Interview Questions

1.​ ​What is your current title/position, how long have you worked in this field?
·​ ​School counselor for freshman class
·​ ​Testing coordinator

·​ ​Over sees College Coaches

·​ ​13 years

2.​ ​Can you define a first-generation student, what are the first steps of action when dealing with a
student who is a first-generation?
·​ ​Go through their grades, if they are a freshman you make a plan on what classes they should be
taking. If the student is already a senior, then you go back to look at their grades. Depending on their
grades that is how we advise them what to do or how they should proceed because it is an advisement. A
first-generation student is a student who no one in their family has gone to college. They are the first in
their family to go to college.

3.​ ​For a student in a predominately Hispanic community what are the main factors for not wanting to
pursue a professional degree?
·​ ​There are different ones. The main one is usually financial, the second one here in our community is
that we do not have a lot of resources, the other factor that I have seen throughout the many years that I
have been a councilor is parents who do not let their kids leave town.

4.​ ​What are the causes of not being educated about resources available? What are the effects of not
being aware of opportunities available to minority students?
·​ ​The effects of not knowing what is available to you it is that you have the potential to go to school.
You could possibly go for free to the university for the four years. There are schools that offer you 100%
of your financial need met which means that they’ll pay for 100% of your costs, there’s schools that offer
80% of you needs met. So, if resources aren’t available to them then they feel like it is the end and that
they do not have any other choice. What happens then is that we have kids with post-secondary education,
kids with only high school degrees, kids who don’t look for other opportunities.

5.​ ​Do you believe that living in a border town impacts college and university recruiters from spreading
awareness about opportunities available to students? How does this impact students in this community?
·​ ​Yes, I do, once again we go to the same thing not only because we are a border town but also because
we are a small rural town border town. We don’t have the resources that for example Tucson would. They
have the U of A, Pima, we don’t even have a community college. The community colleges that are here
are basically passing through the investment is for people to learn from the classes they offer obviously
they want to offer more but because they can’t promote it or people don’t take in as much as they should,
it is not recognized as much.

6.​ ​In a poverty level community such as Nogales, what role does income play in student’s decision to go
directly to a four-year university?
·​ ​Huge because we go back to the same thing, Arizona assurance is based on grades and income so
because our school is in a poverty level community, or because the majority of people who live here do
not qualify for National Income Requirements, then we qualify for a lot of different resources that are not
promoted as much. For example, if you have the grades in the core classes of 3.0 the U of A has Arizona
assurance, Obama Scholars, and if you get admitted to the schools you have all of financial need met
depending on what the school offers. You have the opportunities it is just a matter of putting in the effort.
Sometimes our own culture makes us go into for example I am a parent without any studies and you’re
my daughter and I want you to go but I have no idea how to get you there so because I never studied I
don’t know how the system works then it is going to be even harder to help you. That’s why there is
grants from Mr. Velasquez that he promotes such as the CREO program, the Healthy Families grant
because even in health, everything relates to one thing. The way you eat, the way you exercise, the way
you study, everything is involving our own culture.

7.​ ​How does a lack of knowledge of the specific guidelines for federal aid such as FAFSA impact
Hispanic students?
·​ ​Not knowing about them, they don’t get the money and that’s one of the main goals of the college
coaches, getting everybody to fill out the FAFSA. If you get them to fill out the FAFSA then they know
that they have money to go to school. The only bad part about that is a lot of kids take advantage of the
money that’s left over. So, if they go to Pima for example they have money left over and then they spend
it on things that they shouldn’t be spending it on and that money instead of being used for something
appropriately, and that’s my advice I always tell kids, “Yes, you are going to have money left over save it
use it for a rainy day use it for something that is going to help you further your education”, but it doesn’t
happen.

8.​ ​How long has Nogales High school had college coaches?
·​ ​Before college coach’s students were not well informed on how to fill out FAFSA or was it assumed
they just knew how?
We have had them for two years now, this is the second year. Well it is a yes and no answer, as
counselors we always promote FAFSA but kids don’t listen to counselors as much as they listen to other
kids and that makes a huge difference so we can tell them but if I don’t care to listen to you I am just
going to zone you out compared to a student calling in another student it’s like oh I didn’t even realize,
and the counselors had just gone into their classroom and had just said the same thing. But it is not the
same so it does make a huge difference. Last year our numbers went up tremendously and I swear it is
because of the kids because we keep pushing them and pushing them and they push the other students to
apply. They don’t realize that they can get this. They don’t realize there’s free money to study.

9.​ ​Do you encourage Hispanic students to continue their education after a two-year college? What do
you suggest?
·​ ​It depends on the student because not everyone is meant to go into a four-year degree just like not
everyone is designed to go and do an associate. It can be a vocational school, it can be a regular associate,
or it can be a bachelor or even masters or PHD, or whatever you want but it depends on the students
because if you just hate school and you just want to finish, I say go to the army not army just military.
And why because they’ll give you an education in a specific area and they’ll give you a job and it’s a go
learn something and have a job. Now if you’re not interested in the army there are vocational schools.
With JTED now since our districted and community voted yes for it JTED, now our community also has
the resources available in Tucson for JTED which means now we have cosmetology, now we send
students for aviation, we can send students for diesel mechanics, we send students to get a whole bunch of
other certificates where it will validate them and make their way to school go up higher.

10.​ ​Do you find that the majority of students who plan to transfer after a two-year college decide to work
and not further their education? Why do you think this happens?
·​ ​No, in my experience the majority of students who finished their two-year associates degree usually
do continue but what I have seen in the majority of them as well is that they are able to finish and get a
better job and go to school as well. So, they opt for the adult education, which means they work and they
go to school and them either do it online or they go in the afternoons so they look for those opportunities.

11.​ ​Why is the percentage of transfer students so low?

·​ ​It is super low, and it is because they think that they can’t afford universities because if you go to a
community college and you get FAFSA, FAFSA will cover everything and will like I said leave money
over. If you go to a university, you apply for FAFSA it is not even going to cover half of it. So, when
you’re looking at stuff like that it influences the decision of should I go on or not. Another reason is that
people have different situations, like las year I have already seen half of my kids whose plans were to go
to a university in Tucson or phoenix and they are here and I ask them “What happened?” and they
respond, “Oh miss, life.” Like family issues or financial issues so their opportunities diminish and what
happens they didn’t apply for scholarships or financial aid or all these other things.

12.​ ​As a school how can we ensure that students are aware of this percentage?
·​ ​I think it would be more help from the community colleges giving talks, but all the recruiters are
interested in recruiting you and having you in their schools, their department isn’t in charge of retention
and transfer. There are different departments in the universities and community colleges that are in charge
of that. At this point in high school, there isn’t really a way because we are more pushing them to go into
their post-secondary education versus stays and transferring to a university

13.​ ​What is the plan of action for a Hispanic student who has the grades to attend college but instead
wants to stay to work and help their family?
·​ ​I am going to give you an example of one of my students, this student had everything to go and had
family issues, and I see a lot of that. It’s just a matter of making a plan and the plan usually is, the plan of
action is okay if that is setting a barrier, or a bump in the road then what are you going to do to overcome
that. I am not telling stop helping your family because you can’t I mean especially us as Hispanics we
can’t. So, what are you going to do make a plan, you can study online, FAFSA will cover it at a
community college, you can’t do that there’s Pima here, there’s different possibilities. My example is the
same thing, I went to school I went to a university, I had to come back, back in those days we didn’t have
internet or the internet we had was very limited. So, I went off to a university first year, second year, then
I transferred to Guadalajara for medical school. I loved it. The third year I had to come back my dad had a
horrible accident and he couldn’t work and savings and everything went down the drain because paying
the hospital bills drained everything. So, I had to start working to help my family, but it thinks it’s your
own goal that sets you, like how are you going to get passed that hump sometimes it’s a wall and you
have to jump over it but you have to ask yourself do you really want to do this or are you just going to
give up and keep working. Or find a great job that will pay you a lot of money and you don’t need a
degree. But wherever you go no matter what it is, education helps you be a better worker.

14.​ ​In your opinion do you feel as if many times students need help but do not want to ask for help? Do
you think this has something to do with their Hispanic culture?
·​ ​Yes, yes especially men and I know that sounds very sexist but it’s the truth. So here in our town the
biggest issue, is my parents don’t have papers but I do so how do I get the help but I don’t want to come
out and tell people that my parents don’t have a social so what do I need to do? DACA is a major help and
many communities depend on it, and it is looking like it is going away. And in our community, I don’t
know if it is just not a concern or if people don’t say anything at all because in my thirteen years I have
only had one student who has qualified as a DACA and didn’t know and didn’t know and didn’t say
anything and was salutatorian of his class and I can say this because he has come out and he has even
been on CNN news. He was salutatorian he wanted to go to med school he finished his bachelor’s degree
he is trying to get into med school but needs funding so he is working full time, because with DACA now
he can work but he has his bachelor’s degree so he was able to continue but not continue at the same time
because he can’t ask for financial aid so he has had to support himself. As Hispanics, I think we are more
stubborn and I think that is changing because people see the benefits of asking. Its within our culture yes
because we are stubborn and hate asking for help but little by little we are seeing the advantage and I say
we because I am stubborn and do not like to ask for help myself.

15.​ ​How does the language barrier impact Hispanic students wanting to further their education?
·​ ​Because students often say I’m not going to make it in college I’m barely making it here because it
wasn’t so hard bit when I go to college it’s going to be horrible and I won't be able to speak the language
and everybody is going to want to talk to me in English. So, there is an impact on it unfortunately but we
go back to the same thing it’s your own goals and your own determination.

16.​ ​In a predominately Hispanic community, do you find that many students decide to not further their
education because they are unaware of resources available to them? How are schools taking action to
change this?
·​ ​Yes, they are unaware of the resources available to them it’s the whole they aren’t listening because
the promotion is out there the resources are out there, we try to give you as much information as we can
but go back a couple of years ago and ask kids and they’ll say no I never knew anything, nope they never
told me. Ask your teachers not just the counselors but the teachers also promote it. If I go into a senior
classroom I always see ACT dates SAT dates what are those, that’s money that universities give you if
you qualify for the university. FAFSA everywhere so we have college and career week coming up.
There’s a lot but they’re not listening. That’s why we have college coaches, they are making huge impact
so it’s not us making the huge impact it is them.

17.​ ​Was it the school’s choice to implement college coaches? How did that become an option?
·​ ​Nogales High School was invited to be part of a grant, the Helios College Knowing and Going and
when we were invited to do that it was all juniors could take the ACT and the commitment was Helios
said we’ll pay half if you pay the other half so that every single student can have the opportunity to test
because even in that, the score of students who have no idea they can go to college. Then you see their
scores for the ACT and you say you need to go to college you have everything you can and not just
because of the test scores because in reality a score is nothing it is a determination but if they don’t know
then maybe their drive is just like it doesn’t matter. So, the whole how do we become involved is making
sure that every junior had the opportunity to test and we can have a talk with every senior/junior about
that. Then after that they said let’s try like a teen hall so I invited some students over to like teen hall and
then they were like we should really have people in the schools and that’s when they said of this is a great
idea okay let’s start with the student ambassadors. So over in Tucson they are called student ambassadors
here I call you college coaches because that is what you guys do, you coach students to go to college or
continue their post-secondary education and have the resources to do so. So that’s how we became
involved through Helios Knowing and Growing Grant.

18.​ ​In your opinion, why has the number of Hispanics in the United States who earn a college degree
decreased in recent years?
·​ ​Family obligations

19.​ ​Where could I find published information (books, websites, etc.) on this topic?
·​ ​Everywhere, there is an article where people write called Inside Higher Ed and I believe that it is
through Harvard and they have a ton of articles, they are short they are sweet they have a ton of valuable
information. There are also others through the school counselor association they put in a lot of
information so I get monthly newsletters or magazines with a ton of information, I have some if you
would like to take them. I love going to conferences, you learn a lot from conferences and College Board
has amazing conferences. The last one I went to had a Janet Napolitano and you find out all this different
information so it’s like.
20.​ ​Is there anyone else you suggest I interview? When/How/Where could I get together with you for
clarification/more information?
·​ ​David Rodriguez, he is from the Metropolitan Education Commission and the reason I am saying
David and not one of our other counselors is because you’re a college coach and as such he is super
knowledgeable he has worked at Pima he has worked here he has a lot of contacts and I'm not talking
about only the contacts but he is full of knowledge so if you can him. We can get together whenever you
want.