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# What 18- to 24-year-olds are walking into when they help students return to school
- URL: https://www.readfoxtalk.com/what-18-to-24-year-olds-are-walking-into-when-they-help-students-return-to-school/
- Published: 2026-09-21T23:24:39.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-21T23:27:21.000Z
- Description: Manuel Aragon of Colorado Youth for a Change explains what young AmeriCorps members encounter while helping students return to high school, from missing credits and long commutes to jobs and family financial pressure.
- Author: Andy Green
- Tags: Student Life

Some of the students Colorado Youth for a Change works with are 17 and think they should be in 12th grade. They can still be years of required classes away from graduating.

Manuel Aragon, senior director of programs at Colorado Youth for a Change, said the organization has seen students who have earned plenty of credits, but not the right ones to graduate. In a couple of cases, students had so many elective credits that they still needed about three years of required classes.

That is one of the problems young adults can run into through Corps for a Change, CYC’s AmeriCorps program for 18- to 24-year-olds.

Members can be recent high school graduates or college students. Aragon said CYC is especially interested in people considering mental health work, though they do not need to already be studying social work or a related field.

The program includes behavioral health training at the Community College of Aurora. Members can work toward a credential while serving.

Their service work is with students trying to return to high school and stay there.

Aragon said some of the students CYC serves spend an hour to an hour and a half getting to school. Some take two buses.

Some students have moved because their families are struggling financially. Others are working to help pay the bills. CYC may help them find a school closer to home or connect their family with rent assistance, health care or groceries..

“A number of students struggle with school, not necessarily because of school itself, but because of outside factors,” Aragon said.

Those problems do not disappear once a student reenrolls.

CYC follows students after they return to school, with support often lasting about a year to 18 months. Aragon said attendance is one of the first things his organization watches.

A student who stops showing up may also be falling behind in class or losing their connection to school. Sometimes, Aragon said, students start doing well and pull away from regular check-ins, only to struggle again later.

Returning can be awkward for other reasons, too.

Aragon said some students feel embarrassed by having been labeled as a dropout. Others have moved and are starting over at a school where they do not know many people.

For older students, the math around graduation can get especially hard.

Some students CYC works with are only a semester or a semester and a half short of finishing. Others have a much larger gap between their age and the classes they still need.

By 18, a student who is several years behind can already be running short on time — especially if they are also working or helping support their family.

Older students are also more likely to have jobs or be helping support their families, Aragon said. Some newer programs have started offering afternoon or evening options for students who cannot simply clear their daytime schedules.

For some students, the difficulty starts even earlier: CYC has trouble reaching them at all.

Aragon said the organization may try to contact someone four times over roughly a month to a month and a half, using available phone numbers and sometimes making a home visit.

Sometimes CYC finds that the student is already enrolled in another district and the school records have not caught up. Sometimes the organization reaches the student and learns that going back to school is not possible yet.

And sometimes the same student comes back onto CYC’s caseload later.

Aragon said CYC has worked with students who show up two or three times before they are ready to use the support and stay in school.

“I think in society we’re looking often for immediate solutions,” Aragon said. “Sometimes students need a year, two years to figure out what the solution is for them in this situation.”