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Jayme Jones, despite having few educational role models, dreamed of college from a young age.

Jones, 22, who has just received a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from California State University, Chico, credits a program called College Track with helping her become the first in her family to get that valuable college degree.

"I knew I wanted to go, but if it weren't for College Track, I don't know how I could have done it," the Oakland, Calif., resident says.

Helping the whole student

College Track takes a holistic approach to helping its participants, who come from poor or working-class families, achieve their higher education goals. The college prep program recruits students just before they enter high school and provides support--financial, educational and emotional--throughout their high school and university years. In exchange, participants must contribute 50 hours of community service a year during high school.

The Oakland-based program, which has 1,100 high school and college students enrolled in sites including Oakland, San Francisco, New Orleans, and Aurora, Colo., boasts its own honor roll, according to CEO David Silver.

All of the program's high school seniors have graduated since its first class 10 years ago, and over 90 percent have gained acceptance to four-year universities. Six in 10--or three times the number for students in similar backgrounds--have gone on to earn degrees within six years of enrolling.

"We focus on outcomes and results, and make sure we do whatever it takes to help them graduate from high school, and go to college and graduate," Silver says.

In Jones' case, the assistance included offering academic support through tutoring and helping with filling out applications--participants are required to apply to eight colleges and for 10 scholarships--and nurturing her in less quantifiable ways.

College Track, for example, makes the university experience real by taking students on tours of various campuses, and also follows up to ensure they are doing their homework and meeting other deadlines.

"No one else was really checking besides them," says Jones, who grew up in a household headed by her mom.

In playing this quasi-parental role, College Track is trying to help students overcome a variety of challenges, including coming from schools with fewer resources than those in affluent areas, lacking access to good healthcare, not being able to attend enrichment programs or summer camp, and not growing up in a home where a parent has gone to college.

"We're trying to fill in some of those gaps," Silver says. "If you have a college degree, your child is three times as likely to have a college degree. Our students--just by that fact--are three times less likely to have a degree, because 80 percent of their parents don't have one."

Once Jones got to Chico State, she kept in touch with College Track, which monitored her transcripts. But other than receiving funds for buying books and a computer, she mostly stood on her own. Still, College Track had taught her the important lesson of knowing when to ask for help.

"I gained skills I didn't know I had," Jones says. "From tutoring [in high school], I gained the discipline I needed to get through college. I didn't need anyone to hold my hand.

"There's people holding you accountable, but in college you have to learn to hold yourself accountable," she adds.

The program is aiming to have a lot more Jayme Jones success stories to tell. Plans call for doubling the number of participants by 2016, and tripling the number of college graduates to 300.

College Track gets help from Justin Bieber

College Track has found a new friend to help it reach those goals in teen singing sensation Justin Bieber, who in June headlined a special benefit concert. The performance, which was held at a winery, attracted some 2,400 attendees, and brought in at least $900,000, according to Julienne Oyler, director of development and communications.

College Track also holds a regular gala, with this year's event offering a sneak preview of the film "Cars 2." Pixar, the co-producer of the movie, is one of College Track's corporate backers that recognizes the community value in making college accessible, Silver says.

"On one level, they recognize the reality that kids in low-income neighborhoods don't have access to the same opportunities as kids in upper class neighborhoods," Silver says. "In terms of moral implications, that's huge. In addition, if we're going to have a workforce that is diverse and productive, you need more people to have a college education."

Having been involved in College Track for eight years, Jones is spending the summer helping a new batch of high school graduates get ready for their college move, before starting her next chapter: graduate school at Bowling Green State University.

College Track turned out to be such an important part of Jones' life that she is going to pursue a master's in college student personnel.

"I realized the role College Track played in my college career overall. Now I see this as something I would love to do."

For related news and other information from Schools.com, see:

• Justin Bieber plans concert to benefit College Track
• Justin Bieber joins with Pencils of Promise to raise money for schools
• Upward Bound supports first-generation, college-bound high schoolers
• NACE ranks most in-demand majors and lucrative degrees 2011