Seattle Promise Outreach Specialist Aurelio Barajas guides a group of incoming Scholars at South Seattle College for Summer Bridge 2023. © Cameron Karsten Photography.

Seattle Promise is a college tuition and success program launched by Seattle Colleges, Seattle Public Schools, and the City of Seattle Department of Education and Early Learning (DEEL) following passage of the Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise (FEPP) Levy in 2018. The three core components of Seattle Promise– up to two years / 90 credits of free tuition, equity scholarships, and student advising– are changing lives for young people graduating from public high schools in Seattle.

Student advising starts as early as junior year, led by Promise outreach specialists who work closely with high schoolers to ensure they are prepared to apply for Promise by their senior year. One such outreach specialist is Aurelio Valdez Barajas. To say that Valdez Barajas is committed would be an understatement. With a service population that includes approximately 600 high school students across north Seattle at Roosevelt, Lincoln, and Nathan Hale High Schools, he is exemplary in his leadership and dedication to increasing college access and student success.

“Sharing these struggles and being in solidarity together encourages the work that I really do. It brings meaning and purpose, healing everything that was for myself growing up as well as [for] my family. I am making sure that the generations after me and the generations that I’m supporting as well don’t have the same barriers in education.”

Valdez-Barajas provides direct support to prospective students alongside a team of Promise retention, financial aid, and outreach specialists serving students city-wide. As a face of Seattle Colleges on high school campuses, he engages with students directly, encouraging them all the way through high school graduation, by facilitating financial aid workshops, providing individualized application assistance, and ensuring access to other resources that support scholars’ successful participation in Seattle Promise and matriculation to Seattle Colleges.

To learn more about Valdez Barajas and his journey serving prospective and incoming Seattle Promise scholars, especially first generation and low-income students, read the DEEL Annual Report highlighting the impact of the Seattle Promise program and other investments in the 2022-23 school year (see page 40 for this story).

Now is also the time to apply to the Seattle Promise! Applications are open through Friday, February 14.

Learn more and apply here: seattlecolleges.edu/promise