This paper aims at highlighting the importance of students' training in metacognitive learning strategies as a way to build their autonomy and responsibility. It concerns itself with providing a practical educational model for college preparatory year programs. The suggested prototype is informed by a small scale research that involved 44 students and 14 EFL teachers in a college in Saudi Arabia , the findings of which suggest that students who join the program need explicit training in the use of metacognitive language learning strategies. The model also draws on the experience of the author as a teacher and manager of the English language center where the study took place. The collected data confirms what has been reported in the related literature and suggest that explicit training in the use of metacognitive learning strategies would help new college students to develop both autonomy and responsibility.