Students try to learn what it takes for college

On Saturdays, Chris Lopez makes about $100 selling tickets at a Glendale nightclub. It’s good money for a 17-year-old, but after he graduates from Lincoln High School, Lopez wants to go to college and study law or criminal justice.

There’s one problem, though: He won’t have time to finish the classes he needs to apply. Months before graduation, Lopez learned that he hasn’t taken enough of the academic classes necessary to be admitted to a four-year state university.

“I never knew until this year,” he said. “I though it was just pass high school and move on to college with a good GPA.”

He’s not alone. According to United Students, a student-led club affiliated with the Eastside’s grass-roots InnerCity Struggle, 58% of 1,543 students surveyed at Lincoln said no teacher, counselor or administrator had ever explained the academic requirements. The Los Angeles Unified School District adopted more rigorous college prep requirements in June 2005 to more closely align with university admissions.

The survey also found that 90% of students want to attend a four-year institution.

“One of the myths that’s often told about low-income students is that they don’t have goals, they don’t have dreams,” said Maria Brenes, executive director of InnerCity Struggle. “This survey shows us that they do have very high expectations for themselves.”

On Friday, the organization ended its first “Educational Justice Week” with a college fair at Lincoln. Representatives of about a dozen schools attended. Students also signed up for appointments in coming weeks with school counselors.

Hector Flores, a site organizer for United Students at Lincoln, said there’s an appetite for change at the school. Since September, about 80 students have been attending weekly lunchtime meetings to discuss problems at the campus as well as broader social issues, he said.

“We’re not just looking at individual problems,” Flores said. “We’re looking at a campus culture that addresses educational needs as well as student needs.”

Angeles C. De La Rosa, Lincoln’s assistant principal for secondary counseling services, who wore a United Students button, said that although the school is trying to make students more aware of the classes they need for college, many sign up for courses they can take with their friends rather than those that best prepare them for higher education.

“Kids are kids,” De La Rosa said, “and we want to think of them as young adults. But when they move from middle school to high school, that’s a big jump.”

De La Rosa said that administrators give parents a slide show presentation including information about the college requirements and that a form describing the curriculum is made available to students in school offices and during meetings.

But with just six counselors serving about 2,700 to 3,000 students, time is limited for substantive discussions about college plans. The ratio is similar at many of the school district’s large high schools.

Although De La Rosa said she often meets with students about their long-term academic goals, the United Students survey shows that 65% of discussions between students and counselors involved class schedule fixes, rather than college or personal issues.

“That’s insane,” said Joe Won, an alumnus and admissions interviewer for Georgetown University, which he represented at Friday’s fair. “You’re not going to get quality, one-on-one discussion if a counselor has to meet 500 students.”

Won, who attended a private high school in North Hollywood before Georgetown, said students at Lincoln weren’t getting enough exposure to colleges.

One of the most common questions he heard during the college fair was, “Where is Georgetown?” When they found out, he said, many students thought Washington, D.C., was too far away.

Organizers with InnerCity Struggle hope that events like the one Friday can help students make more ambitious plans.

Edith Ruedas, a history teacher and faculty sponsor of the United Students club at Lincoln, said that since InnerCity Struggle became active on campus, there’s been a shift in many students’ thinking about higher education.

“I feel like the kids are actually believing they can do something,” she said.

adrian.uribarri@latimes.com