Monday was the first day of fall semester classes at Valencia College.
Of the thousands of students who began their post-high school academic climb that day, 2,278 of them were part of the Osceola Prosper project. That began in 2022 to provide high school graduates from the Osceola County the chance to attend Valencia, or Osceola Technical College, without having to pay for tuition.
The program is now in its second year, after 2,485 students in the Class of 2022 took advantage of it last year, a figure that represented 55 percent of county graduates.
“Prior to that, we were just looking to get to 40 percent, across all colleges,” said Valencia College President Kathleen Plinske, who has championed for post-secondary attendance since she was the campus president at the Osceola and Poinciana campuses. She made a presentation to the Osceola County Commission at its Monday meeting to share statistics that show the program’s local impact.
The Commission put Osceola Prosper into place last year, using $12 million in federal American Rescue Plan relief funds from the COVID-19 pandemic recovery. Plinske said about 1,500 Osceola students annually enroll in Valencia’s Kissimmee or Poinciana campuses in normal times, which shows the increase. Also showing the increase: prior to the pandemic, 30 percent of county graduates went on to college or a post-secondary trade program prior to the pandemic. In 2022, that figure bumped to 48 percent. In contrast, the Orange County figure remained around 27 percent.
“And we’ve been chasing that number in Orange County for years,” Plinske said. “Some of our high schools doubled the college-going rate last year due to Osceola Prosper. It wouldn’t surprise me that, when state-wide figures come out, that Osceola is among the top three counties (in percentage of those attending college).”
She also noted that the demographics of those enrolling in Osceola Prosper match those of the county; 69 percent of those in the program are Hispanic or Latino.
And, there was one more very positive stat: of those who signed up last year, 133 have already completed their Associate of Arts degree, and 108 others have O-Tech program certificates.
Plinske helped form the county’s “Got College?” initiative a decade ago to increase the county’s college-going percentage of graduating seniors, then the lowest in Central Florida. That work paid dividends, but COVID-19 erased nearly all those years of gains.
When it was announced, Osceola Prosper only covered the Class of 2022. In December, the county announced an $8 million investment to extend to this past spring’s 2023 graduates.
Commissioners Monday noted how increasing education opportunities after high school “moves the needle” for economic development and preparing those who live here for opportunities that come here, such as in the NeoCity microchip research and manufacturing campus.
“I can’t talk enough about the O-Tech opportunities,” said Ricky Booth, who came to the Commission from the School Board, and comes from a line of family teachers. “This is helping kids get their trade certificates, which helps them find a career, and doing it while staying home.”
