The AZ HSI Consortium is pleased to announce College Academy for Parents (CAP) as an AZ HSI Evidence-Based Practice. After careful review from colleagues across the state of AZ, the College Academy for Parents (CAP) was shown to be an effective program in moving the needle towards greater college access, persistence, retention, transfer, and degree attainment for students in Arizona.
Please read below to learn more about the College Academy for Parents (CAP) at the University of Arizona.
Overview of Institution
The University of Arizona (UA) is Arizona’s Land Grant University. Quite simply, UA’s Land Grant mission is a commitment to accessible education, research and outreach statewide.
UA was not only the first university in the state, but it was also the first public university in Arizona to be federally recognized in 2018 as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). As a research intensive (R1) land-grant HSI, the University of Arizona is committed to responsively meeting the educational needs of the vibrant and increasingly diverse communities of Arizona.
President Garimella spoke to the responsibility of UA’s positionality as a land grant institution in his remarks in his March 2025 Installation speech, “Our responsibility as a public flagship and our land-grant mission of engagement call on us to bring our exceptional assets to bear on Arizona’s wellbeing, prosperity, and prospects. For 140 years we have done so proudly, engaging all of Arizona, from Nogales to the Four Corners, and from the fields of Yuma to the streets of Phoenix and Tucson. Our land-grant mission means ensuring Arizona has the trained workforce it needs, and it means attracting and supporting businesses through research and development and lifelong learning. With contributions from our comprehensive health sciences, the state’s only veterinary medicine college, national leadership as a Hispanic-Serving Institution, dedicated Native American and Tribal engagement initiatives, the distinctiveness of Arizona Arts, the excitement and joy of Arizona Athletics, and deep engagement with K-12 school districts in STEM, literacy, and teacher education, we don’t just serve Arizona – we work in partnership with fellow Arizonans. Together, we use the assets and impacts of our research, education, and engagement mission to bring the world to our state and Arizona to the world.”
UA’s current Strategic Imperatives are focused on 1) Ensuring Success for Every Student, 2) Research that Shapes the Future, and 3) Engagement with our Communities to Create Opportunity.
UA’s current student body totals 54,384, undergraduate and graduate students. UA’s Hispanic population is currently 26%, while Tucson’s (UA’s surrounding city) Hispanic population is currently 43% and Arizona’s overall Hispanic population is 32%. It is also important to point out that 9 of every 10 UA students receive some form of federal student aid. 54% of undergraduates identify as first-generation college students, indicating that they will be the first in their family to earn a bachelor’s degree.
Overview of Program
CAP is a program of the Office of Early Academic Outreach (EAO) at UA. EAO’s mission is to increase the number of college-bound students who aspire to attend and are eligible to enroll in a university-degree program.
EAO has worked to develop a Theory of Change for the office's strategic efforts to increase college access to a four-year degree for students in the State of Arizona. In particular, five strategies for change are identified that can help students to aspire, plan, and eventually apply to college. These strategies include: 1) Inspiring Students 2) Engaging Parents 3) Partnering with K-12 4) Fostering Academic and Career Aspirations and 5) Developing College-Bound Peer Groups (for students & parents).
The program is entering its 22nd year of partnership with the Sunnyside Unified School District (SUSD). SUSD’s vision is to graduate each child… college, career and community ready.
EAO has partnered with SUSD since January 2004 to offer CAP as a comprehensive answer to the need for outreach to low-income and minority parents at the earliest stages of their children’s educational careers. CAP is designed to help these parents develop a plan to guide their children toward a university education.
The program consists of twelve two-hour workshops held in the evenings at a local middle school. Facilitated in English and Spanish separately, these workshops develop parents’ understanding of the benefits of a college education and the academic expectations for college preparation. CAP participants increase their knowledge of admission processes and financial aid options so that they can proceed toward their goals with confidence. In addition, UA faculty volunteers lead workshops on the academic subjects required for college admission (English, Math, Science, Social Studies, Second Language and Fine Arts). This unique aspect of the program provides parents with an opportunity to discuss real life applications of these academic subjects with professors, many of whom come from backgrounds similar to the participants’.
The K-12 children of CAP participants attend College Camp, a parallel program of age-appropriate educational activities led by current UA students. During these activities, students learn about college and develop their character, study skills and interest in the required academic subject areas. Certified district staff care for preschool children to facilitate parent attendance.
CAP also brings the families to The University of Arizona campus for two hands-on Academic Showcases. The first emphasizes language, arts and culture while the second focuses on math and science. The showcases familiarize families with the university campus and allow both parents and students to gain a further understanding of the relevance of the core academic subject areas.
The program culminates in a parent graduation ceremony on the UA campus. As of 2025, 1,723 parents representing 1,163 families and 3,326 SUSD students have graduated from the program. Over 90% of the parent graduates identify as members of an ethnic minority group, and a majority of the students who have participated in College Camp receive free or reduced lunch, and will be the first in their families to attend college.
How does this program center servingness?
CAP was developed with servingness in mind. Listening circles were facilitated with district families when the program was first developed noting family needs (such as childcare needed to attend workshops) and producing program components that went beyond the initial need, College Camp goes beyond childcare by incorporating age-appropriate college messaging similar to what is being received by the parents.
Parent workshops are delivered in English and Spanish, separately so that nothing is lost in translation.Throughout many of the years of CAP, we have found that over 60% of participating families have preferred to attend the workshops offered in the Spanish language.
Half of the program is facilitated by the staff of Early Academic Outreach and the College Camp Leader university students. The second half of the program invites UA faculty to facilitate the last six workshops that focus on the core academic subject areas required to be best prepared for admission: Math, English, Science, Second Language, Social Science, and Fine Arts. Two of our former College Camp Leaders are currently faculty within the Honors College (Dr. Nadia Alvarez Mejia) and the History Department (Dr. Carlos Parra). Faculty lead the parents through what it would be like to sit in university classrooms and share their own college journeys. On occasion, the invited faculty share that they are the first in their family to go to college and families eyes light up as they imagine the possibilities for their own children.
CAP not only takes the University out into the Tucson community, but families are also invited onto the UA campus for academic showcases. The goal is to have families understand that the university is an available resource for them and their family.
Servingness does not require university enrollment. CAP shows that servingness can start as early as Kindergarten.