, high-need areas where it makes sense for the events to be centrally located.
We also have a desire to help students earlier in the college-going process. As a result, ECMC's College Nights were moved to the February 1 through April 30 timeframe and primarily targeted at high school juniors and their families. The evening's program complements the ECMC Opportunities workbooks, which are updated and published annually to help students and families prepare for college.
As the sponsor, ECMC provides each site with posters for marketing the event, event materials that include the presentation, welcome posters, evaluation forms, scholarship entry forms, pens, balloons, volunteer t-shirts, reimbursement for pizza and refreshments (up to $600 per site) and three $500 scholarships that are awarded through a random drawing at each event.
Attendees are asked to complete an evaluation of the evening. Here are just a few of the many positive comments received:
"There was plenty of information on costs, financial aid, and grants. It was overall an amazing informational meeting."
Student—Sierra Vista High School, Baldwin Park, CA
"It really met my expectations—it was very informative. Everything was explained very well, and I was able to understand what was said."
Student – Lenoir City High School, Lenoir City, TN
"The event entirely met my expectations in that I received a lot of useful college information. Couldn't ask for much more!"
Student – Nelson County High School, Lovingston, VA