The overwhelming majority of high school students that Kassandra Mendez works with at the (CSF) are first-generation, with many also being from migrant families or foster care or low-income households.
In her prior role as a college coach helping students from Yakima high schools transition to Central Washington University, she saw first-hand the experience that many had.
“A lot of students would arrive on the first day of school still needing to complete several steps,” Mendez said. “Their financial aid or housing wasn’t fully sorted out, and in some cases, they weren’t aware of documents they still needed to submit.”
So, she worked with students and the university to check off more of those common to-do items before classes started.
Now supporting students from Davis and Eisenhower high schools who are enrolling at Â鶹ĘÓƵ, Mendez and her CSF counterpart Elvia Valdovinos are partnering with the college’s staff to streamline the orientation process for new students.
“We really just wanted to create a system that helps guide students more effectively. Especially since many are navigating the college process on their own and sometimes without much support at home due to language barriers or other challenges,” Mendez said. “We want to step in as that support system and help students understand the next steps, so they don’t feel like they’re going through it alone.”
It’s one example of changes that were prompted by a recent survey of YVC students about their college experience and opportunities to better support their success.
ABOVE: Kassandra Mendez, left, supports a student during a New Student Orientation event in June 2025 for College Success Foundation students enrolling at YVC. TOP: YVC Criminal Justice Instructor Teanna Robbins helps advise a student during that same event.
Listening to students
Pedro Navarrete, interim vice president for student services and enrollment management, noted that the college has collected a wide range of data on student success for many years. The spring 2025 survey, conducted on the college’s behalf by Ruffalo Noel Levitz, helped deepen the college’s understanding of what students are experiencing at YVC.
“We want to be data-informed and that includes hearing the stories of our students and the challenges they face,” said Navarrete. “We can make changes that are meaningful and impactful to support our students towards whatever their definition of success is.”
Nearly 700 students participated in the survey, and in the year since the results came back the college is already taking steps in response to the feedback.
“What stood out the most was how many students didn’t know who their advisor was and the availability of our advisors,” said Senaida Lopez, assistant dean of student success initiatives.
In response, Lopez said the college is working to assign a specific advisor to each student as they start their education at YVC. The college also is expanding the hours that advisors are available to meet with students and participating in the national to implement advising best practices.
“Previously we were doing a lot of virtual advising,” Lopez said. “Something that really stood out from this survey was students want to come in for advising in person, and we needed to make that work.”
The survey also underscored the importance of helping students get a strong start at YVC.
The college has started scheduling its New Student Orientation events earlier than in the past. That gives students more opportunity to familiarize themselves with the resources that are available to them at YVC, address questions related to financial aid, make sure they can log into the YVC accounts, meet with advisors and more.
“When you look at the data, I think the biggest factor that can impact our retention and completion rates is how we are doing setting students up for success at the beginning of their journey,” Lopez said.
Student Life Manager Karla Rabadan gives a presentation during New Student Orientation for students starting at the college in Spring Quarter 2026.
Celebrating success
While the 2025 survey has helped the college identify opportunities to improve its services, Navarrette said he was pleased to see how many students felt positive about their experiences at YVC.
The college exceeded the overall national average of students saying they were satisfied or very satisfied with the school in which they were enrolled, with 72% of YVC students indicating their satisfaction compared to 70% across the nation. Moreover, 82% of YVC students said they would probably or definitely enroll again if they were to make that choice again, compared to 78% of students nationwide.
“I’m honored that our students believe that the tuition they paid was worth the investment,” Navarrette said. “As students are becoming more intentional and specific on where they go shopping for education and where they're going to invest their time and money, they're looking for a return on that investment. And so for students to identify that as one of our strengths, that highlights that they are getting a quality experience.”
In addition to the 2025 survey investigating the overall student experience, YVC also conducts more specific surveys about New Student Orientation, Advising Day and specific support services.
“Something that we’re launching this year is a frontline survey that is going to be available at all of our student services front-facing offices,” Navarrette said. “We hope to have students take a quick survey to tell us how we did and how we could potentially improve the experience. Listening to students’ voices is something we need to continually do.”
The changes are gratifying to Mendez, who had previously heard CSF students describe their orientation experience as overwhelming and confusing.
“Now with our new cohort of students, they still feel a little overwhelmed because it’s a lot of information,” she said, “but they feel more comfortable and confident accessing their resources and asking for further help.”
Mendez says earlier orientation combined with the ongoing supports that CSF provides is ultimately translating into higher retention rates for students.
“It’s been amazing,” she said. “In the past we saw more drop off around winter quarter, but now we’ve been seeing more students that are persisting through and going from fall to winter, and winter to spring, which is ultimately what we want.”
Story by Dustin Wunderlich, director of community relations. Photos and graphics by Brandon Mendoza (AA-DTA '19), graphic designer/multimedia content producer, and Stefanie Menard, AA-DTA ’05, communications consultant.