Richmond Promise services aim to help parents feel more engaged and comfortable with a complicated college application process

Without knowing where to look, accessing help throughout the college application process can be a daunting proposition for high school students.

That barrier can be especially challenging for parents. Making sure the correct forms get filled out, ensuring students are taking the best classes to prepare and understanding various pathways to financial aid are just some of the obstacles that exist when it comes to family participation in the college application process.

For Karla Zermeno Gonzalez, the process was all new. Now a second-year student at San Jose State University, Zermeno Gonzalez had the same experience that many Richmond Promise Scholars have when figuring out her path to postsecondary education. A first-generation college student who grew up in a bilingual household, she first encountered Richmond Promise as a student at El Cerrito High School.

“I remember being introduced to Richmond Promise through my high school’s college and career center,” Karla said. “I remember attending RP’s financial aid webinars while I was applying to college. This was extremely helpful as it was my first time filling out FAFSA and navigating forms like such.”

As she navigated the process, so did her parents. 

“We had little to no knowledge on how the process for applying to college was like,” said Karla’s mother, Martha Gonzalez. “Neither my husband nor I attended college, so the process was very new to us. It was difficult to manage on our own. Luckily Karla acquired mentorship on her own.”

One barrier that often prevents parents from participating in the college application process is language. For many Richmond families, Spanish is the primary language at home, and when faced with forms and instructions that can be hard to understand, the chances of key information getting lost in translation can sometimes be amplified.

In order to make the process as inclusive as possible, members of the Richmond Promise staff present services in both languages, which helps to include families and promote parent involvement.

“I am fortunate enough to have parents who are able to communicate in both English and Spanish, but I know that my parents have expressed how comforting it is to break down difficult/unknown topics about higher education in their native tongue,” said Karla. “This is something that not a lot of people have access to, so I appreciate that RP takes the time to make non-English speakers feel included.”

“Being able to receive information in our preferred language is very valuable to us,” Martha added. “We feel more confident in receiving and giving information that way, we feel like we are able to connect to the content more easily that way and better support our daughters.”

Financial aid can also go a long way towards helping parents feel confident that postsecondary education is the right path for their student. As one part of the financial aid package, the Richmond Promise Scholarship helps families lessen the financial load associated with pursuing a degree.

That financial assistance, combined with the program support offered to students both before and during their postsecondary career, helps students and parents gain access together.

“Access to services like Richmond Promise is crucial to parents who are new to the process of college applications and higher education readiness,” said Martha. “I think everyone can learn a lot from programs like RP. We are grateful to be a part of the Richmond Promise community — they truly have supported Karla these past few years and many other Richmond students/residents.”

Having made her choice to attend SJSU, Karla is also now giving back to her community. She is majoring in Business Administration, Marketing, but she has also reinvested in Richmond by joining RP as a Near-Peer Ambassador.

In that role, she helps Richmond Promise staff do the critical college access work in local schools that just a few years ago helped her and the Zermeno Gonzalez family understand how to make postsecondary education a reality.

“RP has provided me with mentorship, career accelerating opportunities, and guidance throughout college,” Karla said. “I have had access to a great team who genuinely will do anything to support me, I am extremely grateful for that!” 

As just a second-year student, Karla has plenty of time to figure out what comes after college. Right now, her interests lie in finding a job in marketing or media that allows her to advocate for diversity and inclusivity.

Wherever she heads next, she’ll have a proud and supportive family right beside her.

“We are extremely proud of her. She works hard and gives her best in everything she does. She is truly thriving at San Jose State, seeing our daughter’s success is the reason why we work hard everyday,” Martha said. “I know that maybe as parents we couldn’t support her much when applying to college but she persisted and made her way there through the mentorship of others. Luckily, she is now able to help students like her who are the first to attend college in their families and help her sister who will be applying to college this time next year!”