ABSTRACT
College access is a vital part of college and career readiness. With a focus on early intervention services and strategies, college access is an educational movement that assists students, particularly low-income and underrepresented students, in their endeavor to enroll, persist, and graduate from postsecondary institutions through strategic programming interventions that take place in middle and high school. While the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) program aims for students to enroll and succeed in college, the primary goal is to serve them in middle and high school to get them prepared to enter and succeed in college. The core of GEAR UP is the required and permissible service interventions provided to students and families. College advising is a widely used intervention tool for preparing GEAR UP students. Postsecondary enrollment, persistence, and graduation are the intended outcome of GEAR UP nationally.
