UIC teams with CPS, CCC for college pathway program

Chicago Public Schools, City Colleges of Chicago and the University of Illinois Chicago are expanding the nationally recognized higher education partnership with the launch of “Chicago Roadmap 2.0.”  

This next phase is designed to ensure students have a seamless transition from high school to community college to four-year institutions — retaining earned credits, reducing barriers to transfer and keeping them on track for bachelor’s degree completion.  

Partnership leaders announced the new program this week during an event held at Student Center West. 

“Chicago Roadmap 2.0 is a game-changer for our students, ensuring that the credits they earn in high school and City Colleges transfer seamlessly and count fully toward a bachelor’s degree,” said CPS Chief Executive Officer Pedro Martinez. “By strengthening this pipeline, we are making higher education more accessible, affordable and attainable.”  

Initiated through an unprecedented partnership between CPS and CCC in 2020, the Chicago Roadmap supports students along a path to and through college on the way to their chosen careers. The partnership ensures aligned academic standards, curriculum and postsecondary preparation to improve student success. So far, the partnership has yielded some extraordinary outcomes:  

• Increased Early College enrollment for CPS students by 62%, adding nearly 4,000 more students who reflect the demographics of CPS — emphasizing the district’s commitment to eliminating opportunity gaps.  
• Expanded access in 20 CPS schools to more in-demand hands-on career pathways in fields like tech, health care, manufacturing and construction. 
• Expanded access to future career exploration for more than 3,000 middle and high school students annually, through Spotlight Days. 
• Significantly increased career guidance by increasing postsecondary navigators from seven in 16 schools to 18 in 91 schools.  

Building on Roadmap success: Strengthening pathways with UIC  

Building on this foundational success, Chicago Roadmap 2.0 will introduce structured pathways to four-year degrees at UIC, starting with key fields such as education, health care, business and computer science.  

UIC has played a pivotal role in the collaboration that underlies this initiative, designing strategies to eliminate barriers to credit transfer and to ensure that students stay on track for degree completion. With coordinated proactive advising, personalized degree planning and targeted student support services, through Roadmap 2.0, UIC, City Colleges and CPS will revolutionize how students and families understand degree requirements, empowering them with robust student support networks.  

Liam John Smith, a senior English major and Honors College member at UIC, offered a student perspective during the launch event. While attending Wilbur Wright College, he was part of the Chicago Roadmap’s first phase and attended UIC-hosted events before transferring, which he said made the university “feel like family.” 

“It’s been a really good process. It’s really transformative and can help any student from high school to CCC, then UIC,” Smith said. 

The latest agreement joins other transfer pathway programs at UIC, such as the Transfer Admission Guarantee program, which allows students with an overall GPA of 3.0 who are currently enrolled at any of the seven City Colleges of Chicago a guaranteed spot in a baccalaureate degree program at UIC. 

A model for the future of higher education and AI-powered degree planning  

Roadmap 2.0 represents a commitment to student success by establishing a clear model and structured pathways to a bachelor’s degree. The expanded partnership ensures that credits earned through Early College and advanced coursework — including Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) — directly align to a bachelor’s degree so students do not lose credits when they transfer.  

Key components of the expanded initiative include:  

• Guaranteed transfer admission programs  
• Development of effective transfer pathways with zero credit loss  
• Coordinated academic advising and student support across CPS, CCC and UIC 
• Strengthened resources for transfer students to ensure persistence and graduation 
• Personalized degree planning through an interactive AI-powered portal  

“UIC is deeply committed to expanding access to higher education and ensuring all students benefit from abundant opportunities,” UIC Chancellor Marie Lynn Miranda said. “Through Roadmap 2.0, we are creating more effective transfer pathways and collaborating in the development of an AI-powered portal to ensure every CPS student has a clear, personalized roadmap to their bachelor’s degree.”  

The degree planning tool features an interactive portal to help students and their families navigate college and career pathways with dynamic term-by-term degree plans. The AI-powered tool will initially incorporate course credits from CPS, CCC and UIC, before expanding to include other two-year and four-year partners. The portal is currently being developed and expected to launch in fall 2026.  

“The launch of 2.0 will strengthen student persistence and completion rates by offering early college coursework, advising, and academic alignment across institutions,” said Chancellor Juan Salgado, City Colleges of Chicago. “The AI tool removes the uncertainty and clearly shows students the path from point A to point B, saving our students both time and money.”  

The Chicago Roadmap partnership is made possible thanks in part to generous philanthropic contributions from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bluhm Family Charitable Foundation, CME Group Foundation, Crown Family Philanthropies, JPMorgan Chase Foundation, Joyce Foundation, Bolhous Foundation, Lefkofsky Family Foundation, Salesforce Foundation, Vivo Foundation and anonymous donors. 

“The Chicago Roadmap stands as a national exemplar of how partnerships between K-12 schools and community colleges accelerate postsecondary degree attainment and enhance economic mobility,” said Mara Botman, executive director at Vivo Foundation. “Building on this remarkable success, Vivo Foundation is honored to serve as a seed funder for Chicago Roadmap 2.0. This groundbreaking initiative employs an innovative, tech-enabled approach to create seamless pathways from CPS through City Colleges to four-year institutions, offering thoughtful pathways that enable students to reach their goals.”