Sunset High School. Photography by Danny Fulgencio.
A partnership between the University of North Texas at Dallas and Sunset High School will award the entire senior class with automatic admission into the university.
Sunset High School Principal Jesus Martinez was joined by UNT Dallas Administrators during a senior class meeting Thursday night to announce the new program, “Trailblazer Express,” to parents.
Prior to March 1, all seniors will receive an email and physical letter announcing their acceptance into the University, said Jose da Silva, Interim Vice President of UNT Dallas.
“I’m a first generation college student and I still remember way back when my friends were going to college and I didn’t know where to start. Just the fear of being rejected was enough to keep me from applying,” da Silva said. “I know my story is not unique… we want to eliminate that fear as a barrier.”
Martinez said the automatic admission will remove other barriers for students and parents too, including those involving the application process.
Sunset High School parents and students gathered around UNT Dallas informational booths after Thursday’s meeting. In the meeting, UNT Dallas announced they will automatically accept all Sunset students who graduate in 2023. Photo by Emma Ruby.
“A lot of what our students face is they don’t know where to start; the application process, application fees, parents don’t know what to do,” Martinez said.
While students may have to work through summer classes or remedial course work before getting true freshman status, Martinez said he hopes to see as many as 80 students take advantage of the program out of the 500 seniors graduating.
He describes the partnership as being perfect for students who “didn’t have a plan,” or did not think of themselves as the typical four-year college applicant.
“I think historically what we have is students that think, ‘Well, I didn’t do too well in high school so a four year college education isn’t my first choice.’ So now I think we’re kind of changing that narrative,” Martinez said.
Da Silva said UNT Dallas is sending out acceptance letters by March 1 in hopes of catching students who may wait until the last minute to think about things like financial aid.
UNT Dallas has historically ranked as one of the top universities nationally for lowest student debt held by graduates, da Silva said.
Students who choose to take advantage of the program will be assessed for all the financial aid and merit based scholarships any other applicant may receive, Martinez said.
In the senior meeting, Sunset administrators said the high school’s goal is to see 100% of the senior class apply for federal and state financial aid that can be applied to college.
“UNT Dallas offers on campus housing now. So we’re really giving them the full experience,” Martinez said. “One thing we can always say is, ‘Well, students have always had access to community colleges.’ But the change now is they’re getting this opportunity to get a bachelor’s degree without a lot of the gatekeeping that historically we’ve had.”
