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The Gateway to College© Program at Montgomery College serves at-risk youth, 16 to 20 years old, who have stopped attending Montgomery County Public High Schools and for whom high school completion is at risk. The program gives students the opportunity to earn a high school diploma while transitioning to a college campus. Students may simultaneously accumulate high school and college credits, earning their high school diploma while progressing toward an associate degree or certificate.
 
Gateway to College students learn how to succeed in an educational setting, under the guidance of a caring team of instructors and student support specialists with experience and commitment to at-risk youth. In their first term, students learn in a cohort (cohorts are groups of students who take classes together). The cohort experience builds their academic and personal skills, preparing them for college courses with the general student population. In addition to reading, writing, and math, cohort students take a career development class to help focus their academic goals, and a college survival and success class, to learn how to take effective notes, study for tests, and juggle school, work, and family life.
 
The Gateway program is changing lives. Students who had little chance of graduating from high school are earning their diplomas and succeeding in college. They are pursuing four-year degrees and challenging careers. In short, they are reinventing themselves for their future.

The Gateway to College program was developed at Portland Community college, who selected Montgomery College as one of the first two community colleges nationwide to replicate the Gateway to College program. The program is funded by the Montgomery College/Montgomery County Public Schools partnership, by the College, and by the Montgomery County Council.