College Now History

College Now is a nationally recognized, no-cost high school-to-college partnership between Kingsborough Community College, a branch of the City University of New York (CUNY), and 39 New York City public high schools encompassing almost 7,000 students annually. Its primary purpose is to prepare students, especially middle-range or moderate achievers, to successfully manage the educational and emotional changes that occur during their transformation into a college freshmen. The program offers rigorous freshman-level college credit and developmental coursework without cost to high school sophomores, juniors and seniors.

At the time it was conceived in the fall of 1983, high schools and colleges rarely collaborated. The program became operational in spring 1984 when it recruited its first class of 449 students at four local high schools. It was immediately successful and the program expanded over the next five years to 17 high schools.