College Reach-out Program (CROP)

State of Florida

The College Reach-Out Program (CROP) is a statewide program created in 1983 by the Florida Legislature under Section 1007.34, Florida Statutes. The statute was designed to further the legislature’s intent of increasing the number of students successfully completing a postsecondary education. The primary objective of CROP is to recruit low-income, educationally disadvantaged students in grades 6-12 and concentrate efforts on motivating and preparing them to attend college and complete postsecondary education. Without intervention, these students would be unlikely to seek admission to a postsecondary institution. No other state administers a program that targets this particular population.

CROP repeatedly demonstrates a positive return on the state’s investment in the program. In accordance with the Florida Department of Education’s mission, provision of quality services results in high student achievement. The philosophy of the CROP initiative involves providing a mixture of academic and psychosocial support in order to generate greater levels of completion and transition participants ( i.e., in comparison to non-participants taken from a random sample).

Polk State College

Polk State College, College Reach-Out Program meets September through June on the second Saturday of each month from 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.at the Lakeland Campus.