Backstory: Cracking the college code

Many students don't have computers at home, so they use the school's computer lab to research colleges, financial aid packages, scholarships, and other requirements. Ms. Feria does her own sleuthing, visiting hundreds of websites, creating weekly lists of scholarships appropriate for the students, and connecting them with other resources. "Just being able to have these students tell me that I'm making a difference in their lives has made me realize that I'm in the right place," Feria says.

Along with administrative and emotional support, Feria matches students with volunteer coaches. "These kids are smart, motivated, and fundamentally decent," says Greg Abbott, who mentored Anwar. "But they don't have the family or school resources to give them the support they need to select schools, know how to apply to college, and figure out the financial aid maze."

Mr. Abbott, a biotechnology lawyer, mastered the application process while shepherding his own children toward college. He singles out the Free Application For Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form as "awful – it makes the IRS look like child's play." Indeed, FAFSA is a Rubik's Cube for most students. But for immigrants and some parents, it can seem incomprehensible and insulting. When parents are absent or deceased, Abbott says, it gets worse: "It's a system not built for these kinds of family situations."

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The Garfield program has helped students with more than paper shuffling. True, Andenet Berta needed help navigating the admissions process, and, without that help, he says, he would have missed deadlines and "turned in a lot of sloppy work." But the rigor also helped his grades. "My grade point, with CAN, has gone up – and it's going to continue going up," he says. "I'm not going to stop. I applied to eight schools and was accepted to five." Andenet will attend Eastern Washington University in Cheney this fall.

Andenet's mother, Enat Berta, emigrated from Ethiopia in 1988 with a 10th-grade education, working in home healthcare before illness forced her to quit. In halting English, she says she's grateful for the program and hopes it'll help Andenet's sister, a sophomore, as well. "People – I tell them about this program," Ms. Berta says. "They helped my son get into college."

Aron Shimeles, whose parents completed high school in Ethiopia, was accepted to Occidental College in Los Angeles. He says the initiative helped him get a $10,000 scholarship and increase his financial aid package by $9,000. "My parents, as much as they wanted me to go to college, weren't really able to help me with the whole process."

Next year, the school plans to double the participants to 30 juniors and 30 seniors, adding another AmeriCorps staffer. Outgoing PTSA president Amy Hagopian figures that will cost about $12,000 – just $200 per student – and hopes other schools will recognize its value.

CAN is "simple. It's elegant. It works," she says. "And if people find out about it, they could easily replicate the idea in other schools."

As for Anwar, he chose the University of Washington as soon as they accepted him. "My priority is just to go to college, be educated," he says. "That's my main goal. CAN showed me how the system works, and helped me get in."

He's come a long way, and it's not over yet: He hopes to go to medical school. But now, instead of seeing obstacles, he sees opportunities, and instead of thinking "I can't," he knows he can.

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