STEVE MALONE/NEWS-PRESS UCSB student Adrienne Arguijo, center, tells students she tutors at Goleta Valley Junior High that continuing their education is indeed a reality.

In eighth grade, Adrienne Arguijo wasn't thinking about where she'd go to college, or how she'd pay for it, but the students she tutors at Goleta Valley Junior High are different.

"A lot of them express concern for how they're going to finance their education, and worry because they don't know if they can afford (college)," the UCSB student said. Ms. Arguijo, a first generation college student, tells them that continuing their education can become a reality.

By working two jobs, obtaining scholarships and grants, and with help from her parents, Ms. Arguijo, 20, made it through the first two years of college without having to borrow money. This year, the junior English major took out her first student loan, but sees the note as an investment in her future.

She tries to tell the students she works with that they can finance college, too. It's a message she might share with anyone, but as part of the Cal-SOAP (Student Opportunity and Achievement Program) tutoring program, which tries to get at-risk students on the college track early, it's her job.

"I let them know that it can be a struggle at times, but try to stay motivated, and there are so many options out there to get you to college," she said. Four days a week, at Goleta Valley Junior High, she works as a classroom tutor for English-as-a-second language students, and also helps out with an after-school homework program.

There are 53 tutors and mentors like her working at elementary, junior high, high schools and Boys and Girls Clubs all over the South Coast. They encourage college attendance among minority groups traditionally underrepresented in higher education.

The tutors not only spread the message of college's benefits, they finance their own education through the work as well.

Santa Barbara's Cal-SOAP is required to spend about $300,000 on employment opportunities for financial aid students. The tutors make $11 an hour.

"We can help college students on work study by giving them work -- meaningful work -- and in the same way we're helping younger students," said director Sue Gleason.

The junior high students at Goleta Valley quickly befriended Ms. Arguijo.

"A lot of them are really glad to have another person there, more of a peer, that they can relate to," she said. As a native Spanish speaker, she helps the ESL students with translation and answers questions about college, telling them yes, you really do get to pick your own classes.

"They see me as a friend and a teacher, somebody there to help them," Ms. Arguijo said. And the tutoring's ultimate goal is to get younger kids familiar with college applications and financial aid.

College-age tutors are trained to talk to their charges about their career interests and encourage them to think about the path they'll need to take to achieve their goals, first in high school, and then college.

Sometimes that can be a difficult task, according to tutor Alice Fisher.

"I don't know what it is, but when I've talked to them about college, a lot of them are like: 'I wish it was for me,' " Ms. Fisher said of the predominantly Latino students she works with at another local junior high school.

So the senior law and society major focuses on connecting with the seventh graders on an individual level, showing them how their natural interests and skills could further their futures. One young girl was interested in Spanish dance, so Ms. Fisher told her that love of flamenco could be used for credit on a UC application under the performing arts requirement.

The suggestion worked.

"She said: 'I want to go to college now, I want to use my dancing,' " Ms. Fisher recalled.

Though Ms. Arguijo didn't have similar resources to help her when she was a junior high school student, she thinks it's best for students to learn as early as possible what is needed to apply, get into and pay for school.

"I didn't even think about it or worry about it until I got to high school," she said. "I think it's great they have these programs now, to reach these kids as soon as they possibly can and try to get them motivated."

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