Con Mi Madre
Faith@Works Christian Church
Wexford-Missaukee College Access Network

Welcome to our New Members!

To read more about them, please see below:

Con Mi Madre
Con Mi Madre has been committed to expanding the horizons of Hispanic girls and their families to include higher education and supporting the pursuit of that dream.  Con Mi Madre is unique in that it focuses on strengthening the mother-daughter bond and providing support and educational opportunities for mothers as well as daughters. Services specifically work to keep girls in school and graduate high school, support their ability to earn and maintain high grade point averages and help them plan for and apply for college.

 
Faith@Works Christian Church
Faith @ Work Christian Church is a progressive and social response, through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, ministry.  Our Educational Excellence Ministry includes a Summer S.T.E.M. Academy for 7-12 year olds and will expand to include high school entrance exam preparatory courses, college entrance exam preparatory courses and scholarship search and application development workshops.

Wexford-Missaukee College Access Network
The Wexford-Missaukee College Access Network (WMCAN) is a community-based college access coordinating bodies supported by a team of community and education leaders representing K-12, higher education, nonprofit sector, government, business, and philanthropy.  These intermediary organizations are committed to building a college-going culture and dramatically increasing the college going/completion rates within our community.

NCAN and the Pathways to College Network are excited to announce the final brief in their Research to Practice series: “Supporting Men of Color Along the Educational Pipeline.” This brief highlights research on serving four groups of males: African American, Asian American/Pacific Islander, Latino, and Native American. Along with research on each group, four NCAN members share their experience and recommendations. The Mitchell Kapor Foundation: College Bound Brotherhood is featured for their work with African American males. College Horizons Executive Director discusses working with Native American males. Excelencia in Education describes best practices for working with Latino males, and the Asian American Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund is showcased for work with their respective population.

How much should a student borrow to finance a degree? Given a likely career path, what loan repayment amount will be affordable? For students and families navigating the world of higher education and its costs, financial decisions naturally raise these kinds of questions and concerns.

While college graduates typically earn more than high school graduates, not all college graduates earn the same. However, students usually want to pursue their “dream” no matter the consequences of future income or loan repayment, and find it difficult to imagine how one influences the other. For counselors and other student-services professionals, it may be easier to show, rather than explain, how a student’s college major may affect his or her ability to repay student loans.

In December 2012, TG launched Major Choices, an online debt-to-income calculator that students can use to get an estimate of potential median debt-to-income ratios for certain majors at many public college and proprietary institutions within Texas. The calculator was created as a companion tool to the TG publication Balancing Passion and Practicality: The Role of Debt and Major on Students' Financial Outcomes.

As a guidance tool, the online calculator allows students the opportunity to compare different majors at the same institution, or compare the same major at different schools. With more than 400 majors listed, students can see how their decisions in college affect their ability to repay student loans based on potential income in that career field.

"When students choose their college major, it usually corresponds to a career they have their heart set on," explained Jeff Webster, Assistant Vice President of Research and Analytical Services at TG. "We want to spotlight the importance of teaching how federal student loans may take a significant bite out of potential future earnings, and educate students on how to balance that occupational choice with wise borrowing behavior.”

The report and online calculator help to provide important context for students and families facing decisions on financing a postsecondary education. The report analyzes data collected from the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), along with case studies at three Texas colleges and three non-Texas colleges, and provides an in-depth look at debt-to-income ratios for the most popular majors in the U.S. and Texas.

“The calculator illustrates the research data in practical terms for students. It’s a real eye-opener when an individual can see that with a degree in Humanities, there may be challenges in their career field and earnings compared to one in Health or Medical,” Webster added.

It's a good idea for students to think about how they will repay their debts, given their likely salaries. Armed with this knowledge, students can make financial and academic decisions that allow them to pursue their passions without ignoring realistic concerns.

For more information on the Major Choices debt-to-income calculator or Balancing Passion and Practicality paper, contact TG’s Jeff Webster at (800) 252-9743, ext. 4504, or send an email message to jeff.webster@tgslc.org.

College success programs seeking to provide financial literacy training or information to students and parents are faced with an abundance of choices. How can they know which resources to trust?

One way is to check out the certification of those who prepare or run the materials or programs. There are a few national organizations that certify those who provide financial education, including the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education (AFCPE).

AFCPE is a non-profit, international, professional membership organization dedicated to improving personal financial management education, training, and certification of financial counselors, educators, and other related practitioners. The organization offers the Accredited Financial Counselor (AFC) credential.  Individuals can become certified through a self-study program or through an approved university program. They must participate in continuing education and pay annual fees to maintain a certificate. AFCPE also runs an annual conference.

To obtain the AFC, individuals must pass two exams with scores of no less than 70 percent, verify 1,000 hours of financial counseling experience, and provide three letters of reference. AFCPE certificants work all over the world as researchers or educators in schools, university extension programs, private practice, financial planning firms, law firms, credit and debt repayment agencies, banks and credit unions, military financial counselors, government agencies and many other organizations committed to improving the financial capability of individuals and families.

To find an AFC-certified professional in your area, visit the AFCPE database.

• In San Antonio, NCAN is honored to be able to host our meeting at San Antonio’s Café College resource center, a facility designed to assist students in pursuing higher education goals.

• In Berkeley, NCAN is honored to have Alexandra Bernadotte, CEO & Founder, Beyond 12 to deliver the Keynote Address.

• In Indianapolis, NCAN is honored to have Dewayne Matthews, Vice President for Policy and Strategy of the Lumina Foundation to deliver the Keynote Address.

• In Baltimore, NCAN is honored to have Ricardo Torres, President & CEO, National Student Clearinghouse College to deliver the Keynote Address.

College Greenlight is a free, online resource designed to help first-generation and underrepresented students search for colleges, organize the application process, and apply for scholarships.

Students start by creating a profile that includes their demographic, academic, and extracurricular information as well as identifying the kind of college experience that interests them (close to home, residential campus, etc.). The profile also asks students about the education levels of their parents, the importance of financial aid to them, and the option to include family income, presented in broad increments of $20,000 to $30,000. Students indicate an initial set of colleges that interest them and can learn more about 3,000-plus nonprofit institutions through quick facts, in-depth profiles, and student reviews. The site does not include for-profit colleges. College Greenlight also includes average aid amounts for each school as well as estimated net price based on a range of family incomes.

Some of the site’s most popular features are “chance of admissions” scattergrams based on a student’s profile as well as a customized “best fit” list of schools. Students can also read about campus and off-campus life and get information about campus diversity. College Greenlight also maintains a large database of national, local, and university scholarships, and students can receive alerts notifying them of matching scholarships.

College advisors at community-based organizations and high schools can create free accounts to track their students’ progress on College Greenlight, review their college lists, and generate reports. Several NCAN members have done so, and two members describe their experience below.

“Let’s Get Ready started using College Greenlight this past semester and thinks it’s an amazing tool,” LGR’s senior program manager Sneha Subramanian said. “After talking with some students, they have nothing but good things to say about it. Some students have told me that ‘it's the best thing ever’ and that they have applied to so many scholarships through it. The interface and signing-up process is super easy, and I would definitely recommend it.”

Erica Gordon, program director at College Forward, said “College Forward students registered en masse on the site, and now use it as the primary resource for college research and scholarship applications.  The interface offers a quick view of a school’s profile, but also estimates the fit for each particular student based on their profile. Our coaches regularly discuss ‘good fit’ schools with the students, so having College Greenlight reinforce our coaching is invaluable.”  

She continued, “Our current seniors love having one trusted website that lists all scholarships – local, state, and national – and gives prior notice of the big details (dollar amount and workload).   The coaches also appreciate the convenience of having a ‘one-stop shop’ for our entire high school program. Because we encourage our students to apply to local area scholarships, the team at College Greenlight has worked to upload any scholarships we send them.  College Greenlight even offers documentation of our students’ scholarship applications, which is vital for our recording purposes.  Previously, College Forward attempted to maintain its own scholarship lists – a massive undertaking.  College Greenlight has saved us a great deal of time and worry this year.”

Two NCAN members participated in a Feb. 8 briefing at the U.S. Capitol on “Fostering College and Career Readiness through Afterschool and Expanded Learning Opportunities,” hosted by the American Youth Policy Forum. The briefing illustrated how college access programs and out-of-school-time programs, which have traditionally thought of themselves as quite different, can integrate their efforts to increase college access and success.  The Starfish Initiative, in Indianapolis, Indiana, provides four years of support to promising low-income students through programming that includes dedicated mentors, college campus visits and college and career readiness assessments. Eighty-two percent of Starfish program participants have graduated from college or are still enrolled.  The Indiana Statewide Afterschool Network, in collaboration with the Indiana Department of Education and the Indiana Commission on Higher Education, has made college and career readiness an explicit aim in its statewide efforts through the development of college and career readiness afterschool standards and other tools to help afterschool programs across the state. After School Matters, in Chicago, Illinois, provides project-based apprenticeship opportunities for public high school students through a network of public-private partnerships that enable students to gain valuable career exposure and skill development. For more information about afterschool programs and career-college readiness, see this recent article by Betsy Brand and Andrew Valent of the American Youth Policy Forum, which highlights the work of NCAN member Citizen Schools.

The National College Access Network (NCAN) is pleased to announce the addition of new members to the organization.  NCAN’s roster extends to over 300 members in 44 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Canada, all dedicated to  the belief that every young person should be able to attain a college education.  The Board of Directors of NCAN, a national network of state and local college access programs working to building, strengthening, and empowering communities committed to college access and success so that all students, especially those under-represented in postsecondary education, can achieve their educational dreams, voted to admit these programs.  The new members are:

College Admissions Made Possible (CAMP)
College Dreams
National Community Tax Coalition
Raymond A. Brown Center for Education and Public Policy
Sutton Trust US Programme
Village Connection
Supporting Individual
Laura Fritz

Welcome to our New Members!

To read more about them, please see below:

College Admissions Made Possible (CAMP)
College Admissions Made Possible (CAMP) program was constructed to fill a need within the less affluent, rural and urban school systems.  The CAMP program offers students the same services that are provided at most affluent high schools, but is typically unavailable in urban and rural high schools throughout Alabama.   CAMP has four core services: Intro to College Admissions (workshops), Individual/Group Counseling, Test Preparation and College Fairs and Tours.

College Dreams
We provide an array of resiliency development and college preparation services for 919 high risk 6^th-12^th grade students at 16 partner schools. These evidence-based services include mentoring, advocacy, skill-building, achievement incentives, barrier removal assistance, parent support, community service, college readiness coaching, campus visits, earned scholarships, and the ability to participate in Dream$avers which helps them save for a college education.

National Community Tax Coalition
National Community Tax Coalition (NCTC) represents a united effort to strengthen and expand community Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (community VITA) programs nationwide.  With the combined experience and knowledge of our 2,300-plus members, we secure greater financial stability and economic opportunity for America’s working families. NCTC services include FAFSA completion for low-income families.

Raymond A. Brown Center for Education and Public Policy
The Raymond A. Brown Center for Education and Public Policy provides information, support and counseling to students and their families focused on their education and the college going process.  The center also provides information to counselors and others needing support in their efforts to work with students.  Support is provided to college students considering enrollment in law school through workshops and programs.

Sutton Trust US Programme
The aim of the Sutton Trust US Programme is to support highly talented low and middle income UK youngsters to apply for undergraduate study in America, and to act as a beacon to inspire other talented state school students.  Students on the programme are supported over a number of months with an orientation and introduction event, a week in the US based in Yale or MIT and with visits to other campuses and a mini college fair, intensive preparation and counseling, tailored mentoring and admissions tests financed by the Sutton Trust.

Village Connection
The purpose of The Village Connection is to generate skills and motivation necessary for success in education beyond high school among low-income and potential first-generation college students. Village Connection works with students to increase the retention, graduation and transfer rates of low-income, first generation college students, and student with disabilities, who have an academic need, in providing intensive individualized academic and other support services.

For more information on this issue, please see:

Inside Higher Education - No Pell Shortfall for 2014

Ed Money Watch Blog - New Pell Grant Estimates Buy Time, Long-Term Fix Still Needed

Philadelphia Futures, a college access and success nonprofit serving low-income students in Philadelphia, PA, announced in January that it has received a leadership gift of $1 million. This is the largest single non-endowment gift that the organization has ever received. Currently, Philadelphia Futures has an annual budget of $2.8 million. 

The $1 million leadership gift will help support Philadelphia Futures’ new strategic plan, Futures Forward, and its vision and plans for the next three to five years. This gift ensures the implementation of the strategic plan without delay, avoiding the immediate fundraising challenge that can delay or derail the launch of new programs and services.

“Individual gifts of this size to college success programs are notable, and we commend the donors for their vision and commitment to their city and its students,” Kim Cook, NCAN’s executive director, said.

The leadership gift was made by John Langan and Judith Nadell, who are long-time supporters of Philadelphia Futures. Langan and Nadell are the co-founders and president and vice president of Townsend Press, an independent publisher of education materials for students in elementary school through college. Since 2005, they have given a number of significant gifts to Philadelphia Futures to directly assist its students and allow the organization to successfully launch some of its groundbreaking initiatives. Seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars of the $1 million contribution is an outright gift; $250,000 is a challenge grant to encourage both new and current donors to generously and urgently support the initiatives of the strategic plan, which will be needed to ensure its long-term success and sustainability. The gift will be expended over the next 30 months.

Joan C. Mazzotti, Executive Director of Philadelphia Futures, said the gift would be transformative.

“Opening an envelope that contains a $1 million check is every executive director’s dream,” she said. “This major investment in Philadelphia Futures is both exhilarating and humbling, and the impact that this gift will have on our organization and the city’s students will be unprecedented. In a city where only 10 percent of students will eventually go on to earn a postsecondary degree, it is evident that, now more than ever, the types of resources that we provide are critically needed. We are honored to be chosen as the stewards of this money.”

The leadership gift provides Philadelphia Futures with the financial resources it needs to launch its new College Connection program, which, when fully implemented, will have the potential to provide 600-800 Philadelphia low-income, first-generation-to-college students with critically needed college guidance, placement, and retention services. College Connection will cut across the school systems of the City and will serve students attending public, public charter, and parochial high schools beginning in 11^th grade and continuing through college completion. College Connection students will be able to receive the benefit of Philadelphia Futures’ college partnerships. The program will launch at the beginning of the 2013-2014 academic year, and Philadelphia Futures will begin accepting applications from rising high school juniors this spring.

In further support of the Strategic Plan’s program strategies, this gift also increases the organization’s capacity to provide its expertise to schools and community groups by funding the staffing needed to provide events, workshops, and conferences in partnership with high schools, colleges, community-based, and other youth-serving organizations

Expanding college access and success through improved financial education is the goal of a new partnership announced today between National College Access Network (NCAN) and Inceptia.  Effective January 1, 2013, Financial Avenue a free online financial education solution, will be available to all NCAN members. Mr. Brett Lief, who serves on the board of directors of both Inceptia and NCAN, helped to make this partnership possible.

“Financial Avenue provides easy-to-use, relevant information for students about important financial literacy topics,” Kim Cook, NCAN’s Executive Director, said. “Not only is the product free to NCAN members, but they can track their students’ use of Financial Avenue as well as their learning.”  

Financial Avenue offers an engaging, online environment to teach personal money management – information that will help start students on the road to wise financial management. 

Randy Heesacker, President and CEO of Inceptia, said: “Everything we do at Inceptia is designed to support student success and this exciting partnership with NCAN provides us with one more way to get valuable resources into the hands of college students.”

Inceptia’s Financial Avenue program offers six, online financial education courses, and 10 mini-modules to schools and organizations, as part of its mission to achieve 100 percent repayment among student borrowers. Each course takes about 30 minutes to complete, and each mini-module averages five to 15 minutes. Students are required to take an assessment before and after each course to measure their knowledge gain. More than 7,000 courses have been completed to date on credit cards, contracts, identity theft, paying for college, budgeting and credit history.

College Abacus is a free web site where students planning for college can easily compare their projected financial aid packages across schools and identify schools within their budgets, before applying to college or filling out the FAFSA. The Chronicle of Higher Education recently said that College Abacus has given net price calculators “the Kayak treatment.” Much as Kayak.com created the "search one and done" experience for travel, College Abacus is a one-stop search for net price calculators in English and Spanish for 2,500 institutions. Families enter their financial information once and then view projected aid offers from any listed institution.  College Abacus is also a recent winner of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation College Knowledge Challenge, along with several other NCAN members.

Founder Abigail Seldin says she believes that students and families deserve easy access to information about financial aid and hopes that by increasing price transparency for cost-sensitive college-bound students, College Abacus will increase access to higher education. The service is responsive to the 2012 findings by NCAN member The Institute for College Access and Success that net price calculators on universities’ web sites are not necessarily easy to find, use, or compare.

College Abacus uses the data that college and universities use in their own individual net price calculators. The only difference between College Abacus’s projections and a college’s own is that College Abacus removes loans for colleges that include them in grant aid calculations to make their price appear lower. By June 2013, College Abacus plans to include data from all 6,600 institutions required to offer net price calculators.

Students and families can use the site as a guest to generate net price estimates. If they create an account, they can save their results and email them to parents or college advisors. College Abacus does not sell the financial information of its users. The site earns revenue by connecting prospective students with colleges. If students click on a link to learn more about one of the colleges or universities they have searched, College Abacus may sell those students’ contact information to those institutions.

To demonstrate the importance of using College Abacus before students decide where to apply to college, the site publishes a "Financial Aid & Fiction" blog series. Almost every week, the series selects a fictional character and uses College Abacus to generate that character’s likely financial aid awards at different schools. To date, the blog has featured Cristina Moreno (Spanglish), Akeelah Anderson (Akeelah and the Bee), Haley Dunphy (Modern Family), Gogol Ganguli (The Namesake), Rachel Berry and Kurt Hummel (Glee) and Bella Swan (Twilight).

Future development for College Abacus will include a “counselor” function so that college advisors can view a student’s estimated aid packages and suggest additional school choices. College Abacus also plans to build a system allowing student to input information from their financial aid award letters to compare offers. This function will also allow College Abacus to test how net calculator estimates compare to actual aid awards, which could help keep colleges accountable for providing accurate information.

Bottom line for college access programs: College advisors can use College Abacus with students and parents to change their perception of college affordability. The format is easy to understand and directly comparable among all institutions. These searches kick-start conversations on how to fill aid gaps, avoid undermatching, and covering costs not included in the estimates. The site could be more clear about exactly when it sell students’ contact information to colleges and universities, but this is an almost-universal problem on the web, and the basic functionality of the site is still available to users who do not wish to register.

College Abacus is a supporting member of NCAN.

On Mytonomy’s home page, you’ll find topics such as the College Application Process, First-Generation Students, Financial Aid, and Majors. Within each topic are a series of questions, such as “How many colleges should I apply to?” and “How did you convince your parents to let you go to college away from home?” with video answers from multiple students (and in some cases guidance professionals). There is also a search function to type in your own question. You can see where each student attends college and where they went to high school. You can also see how many times a video has been viewed. Some videos have written transcripts, allowing you to scan the advice quickly.

The Career section also contains videos from adults, and there are some videos targeted at parents with advice from other parents, students, and college guidance professionals. Mytonomy screens every video and looks for ones that provide specific and useful advice. A formal guidance curriculum is in the works with the assistance of a leading public university.

The videos are available for viewing for free with no advertising. Students can also create an account or sign in through Facebook, which allows them to save their videos to watch again with a parent or advisor and to get a recommended list of videos based on their profile. Scholarship programs, college access networks, and other groups promoting college and career preparation are eligible for a Content Partner Page on Mytonomy, which allows them to aggregate videos from their own students on one page and see who is using the site (see the partner page of NCAN member College Tracks).

Mytonomy is a for-profit company and generates revenue by selling Mytonomy Plus to school districts, allowing them to create a private video community for their own schools, generate school-specific reports, and get other services. Mytonomy does not sell the personal information of account-holders.

Bottom line for college access programs: Mytonomy is a good resource for students who prefer to check things out themselves and get information from peers about the college-going process. The first-generation videos are particularly well targeted, and many are available in Spanish. The videos may also be effective with parents who are reluctant about the college process. Advisors can view videos with students or suggest specific ones for viewing on their own time.

The site is not yet the place to do comprehensive college research—they have videos so far on just 117 institutions—but if one of those schools is on your search list, you can hear from current students without making the trip to campus. Some of the advice may not be so applicable to first-generation college-goers because it comes from students with significantly more resources and social capital, but that’s the case with most college planning websites. 

In December, NCAN released a white paper that called on Congress and the Administration to redesign the student financial aid system to increase college graduation rates for low-income students, ensure financial stability of the system, and make paying for college manageable.

NCAN recommended keeping the Pell Grant program for low-income students as the system’s centerpiece while limiting aid to wealthier students from tax deductions, credits, and loan subsidies. Additionally, NCAN recommends moving the federal student loan repayment plans to primarily income-based for undergraduate students. Among other changes, NCAN also proposed increasing accountability from higher education for students who receive federal aid in two ways: (1) Colleges and universities should receive certain federal student aid dollars competitively, based on their success in enrolling and graduating low-income students compared to peer institutions, and (2) Congress should require higher education institutions to report graduation rates for students who receive Pell Grants to the U.S. Department of Education so the data can be shared widely with students and families. 

NCAN’s report identified three main barriers that the current student aid system presents for low-income students: (1) the price of higher education, (2) complicated processes and out-of-date data that provide students with little relevant information, and (3) insufficient state and institutional support for students aimed at increasing graduation. To address these barriers, NCAN proposed the following principles, which encompass expanded versions of the policy recommendations mentioned above: 1) Prioritize Federal Dollars for First-Generation and Low-Income Students While Reshaping Aid for Those Repaying Their Student Loans; 2) Continue to Streamline the Student Aid Application Process and Provide Transparent, Relevant Information on Student Outcomes; and 3) Ensure that States and Institutions Share Responsibility with the Federal Government to Support the Graduation of Low-Income Students, Financially and Through Other Assistance.

These recommendations were guided by a committee of 15 NCAN member organizations from 12 states and the District of Columbia that worked over four months. The committee was facilitated by Robert Shireman, former deputy undersecretary at the U.S. Department of Education. NCAN released its report at a well-attended Capitol Hill briefing with remarks from Nick Lee, senior program officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Deborah Santiago, vice president of policy and research at Excelencia in Education in Washington, DC; Bob Giannino-Racine, executive director of NCAN member uAspire based in Boston, MA; Michael Dannenberg, Director of Higher Education and Education Finance Policy at Education Trust in Washington, DC; and Tiffany Dena Loftin, president of the U.S. Student Association.

NCAN received support to prepare the white paper through the Reimagining Aid Design and Delivery Project, part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s work to dramatically increase the number of young people who graduate high school ready for college and career and who go on to complete a postsecondary degree or credential.

The full 20-page report is available at http://www.collegeaccess.org/ROIfromFSA.

AdvanceNOLA
Foundation for Student Rising Above
Michigan State – Advising Corps
Nebraska Panhandle P-16
Rochester Education Foundation

Welcome to our New Members!

To read more about them, please see below:

AdvanceNOLA
AdvanceNOLA is a college-readiness program of the Scott S. Cowen Institute for Public Education.  Almost all of our students are from low-income families. Many of our students will be the first in their families to attend college. Despite these obstacles, we have seen remarkable improvements in our partner schools, as we work with them to prepare all students for success in college.  AdvanceNOLA supplies materials, trains and supports teachers, offers student and teacher incentives, and provides site coordinators in our partner schools.

Michigan State – Advising Corps
Michigan State Advising Corps provides guidance to low-income, first generation, and underrepresented students by helping them successfully navigate through the college enrollment process.  Our College Advisors support students in planning their college and scholarship searches, completing admissions and financial aid applications, and selecting the post-secondary institution that best match their career objectives.

Nebraska Panhandle P-16
Panhandle P-16 was founded to encourage, create and facilitate partnerships that lead to improvement in education from pre-kindergarten through postsecondary education (P-16) in the Panhandle of Nebraska.  These strategic partnerships involve better understanding the current needs of schools and bringing together the groups within schools, communities, and businesses that can address the complex challenges of our regions.

Rochester Education Foundation
The Rochester Education Foundation is an independent organization that provides resources and programs to improve learning and success for all Rochester city public school students through the cultivation of partnerships between education, business and the community.

“Financial aid can make or break a college education.  Despite having the best grades and work ethic, a student who is unable to pay for college will be unable to continue their education.  This seems so obvious, and yet many of the students we work with at Bottom Line struggle to fund their education.  Many of our students and their families try their hardest to make college a reality, but are often unable to sustain such great expenses year after year."

"It is a fundamental right of students to have access to their own data. Through the MyData initiative we hope to empower students to use new tools and services that will help them make important educational decisions based on their unique data."

-Richard Culatta, Deputy Director, Office of Educational Technology, US Department of Education

This is how the tool will work:

• Students will see the new button once that he/she logs in to FAFSA on the Web. If an application has already been processed, the student’s My FAFSA page will include a new section at the bottom with the new graphic.
• If the student clicks “Learn More,” a new page displays the graphic, text, and a table that lists each transaction for that student (so he/she can download data for any transaction, not limited to just the most recent one)
• In addition, a link will be provided to explain what is the MyStudent Data Download Button? This page will redirect students to www.StudentAid.gov to learn more about its functions.   
• If the students decide to download their information, they will have the option to choose the language of their preference: English or Spanish. Once that the student clicks “OK” the browser “Save As” dialog box displays and the user can save the file.

In addition, developers are being encouraged to create customized services and tools for students based on the information available in their personal learning profile. To learn more about this new and exciting resource please OET website, the electronic announcement on IFAP and you can watch the video from the Department of Education’s Datapalooza.

The National College Access Network (NCAN) is pleased to announce the addition of new members to the organization.  NCAN’s roster extends to over 300 members in 44 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, N. Mariana Islands and Canada, all dedicated to the belief that every young person should be able to attain a college education.  The Board of Directors of NCAN, a national network of state and local college access programs working to building, strengthening, and empowering communities committed to college access and success so that all students, especially those under-represented in postsecondary education, can achieve their educational dreams, voted to admit these programs.  Since July new members include:

NCAN’s web site will host the free materials developed by the campaign in the last several years to support state and regional college access networks, including toolkits, rubrics, and templates related to operating successful networks. The materials include information about logic models, network creation and operation, and sustainability. The American Council on Education is now the home of KH2GO’s media assets, including the four-step student framework, branding materials, web site, print collateral, and public service announcements.

“NCAN is pleased to continue support for the KH2GO campaign by providing these tools to help networks of college access and success organizations collaborate and raise awareness of the steps necessary to go to college,” Kim Cook, NCAN’s executive director, said. “Increasing knowledge about how to get to college, both for students and their adult mentors, is a key step for reaching Goal 2025, when 60 percent of Americans will hold a postsecondary credential.”

“Lumina Foundation is proud to support the work of NCAN and the KnowHow2GO campaign,” said Jamie Merisotis, president and CEO of Lumina Foundation. “NCAN and KH2GO understand the importance of communicating directly with teens about the steps they must take to be ready for college and the steps to succeed in completing some form of postsecondary education. These are all very important in reaching Lumina’s Big Goal: increasing the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees, certificates or other credentials to 60 percent by 2025.”

April 4: San Antonio, TX
April 11: Marin County/Bay Area, CA
April 18: Indianapolis, IN
April 24: Baltimore, MD

Ms. Crouch described the site as a free online college fair connecting students and parents to admissions representatives from more than 450 colleges. CollegeWeekLive allows students to get information from admissions representatives without the expense or time involved with a campus visit or even a local college fair. Students can view and participate in:

• Live streaming video keynote presentations from college application and admissions experts addressing college planning topics such as:
  • How to pay for college: financial aid and scholarships
  • The college application process: standardized tests (ACT and SAT), how to write an application essay, admissions interview tips
  • School fit: how to pick the school for you
• Virtual booths for colleges, featuring electronic brochures, videos, webinars, podcasts and real-time IM and video chat between admissions counselors and students/parents
• Real-time, interactive Q&A sessions with admissions officials
• Live interactive video chats with current college students providing an insider's perspective on their school and the admissions process

To accommodate parents, events often go well into the evening. Some high schools make their computer labs available to participate in CollegeWeekLive events, recognizing that many homes lack broadband Internet access. Ms. Warren said that an average of 45% of users are underrepresented students, sometimes as high as 85%. The site has particularly strong reach in California, Texas, and Florida and among Latino students.

Colleges pay to be part of CollegeWeekLive. There is no charge for students to use the site, which is a plus, but users should be aware that if they use the site for research, they will not receive information about the approximately 3,550 other U.S. colleges and universities that do not participate. Colleges supply all of their own data on the site, including college scholarships offered. CollegeWeek Live allows for-profit institutions to be part of the site, but says that most of the 450 schools are nonprofits.

Students must create a CollegeWeekLive account, but the site does not release students’ contact information to colleges unless the student requests it.

CollegeWeekLive also offers frequent special events with its partners, such as Excelencia in Education and the College Board. A few upcoming events include:

• All Access Zone College Fair on November 15 will involve more than 300 colleges and back to back keynote presentations on topics such as application essay writing and overview of financial aid.
• Paying for College event on January 10.

The Advisor Center is a resource for counselors to manage CollegeWeekLive opportunities for their students. Counselors can request online meetings with college reps when students are available and interested, regardless of location. CollegeWeekLive provides resources for schools or counselors to promote events. It also includes seven lesson plans with step-by-step instructions on how to use CollegeWeekLive, which are aligned with the American School Counselors Association’s national standards.

Bottom line for NCAN members: The site can be a good tool for high school students to connect with admissions representatives and current students from 450 schools without the expense of travel. The events allow for real-time exchange of questions and answers, not just a one-way presentation. Counselors can also make appointments for video chats with admissions reps at participating schools and can accommodate parents in the evenings. To get started, familiarize yourself with the 450 participating schools list. If it includes institutions that serve (or could serve) your students, create an account and give it a try. For comprehensive college searches, start with sites that offer information about the complete range of U.S. colleges and universities.

To join STAG and learn firsthand about more exciting technology resources, regular NCAN members should contact Elizabeth Morgan at morgane@collegeaccess.org

To read a summary of the report and its implications, see this Inside Higher Education article.

To read the full report, click here.

To learn more and RSVP for the event, please click here.

East Bay College Access Network
Degrees of Change – Act Six
Ontario-Montclair Schools Foundation
Scholarships Inc.
Supporting Individual
Bonnie Gordon

Welcome to our New Members!

To read more about them, please see below:

East Bay College Access Network
East Bay CAN’s overarching purpose is to create systemic, formalized and well-coordinated college preparedness, access and persistence services for low-income, underrepresented, Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) high school students. The Network’s initial focus is to increase college access for OUSD graduates by increasing student uptake rates in state, federal and private sources of financial aid.

Read Full Article from PND Here

The Center of Hopes, and Zack Reynolds, Educator/Consultant at A Plus Learning Solutions. After breakfast our plenary speaker, Sandy Baum joined the College Board and NCAN, for a session.  The Rethinking Student Aid: Creating an Action Plan for Closing the Gap session brought together attendees provide feedback and recommendations that will be refined and documented in a jointly-developed draft plan of action for grass roots advocacy through which NCAN members can urge members of Congress to protect student aid and college access for low-income students.

Overall the conference provided a wealth of knowledge stretching across many areas in the world of college access. To download these and other session please visit the NCAN website. www.collegeaccess.org

NCAN Executive Director Kim Cook along withseveral NCAN members answer the question, What's working in college access?

Read article

Postsecondary enrollment: Six essential indicators, 13 optional indicators, and five core demographic characteristics

As a companion, NCAN has also released a dashboard tool that NCAN members can use to organize, analyze, and communicate their indicators. 
The indicators associated with postsecondary enrollment may be best suited for use by organizations serving students who are still in high school, rather than middle school students, disconnected youth, or adult learners. The postsecondary completion indicators apply more broadly to students enrolled in college.

Why did NCAN develop Common Measures?

Although the ultimate student outcomes of postsecondary enrollment and graduation are clear, they take time to achieve. How can college access and success programs know whether their students are on track to those outcomes without waiting for five or more years?

One answer is to identify research-based interim measures, or indicators, that tell us that students are on the right path. As the field has grown in effectiveness and sophistication, practitioners have converged on certain metrics as the most helpful. Still, because there are many potential measures, NCAN members told us they would benefit from having a commonly accepted set of indicators that they could rely on to understand and demonstrate how well their programs serve students. Thus, the Common Measures project represents a fusion of research and best practice resulting in a very practical, real-world assessment road map. 

By sharing these common indicators widely, NCAN hopes to:

• Make it easier for college access and success organizations to decide which data to track.
  
• Increase collection and use of data to guide improvements to student services and demonstrate the effectiveness of the college access-success field. 
• Enhance equitable outcomes for subgroups of students. 
• Help standardize expectations from funders and other stakeholders about evaluation metrics. 
• Lay the groundwork for future benchmarking so that NCAN members can more easily learn about the effective practices of other organizations. 

How did NCAN develop Common Measures?

We took the following steps during 2011-12:

• Reviewed the evaluation metrics that several college access organizations use to determine the effectiveness of their services and to measure outcomes for students.
  
• Compiled a set of “common” indicators that were prevalent among the metrics reviewed.
  
• Conducted a literature review of research that supports the common indicators.
  
• Tested draft sets of indicators with practitioners and researchers in the field, including a committee of NCAN members, members attending NCAN’s spring 2012 regional meetings, and members who participated in a summer 2012 webinar briefing. NCAN also received support from member College Success Foundation to develop a similar set of measures for use in Washington, DC. 
  
• Contracted with the National Student Clearinghouse to provide postsecondary enrollment and completion data at a discount to NCAN members. 
  
• Created a final set of indicators, identifying some as “essential” and others as “optional” if they are available or applicable.
  
• NCAN’s list of recommended indicators, potential data sources, and research citations is available to the public. NCAN members can also access a spreadsheet workbook on its members-only web site to organize and report the data in a dashboard format. 
  

What else should I know about Common Measures?

Several of the indicators require community-based college access and success organizations to execute data-sharing agreements with their local school districts and higher education institutions. Organizations also must collect student/parent release forms to comply with FERPA and protect student privacy. NCAN provides resources to its member on these topics, although we realized that not all programs have the ability and resources yet to take these steps. 

The Common Measures selected are not an exhaustive list. Research supports other cognitive and non-cognitive indicators for college enrollment and completion. NCAN will monitor the field and modify the set of indicators periodically. 

The dashboard tool is designed to represent the progress of the total population of students served by an organization. It is not a data source, a data system, an endorsement by NCAN of data collected, or a dashboard for individual students. The tool does not establish any minimum numbers or percentages that represent satisfactory program performance. 
 
NCAN very much appreciates the support of our members in developing Common Measures and encourages additional feedback. Please direct questions and comments about their use and content to MorraLee Keller, NCAN’s director of technical assistance, at kellerm@collegeaccess.org 

•    High School Advising - uAspire Advisors guide students through the financial aid process and begin the conversation before senior year on how to prepare for college.

•    Community Engagement– uAspire partners with leading organizations in our community to build awareness of college affordability and empower students and families to act.

•    Postsecondary Success – Realizing that just getting to college is not enough, uAspire serves as a resource to students who are currently in college.

•    Last Dollar Scholarship– uAspire awards scholarships to students to help fill their unmet need between their financial aid award and the actual cost of their college.

The National College Access Network (NCAN) will tap the expertise of its 350-plus members this fall to inform the national debate on federal student aid policy. With the support of a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, NCAN will research and issue a white paper by December 2012 that discusses the barriers to college graduation that the financial aid systems creates and guiding principles for reforming the system.

“The looming Pell Grant shortfall challenges us to respond with comprehensive solutions to keep federal student aid available to our neediest students,” said Kim Cook, NCAN’s executive director.  “Federal policymakers need to hear innovative ideas from experienced college access and success professionals about how we can help more students complete college.”

To prepare the white paper, NCAN will solicit feedback from its members online, through interviews and conference sessions, and through an expert advisory committee of 15 representatives. Opportunities for NCAN members to participate in this project include:
•    Commenting on NCAN’s “Reimagining Student Aid” blog http://advocacy.collegeaccess.org
•    Participating in sessions at the NCAN National Conference on September 18 and 19
•    Sharing the white paper with local stakeholders to build the case for reform
•    Attending a Capitol Hill briefing in December

The Reimagining Aid Design and Delivery Project is part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s work to dramatically increase the number of young people who graduate high school ready for college and career and who go on to complete a postsecondary degree or credential.

For more information, please contact Elizabeth Morgan, NCAN’s Director of External Relations, at 202-347-4848 x.211 or morgane@collegeaccess.org.

 

Dalstrom, 62, has served as USA Funds president and CEO since July 31, 2000.
"Working with our board of trustees, staff and partner organizations, we've accomplished more than I hoped for USA Funds when I became the chief executive of the organization 12 years ago," Dalstrom said. "We have established a solid foundation for USA Funds' future as a major contributor to student success in higher education for many years to come, and the time is right for me to move into retirement."

During Dalstrom's tenure as president and CEO, USA Funds has achieved the following results:

• USA Funds supported more than $183 billion in financing to help students and parents pay higher education expenses.
• USA Funds prevented nearly 13.6 million borrowers who were 60 days or more past due in their federal student loan payments from defaulting, averting nearly $187 billion in potential loan defaults. USA Funds also recovered for U.S. taxpayers nearly $12 billion from borrowers who previously defaulted on their loans.
• USA Funds provided $120 million in funding for scholarships and other programs that help Americans prepare for, enroll in and succeed in postsecondary education.
• USA Funds developed tools, solutions and support that help colleges and universities promote the success of their students. These solutions include:
  USA Funds Borrower Connect™, a Web-based tool to support communication with student loan borrowers to promote successful loan repayment.
• USA Funds Life Skills®, a financial literacy curriculum for college students.
  Online training and webcasts through USA Funds University to keep college financial aid administrators up to date on the policies, procedures and practices for administering federal student aid programs.
• USA Funds Ask PolicySM, a resource to answer specific questions about the administration of federal student aid.
  Debt management consultations with college and university administrators to help them develop or enhance plans for reducing student loan default rates.
• USA Funds has, for the last 11 years, sponsored or hosted an annual symposium for leaders and other administrators of minority-serving institutions and other under-resourced postsecondary institutions to share best practices in college access, student persistence and success, and student loan debt management.

Following the organization's executive succession plan, the USA Funds board of trustees will soon begin a nationwide search for Dalstrom's successor.

"Under Carl's leadership, USA Funds has made significant contributions to the goal of helping more Americans benefit from higher education," said Ernest Newborn II, chair of the USA Funds board of trustees. "We're delighted that Carl will continue to lead USA Funds while our search for his successor proceeds. As a result, we anticipate a smooth transition to new leadership."

Dalstrom has served for more than 42 years in various capacities in support of higher education access and success. Prior to becoming president and chief executive officer of USA Funds, he performed a variety of executive responsibilities at USA Funds and its former parent company, USA Group. Dalstrom previously held positions with ACT, the University of Illinois at Chicago and Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago.

Among the organizations that have recognized the work of Dalstrom and USA Funds in supporting education access and success are: the U.S. Dream Academy, which presented Dalstrom with its President's Award in 2007; Frontline Outreach, which honored Dalstrom as a corporate leader in promoting education access and outreach in 2007; and the American Indian College Fund, which named USA Funds its corporate honoree in 2005.

Dalstrom is chairing the Indianapolis regional United Negro College Fund fundraiser for the ninth consecutive year. UNCF twice has honored Dalstrom with its Corporate Shining Star Award.

Citizen Schools
College Access: Research & Action (CARA)
LA’s Promise
Mesa Community College Outreach Center
Minnesota State University/Office of Institutional Diversity
Rollins College Upward Bound
Tennessee Scholars
Virginia State University/Partnerships and Engagement
Weber State University/Student2Student
Angela Whitlow – Supporting Individual

Welcome to our New Members!  To read more about them, please see below:

Citizen Schools
Citizen Schools strives to close the achievement gap by partnering with high-need schools to expand the learning day, engage middle grade students in real-world learning, and ensure that all children graduate high school ready to succeed in college and careers.  Citizen Schools mobilizes a second shift of educators who provide academic support, volunteer support, leadership development, and hands-on apprenticeships.  Citizen Schools has been nationally recognized as a high performing program by the U.S. Department of Education and featured in several national news publications.

College Access: Research & Action (CARA)
College Access: Research and Action (CARA) was founded to support the college access work of schools, community-based organizations and universities.   Using educational reform and youth leadership strategies, CARA works with a variety of partners to create responsive and effective programs. We take what we learn through our programs to inform both policy and research.  We work to improve the systems, structures, and practices that guide young people to successful and satisfying post-secondary educational outcomes, particulary in our home city of New York.

LA’s Promise
LA’s Promise is currently working to radically shift the education, health and social outcomes for thousands of youth in one South Los Angeles community.  LA’s Promise operates public schools on a performance contract with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), creating a cohesive family of personal schools to serve every child in LA’s Promise Neighborhood.

Mesa Community College Outreach Center
The Mesa Community College Outreach Center serves Mesa & East Valley providing access to college exploration, career planning, as well as a connection to vital community resources for students and their families.  The Outreach Center provides free workshops for college and career exploration, college planning tools, GED preparation and community resources information.

Minnesota State University/Office of Institutional Diversity
The Office of Institutional Diversity actively promotes a campus-wide cross-cultural understanding and appreciation of differences. Our staff provides direct services to students, and hosts enriching educational programs, cultural activities and insightful conferences for area youth, students, faculty and staff. 

Rollins College/Upward Bound
The Rollins College Upward Bound program is a year-round program for motivated students with academic potential who desire additional academic preparation, advisement, and encouragement to succeed in high school and later, in college.

Tennessee Scholars

In 2003 the Tennessee Scholars program was started by the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce & Industry to help build a quality workforce by encouraging students to prepare early for a changing economy. Tennessee Scholars is a rewards and recognitions program, which utilizes business leaders to motivate all students to complete the Graduation Requirements for Tennessee Scholars 2013 in high school, one that will give them a boost in college and their careers. Trained business leaders go into classrooms to talk with students about how they should view challenging academic courses as building blocks for their future.

Virginia State University/Partnerships and Engagement
The Virginia State University/Partnerships and Engagement program will allow motivated and talented high school students opportunities to enroll in VSU college courses that will be taught by certified teachers at their respective school sites. Students can earn college credits while completing their requirements to graduate from high school.  VSU currently has partnership agreements to offer dual credit courses in the Petersburg, Dinwiddie, Prince George and Richmond School Districts.

Weber State University/Student2Student
Student 2 Student is committed to providing college access resources and academic support to underrepresented students from target high schools in local school districts.  Our aim is to prepare and empower these students to participate in post secondary education.   S2S integrates opportunities to engage students with the campus community in order to reflect on their high school experiences and establish a connection through step by step guidance, support, mentoring, tutoring, and advocacy activities while preparing students to make a smooth transition needed to navigate through post-high school life, and achieve academic success one step at a time.

While many often tie economic success to jobs, more and more experts believe additional jobs matter little if workers lack the skills and education needed to land those jobs.

That's arguably true in Michigan, where employers who once required only a high school diploma now seek workers with at least some post-secondary training.

"Once upon a time, some high school students were 'college material' and the rest found jobs that didn't require post-secondary credentials," said Brandy Johnson, executive director of the Michigan College Access Network (MCAN). "Those days are long gone. In a global economy, you cannot set up a student to support a family with a high school diploma as a terminal credential."

Fortunately, MCAN is making getting in and out of college easier — and cheaper — than ever before, which is good news for students, their schools and even for Michigan businesses.

MCAN started organically with a group of policymakers, educators and citizens, who were concerned about educational attainment among Michigan residents. The organization was a project within former Gov. Jennifer Granholm's administration. Johnson got involved first as a member of Granholm's policy team.

In 2008 the group jumped on an opportunity for federal funding, which enabled it "to establish a network that would really own that space between K-12 and higher education," Johnson said. And by 2010, the Michigan College Access Network had incorporated as its own 501(c)(3) with Johnson at the helm.

These days MCAN's efforts are oriented toward a single goal: increasing Michigan's rate of post-secondary educational attainment to 60 percent. The first step in achieving this mission: mobilizing and supporting local college access networks, or LCANs.

"LCANs bring together a lead team — superintendents, community college presidents, community foundations, mayors, elected officials — that really coalesce around some common goals," said Johnson. "We provide seed funding to leaders who are committed to increasing their communities' educational attainment. ... We strengthen and scale up organizations within this space. That's where we want to invest our resources. Today we've awarded almost $2 million (toward) initial costs in organizing and initiating LCANs."

The statewide organization currently works with 48 local college networks, she said.

Keep everyone on the same page

Many organizations struggle to keep a diverse and expansive network of partners on the same page, and Johnson said the Michigan College Access Network is no exception.

"That's definitely something we learned along the way," Johnson said with a laugh.

Her lesson learned: start the dialogue with potential partners by defining terms and expectations up front.

"Whenever I meet with people who want to start an LCAN in their communities, I create some expectations and non-negotiables," said Johnson.

Her first non-negotiable is the definition of the word "college."

"In their minds, people picture a typical four-year college. They imagine the U-M campus," Johnson told MiBiz. "But when those of us in this field say 'college,' we mean post-secondary education."

Any and all post-secondary education, in fact: According to Johnson everything from "trade certificates and associate (degrees) ... all the way to a Ph.D." counts as college.

"Our economy needs a good mixture of those. We don't need 100,000 English lit majors from U-M," she said.

But not everyone is immediately convinced, Johnson said.

"The biggest naysayers are people who say, 'We need people in the skilled trades,'" Johnson said. "My response is that's absolutely right, but those folks get certifications that have currency in the labor market."

Let data drive

If this still isn't enough to convince critics, Johnson brings in the big guns: local employers who have job vacancies, but can't find workers with the right mix of skills and credentials to fill them.

The fact that, in this economy, employers have unfilled jobs is just one of many cold, hard truths community leaders need to know. Just ask Brian Barber, co-chairman of the executive committee at Muskegon Opportunity, one of the LCANs that Michigan College Access Network works with.

After a preliminary data review, Muskegon Opportunity, now in its seventh year, found that 60 percent of freshmen entering Muskegon Community College needed "remediation" in reading, math and/or English.

"The statistics are staggering," said Barber. "Students are spending an entire year taking sub-100, non-credit-bearing courses. Students end up spending a lot of time and money on courses that aren't helping them get a degree."

Academic and financial readiness are two of Muskegon Opportunity's focus areas. Both points would never have been revealed without "drilling down" into enrollment, completion and test score data.

"It was a real eye-opener," said Barber. "But until you look under the rock and see all the ugly, squiggly stuff, you don't know what to fix."

Barber cautions nonprofits not to shy away from uncomfortable facts like these. Statistics "based on how good it feels or whether it made somebody smile" do little to help illuminate the scope of the problems community groups seek to address. Feel-good numbers also fail to win nonprofits any points with members of the business sector — whose support Barber depends on, even though businesses traditionally didn't get involved in education, he said.

"The appetite for data collection really came as a result of needing to engage groups that aren't usually engaged in education," Barber said. "If you have data, (business leaders) are more willing to listen."

Barber's work with businesses has also kept him from getting too sentimental about the magic of molding young minds through education. For Barber, graduates are quite literally a product of parental involvement and the education system, and an input for the state's workforce.

"When you talk about students like that, sometimes people cringe, but we are turning out a product," Barber said. "There's a business side to everything, and if you're real about things, you'll have that conversation about any business venture."

The wisdom of this mindset is revealed in Muskegon Opportunity's success rate. In its second year, the group saw a sharp increase in the number of students pursuing post-secondary education.

Setting smart goals with regard to data collection and incorporating the results into decision-making is something Johnson encourages among LCANs.

"K-12, higher education and nonprofits all agree to take accountability for tracking those data, trying interventions, reporting results and moving the needle on those metrics," Johnson said.

Support your supporters

MCAN provides more than just institutional support services. The group organizes events and media campaigns that directly target high school students.

The organization also helps to mobilize the all-volunteer College Advising Corps, part of a national group that trains recent college graduates to be advisers for high school students looking to go to college. In partnership with University of Michigan and Michigan State University, MCAN hired about three-dozen advisers, Johnson said.

Independently, high school students can also calculate costs, compare colleges and contact counselors directly through the Michigan College Access Portal, another MCAN initiative.

Johnson believes helping more people access post-secondary education benefits the whole community.

"College is a public good," she said. "Every possible societal or community good is correlated very, very strongly with increasing your college education. ... College is for everyone. And we all have a responsibility for helping them get there."

I recently had lunch with a friend who is Dean of Enrollment at a local university who shared with me her excitement about the upcoming freshmen orientation sessions and campus visits. As we sat through lunch, I couldn’t help but remember how much I loved my college experience. I made great friends, learned from and worked with brilliant professors, experienced critical personal growth, and created many fond memories.

However, there’s one part I don’t look back on very fondly… the application process! I remember my high school senior year was a very difficult experience, filled with confusion and dread. I wondered if I had filled out the right form, if I had make the deadline, if I would be accepted by my preferred schools or if I could secure enough financial aid to cover my tuition and living expenses. My college application process was not a fun one, so I can only imagine what it must be like for a first generation college go-er with parents who are unable to guide them through the process; or a low-income student who faces even more daunting financial aid needs.

Fortunately, there are resources out there for students. The National College Access Network (NCAN) surveyed more than 1,600 organizations across Texas (including school districts, non-profit and for profit college access service providers, institutions of higher education, etc.) committed to helping students navigate the college-going process and asked them about their work. NCAN found the majority of these organizations needed help, because no single organization is able to provide all the resources and supports (e.g. application assistance, financial aid information, college advising, academic preparation, test preparation) that Texas students need.

As a result, NCAN asked Educate Texas to develop the Texas College Access Network (TxCAN), to serve as a backbone resource to these organizations. In January 2011, we set out across the state to ask organizations what they needed from a network, so we could develop a targeted strategy to support them. After about six months, we learned the best way we could help these organizations was by:

1. Promoting awareness of their work and of other resources available so they know how to better support students;
2. Helping facilitate better alignment and coordination so they don’t duplicate work but rather, benefit from other’s experience and resources; and
3. Providing tools and resources that help evaluate or monitor the impact on student outcomes.

We also learned that it would be nearly impossible to start at a statewide level. As a result, Educate Texas launched two regional pilots – in San Antonio and North Texas – where we could test out this network concept, see what works and identify what is scalable across the state. Launched in the fall of last year, we have already been thrilled with the progress to date. In both regions, Educate Texas is working with organizations that are deeply committed to supporting students. We’ve seen groups, that previously had not all been in a room together, join to start sharing ideas about how they can learn from each other to be more effective.

One great example stands out to me. In April, Don Baylor and Leslie Helmcamp from the Center for Public Policy Priorities (CPPP)/OpportunityTexas came to San Antonio to meet with the San Antonio network, which goes by the name of the San Antonio College Access Network (SA-CAN). They presented to the group of school district representatives, high school counselors, higher education partners, and community-based organizations on recent financial aid and college access/completion research CPPP conducted, as well as statewide policy and legislative updates. We received overwhelmingly positive feedback from our San Antonio network. In fact, we heard this was the most useful part of that month’s network meeting.

Many of the participants were unfamiliar with all the resources that CPPP shared and benefited from CPPP’s tailored presentation, which gave local data and statistics that were relevant to the San Antonio community. These organizations are often resource constrained and don’t have the capacity to stay abreast of all policy changes, so we greatly appreciated CPPP’s synthesis of the relevant legislation.

I don’t doubt this meeting and CPPP’s continued participation in TxCAN will have a powerful impact on the networks. In fact, when we survey organizations and ask them why they joined SA-CAN, they consistently identified “developing a common statewide policy agenda for college access” as one of the top priorities. CPPP/Opportunity Texas will be a key partner for us as we develop this common agenda.

I know there will be challenges ahead and there is still a lot of work to do to substantially increase the number of students who enroll in postsecondary education. However, I’m inspired by the organizations we’ve been fortunate to work with in both San Antonio and North Texas. Their dedication motivates us to continue doing whatever we can to support them, advocate for them, and find resources to scale effective practices.

We must do more to ensure students have the support they need to successfully pursue their postsecondary aspirations and set the framework for success down the road. Undoubtedly, collaboration is key to making a lasting impact.

The College Board
Milan Special School District – College Access Program
New Futuro
Simon Family Foundation

Welcome to our New Members!  To read more about them, please see below:

The College Board
The College Board is driven by a single goal — to ensure that every student has the opportunity to prepare for, enroll in and graduate from college. The College Board believes that an investment in education is an investment in the future. From our earliest days, we have devoted ourselves to educational opportunity and achievement. We have championed innovation, equity and excellence for generations of students. We are advocates for children and parents; we empower teachers and educators; and we are a strong presence in thousands of schools and communities across the country. Our work falls broadly into three categories: College Readiness, College Connection and Success, and Advocacy.

Milan Special School District – College Access Program
The Milan Special School District (MMSD) College Access Program was recently awarded a Tennessee Collge Access Grant funding to develop a strategic plan of operation for our newly created College Access Program.  MSSD will serve all students and families through the creation of its college access program. 

New Futuro
New Futuro has created an educational community that helps Latino families get their students into college and beyond. Through a completely free, bilingual, ‘high-tech, high-touch’ experience, New Futuro connects those that need help with those that provide it. New Futuro uses digital, media and neighborhood outreach efforts and partners with schools, not-for-profits and community based organizations to help them expand their reach. Like Linkedin or Facebook, members manage a digital profile. In New Futuro’s case, members aggregate relevant educational information within their digital profile in order to manage an ongoing and personalized college and career plan. The overall experience facilitates the process of navigating the educational system, leading to brighter outcomes.

Simon Family Foundation
The Simon Family Foundation understands that it takes much more than financial support to change a life. Thus, the Foundation has developed and become known for its intensive hands-on college preparatory support programs. Beyond financial support, the organization offers students a host of resources aimed at whole-person development while in high school, including a $1,000 cash stipend, a notebook computer, SAT/ACT preparation courses, college coaching/application assistance, college campus tours, academic tutoring, leadership and life-skills training, etiquette courses, and exposure to the arts. The support of our Scholars continues into the college years and beyond with programs designed to solidify our college student and alumni cohorts.

"We can't allow higher education to be a luxury in this country. It's an economic imperative that every family in America has to be able to afford." - President Barack Obama, February 27, 2012

Each desk represents one of the 857 students who drop out of high school in the United States every single hour, every single school day, according to the College Board, which arranged the display to underline its effort to urge presidential candidates to put education at the top of their to-do lists.  Read more....

In his recent story, "Why college graduates matter" (May 31) Tim Logan accurately reported that the economic vitality of a metropolitan area in today's knowledge economy is directly tied to the educational attainment of the region's workforce. According to CEOs for Cities data, every one percentage point increase in adult four-year college degree attainment adds an additional $763 to per-capita income per year. CEOs for Cities calls it the "talent dividend" and groups across our region are working to ensure that St. Louis and its citizens see that kind of payoff.

In fact, St. Louis is one of 57 cities competing for CEO for Cities' Talent Dividend Prize, a $1 million award to the city with the greatest increase in postsecondary degree attainment per 1,000 people over a four-year period. The true prize is the transformative change increased educational attainment will bring about in the St. Louis bi-state region. 

Read more.....

(San Rafael, CA – June 12, 2012) 10,000 Degrees, a Bay Area non-profit organization providing financial, technical and personal support to low-income students to help them earn a college degree won today's final round of the Social Impact Exchange’s –2012 National Business Plan Competition in New York City. Entrants were growth-ready organizations needing assistance to scale their operation. The Competition identified social sector scaling initiatives with demonstrated impact and readiness to grow. 10,000 Degrees was awarded up to $100,000 in both financial and consulting awards. 10,000 Degrees was one of the three finalists in the “Early-Stage Growth” category.

“This represents a huge opportunity for 10,000 Degrees to take our award-winning model to students across Northern California and the nation, said 10,000 Degrees’ President, Kim Mazzuca. “We are thrilled! At 10,000 Degrees we are facing our nation’s crisis of equality head on by investing in low-income youth and producing results that lift entire families out of the cycle of poverty. This recognition by the Social Impact Exchange affirms our approach and will help us take our college success solution to scale.'  Read more....

ACT Inc.

ACT is an independent, not-for-profit organization that provides a broad array of assessment, research, information, and program management solutions in the areas of education and workforce development. As the nation's view of education evolved to embrace lifelong learning, ACT's programs and services have similarly grown and evolved—helping people plan for, and assess, learning and training throughout their lives, while in school or the workplace. Each year, ACT serves millions of people in high schools, colleges, professional associations, businesses, and government agencies—nationally and internationally.

Judging will take place on June 12 at the Symposium on Scaling Social Impact in New York City. The selection panel includes judges from Morgan Stanley, KPMG LLP,  and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. Two winners will receive a cash award and consulting services to assist with their growth.

U.S.-based nonprofits with a focus in education, youth development, health, poverty alleviation or community economic development are eligible to enter the annual competition. During an 8-month evaluation process, entrants develop and submit business plans to scale their impact and improve the lives of people in need. Judging is conducted on a pro bono basis by professionals from the private, public and nonprofit sectors. Competition entrants have access to a website of resources on scaling, take part in group training and one-on-one consulting, and receive customized written feedback on their plans. More information is available on the web site of the Social Impact Exchange.

Two TRiO Students from West Charlotte High School (Charlotte, NC) named Gates Millennium Scholars

Destiny Planter and Raeven Henry are two extraordinary seniors graduating at the top of their class from West Charlotte High School in Charlotte, NC.  Both are enrolled in Communities In Schools’ Talent Search program and work with their Talent Search Counselor, Stephanie Cafaro.  Destiny and Raeven recently learned that they are Gates Millennium Scholarship recipients.  They will attend UNC-Chapel Hill in the fall.  Raeven hopes to attend medical school and Destiny aspires to become a child psychologist.

On overcoming challenges and achieving success at West Charlotte, Destiny says “There were times I didn’t have the resources that others are equipped with, but I learned to never use my environment as an excuse.”

Raeven admits to feeling overwhelmed as she completed the Gates Scholarship application.  Upon learning she won the award she said “I am grateful for the opportunity and I hope that my higher education will allow me to be competitive in a global community.”

The Gates Millennium Scholars Program selects 1,000 talented students each year to receive a good-through-graduation scholarship to use at any college or university of their choice.  The award also provides recipients with personal and professional development through their leadership program, along with academic support throughout their college career.

A KnowHow2GO event, held March 8-9 at Westfield Gateway Mall in Lincoln, Nebraska, promoted college preparation to nearly 300 students from across the state who were in Lincoln for the Boys State Basketball Tournament. The event featured games, college giveaways, college planning materials, and appearances by Miss Nebraska and Miss Teen Nebraska. EducationQuest staff also talked to students and parents how to prepare for college.

On March 27, EducationQuest conducted a College Access Symposium for middle school, high school and agency professionals. The event provided college access strategies and best practices designed to help more students make college possible. Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman welcomed attendees to the event and emphasized the need to increase the state’s college-going rate. The Symposium also featured a session for representatives from high schools interested in applying for an EducationQuest College Access Grant.  Nearly 300 professionals from across Nebraska attended the event.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jeff North:   jnorth@projectdiscovery.org

Governor proposes drastic funding cuts to Project Discovery; a successful college access program; statewide leaders fight to save the public-private partnership

Project Discovery would suffer devastating budget reductions if the General Assembly adopts Governor Robert F. McDonnell’s pending recommendation.  State leaders and Project Discovery advocates are asking the General Assembly to save the program by rejecting McDonnell’s proposal.

Project Discovery is an acclaimed post-secondary access program currently offered through 22 partner agencies throughout Virginia in grades 4 to 12.  Project Discovery counsels students to stay in and graduate high school, and provides resources and tools for students to successfully make the transition to post-secondary education.

The Governor’s proposal, if adopted, will significantly curtail the program’s effectiveness.  “We urge the General Assembly to save Project Discovery,” Board President Barry Simmons of Blacksburg stated. He continued, “Since 1988, we have positively impacted the lives of over 33,000 students.” 

Senator Charles W. Carrico, Sr (R-Galax) said, “Project Discovery is and has been an education lifeline for thousands of students in our region.  I am urging my colleagues to protect Project Discovery for future generations.”

Dr. Brandy Rutledge, Senior Biostatistician at WESTAT, and a Project Discovery alum said: “Project Discovery help put me on the path to college and professional success.  I urge our Commonwealth to save this invaluable initiative.” Rutledge continued, “It helped to change my life, and continues to do the same for new students each year.”

State, local school and private funding support the programs.  The state is currently appropriating $619,650 annually (FY 2012).  The governor proposed zeroing out state support for Project Discovery in his introduced FY 2012-14 budget, but the General Assembly restored $350,000 annually for each year of the biennium - FY 2013 and FY 2014.  However, the governor, in his recent budget amendment actions released on Saturday, May 5, proposes reducing state support for Project Discovery to only $175,000 annually.

Project Discovery serves students from predominantly economically disadvantaged households who are potential first generation college attendees.  Project Discovery, through its partner agencies, stresses the importance of education, provides workshops to improve basic skills and assists students on the complex process of completing applications for financial aid and admission to post-secondary institutions.  As a result, a greater number of students continue on to post-secondary institutions and receive the benefits of higher education.

The General Assembly reconvenes on Monday, May 14 to consider the Governor’s budget proposals.  If either the House or Senate fails to approve a Governor’s proposed budget amendment, the provision fails.

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More information about Project Discovery:

Project Discovery, in collaboration with local school systems and counselors, provides services annually to over 2,000 students.  Over the 14 years, 86% of the programs graduating seniors have gone on to higher education.  Last year, 91% of the program participants were economically disadvantaged and or potential first generation college attendees.

Project Discovery students also succeed in higher education at a higher rate than do the general population of students.  Additional data from the Virginia Department of Education reports that 62% of all students who go on to college within two years of high school graduation have earned one year of college credit while only 49% of the economically disadvantaged meet the same mark.  By comparison, 58% of Project Discovery students are still in institutions of higher education after one year as reported by the National Student Clearinghouse. 

Last year 100% of Project Discovery’s 554 seniors graduated from high school on time while only about 87% of the general population graduates on time.  And when compared to the on-time graduation rate for students from economically-disadvantaged families, Project Discovery’s 100% on-time graduation rate far exceeds the statewide rate of 80% for those from economically-disadvantaged backgrounds.  Approximately 75% of Project Discovery students are from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.  More significantly, statewide, only four out of ten economically disadvantaged students continue their education beyond high school while eight out of ten low income Project Discovery participants continue their education beyond high school.

Beyond 12’s CEO, Alexandra Bernadotte, was recently selected as an Ashoka fellow, one of the highest honors for social entrepreneurs in the world! Ashoka is a global association of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs—individuals with innovative, large-scale ideas for addressing social problems. We are thrilled and humbled by this honor, and see it as true testament to the importance of our mission. Congrats to the other new Ashoka U.S. fellows! 

http://usa.ashoka.org/introducing-new-ashoka-fellows

Beyond 12's CEO, Alexandra Bernadotte, recently won the Jefferson Award for Public Service! Check out this CBS 5 segment about Beyond 12's work. It highlights our CEO, two of our college coaches as well as one of our amazing college students. A special thank you to the wonderful team at Full Circle Fund for nominating us for this prestigious award. While we are excited that this award highlights the work of our amazing team and students, we are even more excited about what this recognition means for the national movement to increase the number of low-income and first-generation students who earn a college degree. 

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/04/25/jefferson-award-winner-keeps-bay-area-college-students-focused/

April 6, 2012

Boston, MA - David L. Marcus and other prominent speakers to tackle college access challenge for low-income students in New England at May 23rd briefing, hosted by Let's Get Ready (www.letsgetready.org).

Unless higher education becomes more accessible for the growing low-income and minority populations in the United States, social inequality will inevitably continue to widen.  To address this issue, Let’s Get Ready is hosting, “The Challenges of College Access & Success Briefing", a panel discussion featuring leading educators and officials involved with this issue.  The program will highlight the availability and/or lack of college access and success resources for New England low income and first generation college students. The event will take place on Wednesday, May 23, 2012 at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, from 6:00-8:00 pm.

David L. Marcus, Pulitzer Prize–winning former education writer for U.S. News & World Report will moderate the discussion. Panelists include Nicholas Donohue, President & CEO of Nellie Mae Foundation, Greg Darnieder, Special Assistant and Advisor to U.S. Secretary of Education on College Access, Janice Bonanno, Associate Vice President for Student Services and Dean of Students at Bunker Hill Community College, Dr. Mary Bourque, Superintendent for Chelsea City Schools, and Wendy Ault, former Maine House of Representative and Executive Director of the MELMAC Foundation.

The discussion will focus on the unique challenges facing low-income and underrepresented students in pursuit of a college degree; the barriers to college completion that are prevalent at a time when education in the U.S. lags behind other countries; and innovative ways that higher education institutions and organizations are providing guidance to students applying to and attending college. 

Educational leaders are thrilled that this topic is being publicly addressed in Boston.  Karin Elliott, Executive Director of The National Partnership for Educational Access, feels that “coming together to share information and knowledge through an event such as this briefing is critical for success in the field of college access. We know that we can achieve more as a field if we collaborate, and honest conversation and awareness of the challenges is the first step on the road to change.”

Panelist Nicholas Donohue says, “I grew up in a family that experienced the extremes of class and wealth – both the good fortune of privilege and the challenge of making ends meet. That background has informed my belief in social justice, in the idea that everyone, regardless of race and class, should have the opportunity to learn and achieve.”

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About Let’s Get Ready

Let’s Get Ready offers 65 programs throughout the Northeast and is the largest non-profit organization in the U.S. to focus on providing free SAT preparation and college advising to low-incoming students.  The organization expands college access by providing a 5:1 student to teacher classroom setting to first generation and/or low-income high school students with intensive free SAT preparation and support throughout the admissions and financial aid process.  All of this is done within a highly cost-effective model that capitalizes on the enthusiasm of volunteer college students.    

There is significant Let’s Get Ready student enrollment at every Massachusetts state college and university.  Let’s Get Ready's results in New England are impressive -- In 2011, 1,191 students increased their SAT scores by an average of 119 points.  Over 93% percent of Let’s Get Ready high school students went directly to college after high school and 72% were the first in their families to attend college.

About David Marcus, Event Moderator

David Marcus is a reporter for Newsday, the Long Island newspaper. In two decades as a staff member of the Boston Globe, Dallas Morning News, Miami Herald and US News & World Report, Marcus was a columnist, roving national reporter and foreign correspondent. In addition to being a newspaper and newsmagazine reporter, Marcus was also a high school teacher and a writing instructor at a business school. In between, he wrote two highly-praised nonfiction books.  Marcus shared the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for a series about violence against women around the world. His freelance articles have appeared in Vanity Fair, GQ magazine, and the New York Times.

Let’s Get Ready Media Contact

Brooke Sword

617.345.0084

bsword@letsgetready.org

America’s Promise Alliance, along with our partners GlaxoSmithKline, State Farm, Target, and Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, are convening four Business-Education Collaborative Summits, for business and education leaders interested in being effective partners for public education. The sessions will orient participants to effective ways to engage with the schools, supply case studies of proven programs, and highlight criteria businesses can use in deciding which efforts fit well with their interests. The summits will move past generalities to help business and educators achieve their shared goals of children's success, from cradle to career.

 At these events, national, state and district-level speakers will:

 Offer practical, hands-on training to address common issues and challenges

• Give a clear assessment of education reform topics relevant to business
• Showcase effective partnerships from the school to the district levels
• Provide an opportunity for participants to share ideas with each other

Participants will also provide input to the creation of an ongoing technical assistance initiative that can continue to support their efforts in the coming years.

Summit dates and locations

• Charlotte, NC: June 11-12, 2012 
• Boston, MA: September 13-14, 2012
• Denver, CO: December 3-4, 2012
• Los Angeles, CA: January 2013 (date TBD)

For more information and registration click here

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Beth Luckock, Legacy Scholars, Coordinator

Office, 269.719-8228 or Cell, 646.285-1912

Celebrating First Class of Legacy Scholars

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. (May 10, 2012) – Legacy Scholars celebrates a significant and exciting development—the first graduating class of senior students.  During the week of May 14-18, students, teachers, parents, businesses and local politicians will be celebrating, too, during Legacy Scholars Week. 

All week long, various events will be held honoring the college-going culture started with the Legacy Scholars, including the following:

            Fly Your Flag! The Battle Creek College Access Network(CAN) and Legacy Scholars are asking local businesses, residents and classroom teachers to join in a college send-off for  graduating seniors beginning the week of May 14th through June 15. Simply fly a college flag of choice in support of the community’s graduating seniors and the places they will go.

            Proclaim it Loud & Proud!  Join with the City Commission of Battle Creek in honoring this year’s graduating class of Legacy Scholars.  Students, school administrators and Legacy Scholar/Battle Creek CAN staff will attend the City Commission meeting and the reading of a proclamation in their honor.

            Strike a Cord!  Legacy Scholars’ staff will present graduation cords to principals at Lakeview High School, Calhoun Community High School, Battle Creek Central and Bearcat Academy.  Cords will be given to students to wear at graduation ceremonies, and distributed with graduation cap and gowns by the schools.

            Write Your Legacy!  Students will have the opportunity to write their own legacy on provided canvases during lunch hours, and before and after school.  The senior students will leave a legacy for younger students, sharing their dreams and aspirations for their futures, and reminding younger students there are “No Limits” when education and opportunity unite.

“Legacy Scholars truly showcases the best of our community,” said Karl Dehn, chairman of the board of directors for Battle Creek CAN, of which Legacy Scholars is a cornerstone.  “Throughout the past six years, students have studied hard to achieve their dreams.  Now, it’s our turn to celebrate their efforts, but also to dedicate ourselves to nurturing a college-going culture for all our students.”

Legacy Scholars is a part of Battle Creek CAN, and is about making high school diplomas and college or technical degrees a reality for students of Battle Creek Public Schools and Lakeview School District. Established in 2005 through a 75^th Anniversary gift of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Legacy Scholars provides students with up to 62 credit hours at Kellogg Community College.   Legacy Scholars is a “last dollar” scholarship, used to supplement any other scholarships or grants received.

For more information about Legacy Scholars or Battle Creek CAN, visit the offices located inside the Battle Creek Community Foundation at One Riverwalk Centre, 34 West Jackson Street in downtown Battle Creek.  Or, call (269)719-8CAN (8226) or visit www.legacyscholars.org. 

In an ideal world, graduates embarking on their journey into the world are armed with the knowledge and wisdom they need to successfully pay their loans and stay out of debt. Unfortunately, the real world isn't so ideal. For one, students are graduating without giving loan repayment a second thought. And schools lack the time and resources to lay a strong foundation for smart money management. They suffer from shrinking budgets and staff, on top of an increased amount of compliance responsibility, making it nearly impossible for schools to reach out to students earlier than graduation time. Although exit counseling usually happens, a school can do more to prepare their students as they enter the grace period.

Here are five tips that a school can employ to help student borrowers gain new insight on the best ways to approach loan repayment:

• Think beyond exit counseling by providing in-person assistance, whether in a group setting at a larger institution or one-on-one meetings at a school with a smaller enrollment.
• Loan repayment is not a financial aid office issue. It's a school-wide matter. It will help to educate colleagues across campus. For example, a career services professional may be able to target students who are having trouble finding a job to direct them to learn about forbearance and income-based repayment options for federal loans.
• Use social media to reach students. Let them know about upcoming deadlines, repayment options, or even special events offered by your office.

Use student counselors to speak to other students about financial loan repayment. Students may

• learn best from individuals who experienced similar challenges, as they often speak in a way that a professional educator may not.
• Set up a temporary loan repayment information booth in a heavily trafficked area on campus.

Schools should also to take into account that a loan's grace period affects all borrowers, including students who've withdrawn, dropped out or become less than half time. Reaching them at the right time can make all the difference in their repayment strategy and is beneficial to the students, schools and everyone involved.

Kate Trombitas is the vice president of financial education at Inceptia, where her work focuses on enhancing the financial capability of America’s college students. Kate previously served as the associate director of The Ohio State University Student Wellness Center, where she founded Scarlet & Gray Financial, a peer-to-peer financial education program.

Inceptia, a division of National Student Loan Program (NSLP), is dedicated to providing much-needed support to help schools effectively and successfully fulfill their new roles and responsibilities. Through comprehensive data analysis, financial education, default prevention and financial aid management, we are confident we can help all students, not just borrowers, become financially responsible adults.

Written by Kate Trombitas, Vice President of Financial Education, Inceptia

Kenneth Webb, CYC Board member and Community Reinvestment Act Officer at Fifth Third Bank, and Dan Molina, also a Board member and Enterprise Architect for Accenture’s Global Architecture team, offered graduates powerful and insightful congratulatory remarks. Included at the Salute was artwork created by Cincinnati Arts and Technology Center (CATC) students, who provided their interpretation of this year’s theme, “Tune In to Your Future.” Former CYC graduates offered “words of wisdom” to this year’s seniors on what to expect in their post secondary careers.

Each student received a Certificate of Achievement, graduation medallion and flash drive for the next chapter of their academic life. CYC boasts a 99% high school graduation rate for seniors in its programs, and eight out of 10 graduates enroll in college.

Building capacity of counselors and higher education transition teams

This week St. Louis Graduates, a network of educators, nonprofit service providers and funders, wrapped up its Professional Development Institute workshop series for high school counselors, college access program staff, and higher education transition professionals. Over the year 53 participants and 23 speakers focused on building capacity to help students make the best match, plan a college prep courseload, transition from grades 12 to 13 and other critical issues. At the final workshop, participants developed action plans for the upcoming school year around building family financial literacy, guiding students through serious life challenges, addressing the needs of students with IEPs, and planning for postsecondary education as a first-generation student.

The series of six, three-hour intensive workshops used case studies, expert panels, and learning circle discussion to delve into critical issues affecting students. Case studies, speaker presentations, and other materials are available for download at www.StLouisGraduates.org.

This summer, leadership teams from eight participating school districts will develop college-going culture plans with support from Greg Darnieder of the U.S. Department of Education and other consultants.

The Professional Development Institute is funded by TG Public Benefit Grant Program.

PHOTO CUTLINE: Participants of the St. Louis Graduates Professional Development Institute wrapped up the program this week by developing action plans for the upcoming school year.

Media Contact:

Holly Mantle

            215.790.1666 x 422

hollymantle@philadelphiafutures.org

PHILADELPHIA FUTURES HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS ARE

ONLY LOCAL STUDENTS TO WIN DELL SCHOLARSHIPS,

FOR A TOTAL OF $100,000

Five Philadelphia Students Will Each Be Awarded a $20,000 College Scholarship

Philadelphia, Pa. (April 17, 2012)— For the second year in a row, five Philadelphia Futures high school seniors are the only students in the City to be awarded a Dell Scholars Program college scholarship. Since 2008, 12 Philadelphia Futures students have been awarded this scholarship, which accepts applications from students nationwide.

The five students will each receive $20,000 (for a total of $100,000) to support their college education. The students and the high schools they attend are:

• Tiana Harris, Academy of Palumbo
• Aquil Jones, Central High School
• Kevin Lu, Northeast High School
• Tien Tran, Northeast High School
• Brianna Williams, Furness Horace High School

 “Our students’ receipt of the Dell Scholars Program scholarships demonstrates the potential of Philadelphia’s high school students and is an affirmation of the power of our work,” said Joan Mazzotti, Executive Director of Philadelphia Futures. “We are thrilled that Philadelphia Futures students can compete and succeed on a national level. The scholarships recognize our student’s achievements and provide critically needed financial aid resources.” 

Philadelphia Futures is one of only 17 education entities in the U.S. that is an approved Dell Scholars Program college readiness program. Philadelphia Futures has met the national initiative’s stringent criteria for preparing low-income, first-generation-to-college for success through rigorous and life-changing programs as they make their way to and through college.

The Dell Scholarship Program, an initiative of the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, provides college scholarships to high school students that demonstrate academic potential and determination and have a definite need for financial assistance.

For more information about the Dell Scholars Program scholarship winners and Philadelphia Futures, please contact Holly Mantle at 215.790.1666 x422 or hollymantle@philadelphiafutures.org. Philadelphia Futures can be found online on their website at www.philadelphiafutures.org and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/phillyfutures.

            ###

 About Philadelphia Futures

Philadelphia Futures: a union of White-Williams Scholars and Philadelphia Futures provides Philadelphia’s high-potential, economically disadvantaged, college-bound students with deep, rigorous and life-changing programs and resources as they make their journey to and through college. To learn more, visit www.philadelphiafutures.org

On April 3, Tara Payne, Vice President, College Planning & Community Engagement at The NHHEAF Network Organizations and Kerry Koziell, College Outreach Specialist from the Center for College Planning (CCP), visited 120 second grade students from the Dame and Broken Ground School in Concord, NH to launch the annual “I Can Save” tour in partnership with the NH Jump$tart Coalition.

This year twelve NH elementary schools participated in the month-long tour; created to reinforce important financial literacy concepts to children as part of the celebration of April as Youth Financial Literacy Month. Led by NHHEAF’s CCP college outreach team, students in attendance explore the concepts of spending, saving and sharing with “Moonjar” banks. Moonjars are essentially piggy banks, divided in three slots, letting students categorize their funds. Throughout the presentation, students share ideas about things they want to spend money on, save money for and organizations and causes they would like to share money with.

This year twelve NH Elementary school participated on the tour including Brown Elementary School in Berlin, Centre School in Hampton, Dame School in Concord, Fairgrounds Elementary School in Nashua, Grantham Village School in Grantham, Jaffrey Elementary School in Jaffrey, Lafayette Regional School in Franconia, Linwood Elementary School in Lincoln, Madison Elementary School in Madison, Penacook Elementary School in Penacook, Piermont Village School in Piermont, Sanbornton Elementary School in Sanbornton and South Range Elementary School in Londonderry.

Salem, Virginia

May 5, 2012

Project Discovery of Virginia is pleased to announce the 2012 Project Discovery Scholarship award recipients. Project Discovery, a statewide dropout prevention, college access program serves over 2,000 students annually in 150 school districts in Virginia.

Through 23 community organizations, Project Discovery partners with local school systems to provide workshops, financial aid and college application assistance as well as college campus visits to at-risk students.

Jeffrey North, CEO of Project Discovery said that this year’s applicant pool was very competitive and the Scholarship review committee was impressed with the quality of all applications.

Those selected to receive scholarship in the amount of $1,000 are:

Emily K. Bayens - People Incorporated of Virginia, Abingdon

Jadé R. Myles - Quin Rivers Community Action Agency, Fredericksburg

Megan L. Matney - People Incorporated of Virginia, Abingdon

Ashley R. Pierce – Office of Human Affairs, Newport News

Maryam Sultany - Quin Rivers Community Action Agency, Fredericksburg

LéBryant D. Bell - Eastern Shore Area Agency on Aging & Community Action, Exmore

Korey L. White – Office of Human Affairs, Newport News

Ben D. Pruitt – Mountain Community Action Program, Marion

Jessica A. Mayo – Office of Human Affairs, Newport News

Jessica M. Patton - Mountain Community Action Program, Marion

Elizabeth A. Woods - People Incorporated of Virginia, Abingdon

Rebecca N. Statzer - People Incorporated of Virginia, Abingdon

Logan A. Reynolds - People Incorporated of Virginia, Abingdon

Kaitlyn M. Mallory - Skyline Community Action Program, Madison

KéAngela M. Crawford – Office of Human Affairs, Newport News

For further information:

Contact:           Jeffrey L. North

Voice:              540-389-9900

Fax:                  540-389-9920

Email:              jnorth@projectdiscovery.org

Media Contact:

Melissa Simas Tyler                                      

857-222-8049

msimastyler@oneillandassoc.com

Massachusetts Nonprofit Makes a Splash on the National Scene with New Location in Miami

Growth prompts ACCESS to change name to UAspire

Boston, MA (April 30, 2012) – ACCESS, a not-for-profit group based in Boston, Mass. that provides financial aid guidance and information to thousands of students in every public and charter high school in Boston, Springfield and Lawrence, is headed to the Sunshine State to open its first location outside of Massachusetts and is changing its name to UAspire.

UAspire is partnering with Miami Dade College and the Miami-Dade County Public Schools to ensure Miami’s students have a solid plan to finance their higher education.  Trained financial aid advisors will be placed in five Miami high schools, listed below, to work one-on-one with graduating seniors. With seed funding from the Kresge Foundation, UAspire will expand in Miami starting in September 2012. In its first year of programming, UAspire will serve more than 2,000 graduating high school seniors in Miami.

 “This is an extraordinary opportunity for us to help the students of South Florida get into and pay for college,” said UAspire Chief Executive Officer Bob Giannino-Racine. “Miami rose to the top of our short list due to a clear interest from Miami Dade College and local community leaers in wanting to partner in our work and support our launch and success.”

Miami Dade College has provided UAspire with in-kind office space and other resources to support its services across Miami.

Giannino-Racine said UAspire has hit the ground running in Miami thanks to the hiring of Keith Fletcher as its Miami Executive Director. Fletcher has deep roots in the Florida education community having served in leadership roles at Florida International University and the University of Miami.

“UAspire will create an immediate impact within its first year of operations in Miami,” said Fletcher. “We are filling a real need here. By replicating the success that UAspire has had in Massachusetts, we are going to change thousands of lives for the better.”

Founded in 1985, UAspire has been a pioneer in addressing issues of college affordability, providing financial aid advising and opening doors to higher education and economic opportunity for generations. Since 2005, UAspire has grown rapidly reaching 4,000 students annually. In the past five years, UAspire has leveraged $220 million in financial aid – $62 million in 2011 alone.

“We are extremely proud of the number of students we have reached and impacted during our 27 year history in Massachusetts,” said Giannino-Racine. “When we started our goal was to get students into college. Now we are committed to making sure these students graduate. This new mission has prompted us to change our name; a name that lets students, parents, educators, and funders know we are dedicated not just to access, but to each student’s success. The new name we decided on that accurately describes our future goals is UAspire.”

ACCESS will officially become UAspire in Miami by mid-September 2012.

UAspire Miami Partner High Schools:

American Senior High School

John A. Ferguson Senior High School

Miami Lakes Educational Center

Miami Southridge High School

Miami Sunset Senior High School

About ACCESS

ACCESS is Massachusetts’ leading provider of financial aid advising and scholarships and has provided financial aid advising and scholarships to more than 50,000 students since 1985, helping them realize their higher education goals and giving them a better foundation for a successful and productive future. Last year alone, ACCESS helped graduating high school seniors secure more than $57.2 million in financial aid – showing a return on investment of $61 in aid secured for every $1 invested in its advising program. ACCESS services are provided free of charge and serve students from every public high school and beyond and every neighborhood in Boston, Springfield and Lawrence. For more information, please visit www.accessedu.org.  

A giant congratulations is in order. The Top high schools in the US report came out in US News and World Report.

Out of 22,000 schools nationally we/Del Valle HS ranked 1048 in the nation and out of 1842 high schools in the state of Texas we ranked 89.

That is in the Top %5 in both categories!!! See the attached articles info for details.

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/texas/districts/del-valle-independent-school-district/del-valle-high-school-18955

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/texas

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools

National ranking.

Superintendent Dr. Crook and Central Office staff send their Congratulations on such a great accomplishment as well.

Awesome Work Del Valle High School!!!! Keep it up!!! Everyone together contributed to making this happen. This is quite a confirmation of all of your commitment and hard work.

Congratulations!!!!!

For the last 20 years, Project GRAD has prepared students for college in three unique ways: by developing their critical thinking skills through engagement with arts; by offering College Institutes every summer, whose rigorous academics challenges students and whose venue allows them to envision themselves as college students; and by collaborating with the school district, local schools and the community to change the college-going expectations of low-income, first-generation students.

 We have already confirmed the following speakers and events:

•  Russlynn Ali, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education, will be our plenary speaker at lunch on Monday, September 17, 2012.
• NCAN is proud to announce that we will screen the film First Generation on Monday, September 17, 2012, thanks to the support of Lumina Foundation.
• Jaye and Adam Fenderson, Directors and Producers of First Generation will join us for a discussion at the lunch plenary on Tuesday, September 18, 2012. They will be joined by students featured in that film.

 Additional speakers and events will be announced as they are confirmed.

 For this year’s conference we have arranged an extraordinary room rate of $109/night at the historic Flamingo Hotel. To reserve your room, please click here.

We look forward to seeing everyone in Las Vegas in September!

Please note that each registrant will need his or her own login and password. If you require assistance, please contact ncan@collegeaccess.org.

To register, please click here.

NCAN WOULD LIKE TO THANK OUR TRACK SPONSORS FOR THEIR SUPPORT OF THE 2012 NATIONAL CONFERENCE:

• USA Funds (Student Success in Higher Education and Awards of Excellence)
• Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corporation (Data and Evaluation)
• Kresge Foundation (Statewide and Regional Partnerships)
• The College Board (Financial Aid and Literacy)
• The Travelers Companies, Inc. (College Readiness)

(Albuquerque, NM): According to data collected by a national program that aims to increase student completion of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), New Mexico’s FAFSA Free-for-All program ranks first for student completion out of 40 participating states!  As of May 11, 2012, New Mexico reports that 2,093 student surveys have been completed at FAFSA Free-for-All events, and the number will continue to grow at events held through the program’s end on June 1, 2012. 

FAFSA Free-for-All program partners expect to assist 5,000 students by the June 1 deadline, and are enthusiastic about progress so far.  Jerry McKeen, a program organizer and Senior Director of Financial Aid at San Juan College, says, “Each year financial aid offices independently assist as many families as possible toward accessing higher education.  However, having a centralized, state-wide initiative such as FAFSA-Free-for-All creates a unifying purpose among financial aid offices that also allows for opportunities to share ideas and contact even more families about the benefits of financial aid.” 

The FAFSA provides a student with the opportunity to receive Federal financial aid, including Pell Grants and low-interest student loans.  The application is also required by institutions in order to qualify for other need-based and merit-based institutional aid, and colleges, universities, and vocational schools use the FAFSA to calculate a student’s entire financial aid award.  Even current college students should complete a FAFSA each year.  FAFSA Free-for-All is part of College Goal Sunday^SM programs held in 40 states nationwide.  The College Goal Sunday^SM program was created by the Indiana Student Financial Aid Association with funding from Lilly Endowment, Inc., and with supplemental support from Lumina Foundation for Education.  This year, over 200 FAFSA Free-for-All events will be held at more than 80 locations across the state. 

FAFSA Free-for-All works to increase public awareness of federal funding that is available to many students in New Mexico, but often goes unclaimed.  Many times, families do not know about the application, or do not believe they will benefit from it – however, students at events this year are learning exactly how valuable it is.  An anonymous student survey advised after a February 28 event, “There should be more FAFSA workshops for students already in college in case they haven't heard of it or if they need help filing for it.”  Other students and parents comment on the usefulness of assistance with daunting tax jargon, and the value of Spanish language assistance, especially when communicating why sensitive information is necessary on the form.

FAFSA Free-for-All also collects demographic data to learn more about the program’s effectiveness in reaching low-income, Hispanic, and Native American students.  As of May 11, approximately 63.8% of students surveyed have an annual family income of less than $40,000, which makes them likely Pell Grant recipients.  Additionally, about 63% of students will be first-generation college students.  As the program concludes, organizers will release a report on all data collected, and recommendations for program expansion and sustainability.

Students who completed a FAFSA at a FAFSA Free-for-All event by March 1 are eligible to receive $500 scholarships awarded at event locations.  Students who complete a FAFSA at an event through the entire duration of the program (January 1-June 1) are entered to win one of four laptops.

A degree or meaningful certificate is an essential tool for New Mexico’s students.  According to Stronger Nation, a report released by the Lumina Foundation for Education on March 26, 2012, approximately 58% of jobs in our state will require an associate’s degree or better by 2018.  The FAFSA can enable our students to afford higher education training that will make them competitive in a changing workforce.  For more information on FAFSA Free-for-All, please contact Laura Kuechenmeister at New Mexico CAN (505.241.4483, laura@collegenm.org) or visit www.FAFSAfreeforall.org.

FAFSA Free-for-All is presented in partnership by the New Mexico Higher Education Department, Albuquerque Public Schools, New Mexico Educational Assistance Foundation, GEAR UP, New Mexico Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, YMCA, Girl Scouts of New Mexico Trails, and New Mexico colleges and high schools.  FAFSA Free-for-All is funded, in part, by the Lumina Foundation for Education and is a program of College Goal Sunday^SM.  Major funding for FAFSA Free-for-All comes from the College Access Challenge Grant and New Mexico Higher Education Department.

Teaser:

Financial Aid Saturdays:
Volunteers rally to help students
and their parents apply for college aid

Students who complete a financial aid application are more likely to go to college.  To boost financial aid application rates in the Dallas and San Antonio areas, volunteers in the Texas College Access Network (TxCAN) offered financial aid workshops on Saturdays to high school students and their parents. The pilot programs met with huge success.

► Super Saturday in Dallas:
Hundreds receive help in applying
for college financial aid

Michelle Saucedo, a senior at Molina High School in Dallas, was one of more than 270 students who attended the first FAFSA/TASFA Super Saturday workshop to be held in Dallas.  The March 24 event, supported by Educate Texas and the Texas College Access Network (TxCAN), gave Saucedo and her parents an opportunity to receive help in completing financial aid and college scholarship applications. 

“The Super Saturday was beneficial to me and my family,” said Saucedo. “The advisors were very helpful and attentive while we completed the FAFSA and TASFA forms. I would like to suggest having even more events next year to help more of my classmates.”

TxCAN is part of the National College Access Network (NCAN), a group of public and private organizations that collaborate to increase student access to and success in postsecondary education. Educate Texas, an initiative of the Communities Foundation of Texas to improve public education, has launched TxCAN regional pilot programs in the Dallas/North Texas area and in San Antonio (see related article on San Antonio’s “Student Aid Saturdays”). 

Through TxCAN, organizations such as colleges and universities, school districts, school counselors, non-profit and for-profit college access service providers, and state agencies have greater opportunities to work together to further student postsecondary access and success. 

“Students who submit a financial aid application are more likely to continue to postsecondary education.  So, the need to support students and families in the financial aid process is crucial,” said Alejandra Barbosa, Operations and Program Manager for Educate Texas.  “It takes the expertise and collaboration of many partners to support our students so that they get all the help they need.”

“As the host site for Super Saturday, we saw what happens when organizations think outside their four walls to benefit students,” said Connie Lefler, Associate Principal at Moises E. Molina High School.  “By working collaboratively with multiple entities, we were able to provide an opportunity for all seniors in the Dallas County area to complete a critical step for college access.”

Organizers of the first North Texas FAFSA/TASFA Super Saturday said the event produced impressive results:

·         More than 270 students representing 20 different Dallas-area school districts attended.

·         More than 250 parents attended.

·         More than 70 volunteers representing more than 20 organizations assisted in the event.

·         An estimated $21,000 in college and university scholarships was awarded to students, during the event, who had completed their college and financial aid applications.

“This event was a perfect example of the impact that regional collaboration can have on connecting students and their families with college-going support, resources, and information,” said Stephanie Holley, Dean of Enrollment Management at Texas A&M University-Commerce.

“Gaining access to financial resources and receiving the proper guidance are key drivers in being able to take the first step toward a college education,” Holley continued, “and they are just as important for retention and degree completion.  We accomplished what we set out to do and had an incredibly successful day.  We are committed to continuing our strong level of support and involvement with this and other TxCAN-led events.”

TxCAN plans to expand its financial aid workshops next year to reach more students and their families. More information about the workshops, about Educate Texas, and about TxCAN partnerships for college access is available by contacting Alejandra Barbosa, Operations and Program Manager, Educate Texas, Communities Foundation of Texas, (214) 750-4137, abarbosa@cftexas.org.

► Student Aid Saturdays in San Antonio:
A community invests in higher education

In its master plan, the City of San Antonio has set a goal for 80 percent of its 2020 high-school graduates to be college ready.

Students are more likely to enter college if they submit a financial aid application. But, only 52 percent of San Antonio’s 2011 high school graduates applied for college financial aid from federal and state sources, a number that San Antonio educators consider too low.

In an effort to increase the number of financial aid applicants in 2012, several San Antonio organizations joined forces to offer Student Aid Saturdays on eight weekends in the spring semester, beginning in January.  At the events, college-going students and their families received free assistance in filling out federal and state financial aid forms.

The events were held in high schools and community centers and on college campuses, and they were staffed with trained college financial-aid officers who provided one-on-one, bilingual assistance to students and their families.

Student Aid Saturdays were a project of many partners in SA-CAN, the San Antonio network of the Texas College Access Network (TxCAN).  SA-CAN/TxCAN is part of the National College Access Network (NCAN), a group of public and private organizations that collaborate to increase student access to and success in postsecondary education. SA-CAN collaborators in San Antonio include the City of San Antonio, San Antonio Education Partnership, Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, cafécollege, and GenTX-San Antonio. More than 500 volunteers helped during the eight weeks of Student Aid Saturdays, and 26 businesses and community organizations adopted a Student Aid Saturdays site.

Educate Texas, an initiative of the Communities Foundation of Texas to improve public education, has launched TxCAN regional pilot programs in San Antonio and in North Texas (see related article on North Texas’ “FAFSA/TASFA Super Saturday”). 

“We’re very proud of everything that the SA-CAN partners are accomplishing, they’ve truly demonstrated a commitment to collaboration and to increasing postsecondary access,” said Alejandra Barbosa, Operations and Program Manager for Educate Texas. 

More information about the financial aid workshops, about Educate Texas, and about TxCAN’s partnerships for college access is available by contacting Alejandra Barbosa, Operations and Program Manager, Educate Texas, Communities Foundation of Texas, (214) 750-4137, abarbosa@cftexas.org.

Parents often find talking to their students about finances and college costs to be a challenge. To help jumpstart the conversation, TG and San Antonio's KLRN-PBS station created "College Costs: When to talk about planning for college." This special program encourages the use of practical financial literacy skills to plan and pay for college.

The family and community-focused discussion features Lisa Blazer, assistant vice president for financial aid at University of Texas San Antonio, Sharon Cabeen, director of the TG Financial Literacy Program, Mark Kantrowitz, creator of finaid.org and fastweb.com, and Eyra Perez, executive director for the San Antonio Education Partnership.

This program was created as part of TG’s ongoing efforts to promote college access and success. The program may be viewed in its entirety at www.TG.org/collegecosts.  

As in every year since our first class, 100% of the Scholars in CDI’s Class of 2012 were accepted into multiple selective colleges and universities. As Nina Marks highlighted in her Benefit speech, “Of the 239 applications filed by 25 Scholars, only 32 were denials and 37 were wait lists.” What makes those figures so remarkable is that colleges fielded record numbers of national and international applications at the same time they also slashed admit rates. Put simply, this year was a very difficult  year to get into college. Nevertheless, CDI Scholars fared extremely well.

Our Scholars were admitted to, among others: Barnard, Boston College, Brown, Columbia, Carnegie Mellon, Dartmouth, Goucher, Lafayette, Morehouse, Princeton, Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Richmond, William & Mary, and Wesleyan. In addition, several of our Scholars received prestigious merit scholarships and full rides.

USA Funds has awarded a $395,000 grant to one of the nation’s largest volunteer service organizations of professional women for a project to build stronger ties between community colleges and Historically Black Colleges and Universities and enhance college completion rates.

The Links, Incorporated is leading a community college transfer initiative that matches community colleges and HBCUs in five states. The participating institutions include:

·         Bluegrass Community and Technical College and Kentucky State University (Kentucky).

·         Hinds Community College-Utica campus and Tougaloo College (Mississippi).

·         Fayetteville Technical Community College and Fayetteville State University (North Carolina).

·         Austin Community College and Houston-Tillotson University (Texas).

·         Tidewater Community College and Norfolk State University (Virginia).

·         J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College and Virginia Union University (Virginia).

·          

Selected students at each identified community college will receive financial support, mentoring, academic coaching and other services needed for successful transfer to an HBCU. The community colleges and HBCUs will have the opportunity to collaborate to help facilitate the students’ transfer to HBCUs from community colleges — with the goal of encouraging more community college students to transfer to HBCUs in the future.

CACG staff is invited to attend at the recommendation of the Department of Education. For more information, to register for the conference, or to become a sponsor, exhibitor, or advertiser, visit www.edpartnerships.org.

This issue is receiving a large amount of attention from the media and politicians nationwide. President Obama, Mitt Romney, presumed GOP presidential nominee, and both parties in both chambers of Congress have all said that the interest rates should not double. They do, however, disagree on how to pay for a one year extension to keep the rates at the current level.

Federal estimates place the cost of the one year extension at $6 billion. None of the current proposals from either party to pay for the extension have been amenable to the opposing party. It is likely that Congress will volley back and forth on the payment structure for this extension and not make a final decision until much closer to the July 1 deadline.

Jim McCorkell, College Possible founder and CEO, was selected as the recipient of the 2012 Harvard Kennedy School Alumni Achievement Award for demonstrating an innovative, scalable and sustainable approach to solving a pubic problem that has a significant impact on the lives of many people.  The award has been given to 19 people since it was launched in 1997, including Robert Zoellick, former Deputy Secretary of State; Klaus Schwab, founder and president of the World Economic Forum; Paul Volker, former chair of the Federal Reserve Board, and other change makers from the private, nonprofit and public sectors.
 
College Possible (formerly Admission Possible) was the first organization in the country to harness the power of AmeriCorps members to provide intensive college coaching to low-income students. Since its founding in 2000, College Possible has refined its program to be an efficient model achieving top-of-field results. College Possible now serves 8,700 Minnesota, Nebraska and Wisconsin students with plans to reach 20,000 students annually in 10 locations across the country by 2020.

A graduate of McKinley Technical Senior High School, in Washington DC, Tanara attended Howard University Upward Bound Program where she went on to pursue her undergraduate studies.  As Office Coordinator, Tanara will bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to NCAN.  She resides in Washington, DC with her husband and two children.

The San Antonio Education Partnership, in collaboration with Mayor Julián Castro, Generation TX San Antonio, San Antonio Youth Commission and SA2020, hosted “Destination College” on April 16 -22.  With nine events over seven days, “Destination College” invited more than 3,000 students, parents, educators and community leaders to join towards one goal: inspiring our youth to dream bigger.

On Monday, the Mayor hosted the kick-off at cafécollege and unveiled San Antonio’s first-ever college-going Fiesta medal.  On Tuesday and Wednesday, Elementary School Night and Middle School Night were held at cafécollege where students and parents attended bilingual financial aid and college prep workshops.  The Texas premiere of FIRST GENERATION, followed by a panel discussion with the film’s directors, was hosted on Wednesday evening.  On Thursday, the College Signing Day ceremony featured high school seniors announcing their college choice to their families and friends. 

College fever swept the city with College T-shirt Day on Friday.  Saturday’s Summit featured more than 30 different workshops focused on college, financial aid, careers, health and fitness, and leadership.  On Sunday, students volunteered for San Antonio’s Youth Day of Service. 

“Destination College” proved San Antonio is committed to supporting our students’ goals of a better future and city!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Amy Kerwin

April 5, 2012 608-246-1785

akerwin@glhec.org

New Great Lakes Grant Opportunity to Help Disadvantaged Students Complete College

Persistence Programs at Wisconsin Institutions of Higher Education and Community-Based Organizations Eligible to Apply

Madison, Wis. — More disadvantaged undergraduate students will get help completing their degree, diploma, or certificate thanks to a new grant opportunity announced today by Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corporation (Great Lakes). The Wisconsin Postsecondary Persistence Program Grants opportunity is made available through Great Lakes’ Community Investments program. Member institutions of the University of Wisconsin System, Wisconsin Technical College System, Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, and Wisconsin Tribal Colleges and Universities are encouraged to apply for grants up to $300,000. Wisconsin nonprofit community- and faith-based organizations are also eligible to apply.

Disadvantaged student populations can face a number of challenges that prevent them from finishing a degree, diploma, or certificate. “Studies show that students from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to leave school before completing their program of study or degree,” said Richard D. George, Great Lakes’ President and Chief Executive Officer. “This grant opportunity is designed to provide these students with the support they need to overcome the hurdles that too often get in the way of college completion.”

Great Lakes’ Wisconsin Postsecondary Persistence Program Grants will support programs that provide academic, career, and personal support services to undergraduate students. Programs selected for funding must demonstrate that the participants’ semester-to-semester and year-to-year re-enrollment rates are higher than those of their peers. Great Lakes plans to use the reported program outcomes to identify what works best in increasing persistence for students of color, students from low-income backgrounds, and/or those who are the first in their families to attend college. These results will then be used to inform future funding decisions.

Applications for this grant opportunity can be found online at mygreatlakes.org/community and are due June 1, 2012.

For more information on Community Investments, visit mygreatlakes.org/community or contact Amy Kerwin at akerwin@glhec.org or (608) 246-1785.

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About Great Lakes and Community Investments

Knowing that education has the power to change lives for the better, Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation and Affiliates helps millions of students pay for college and manage their student loans. Through Community Investments, Great Lakes funds programs that foster workforce development and improve economic competitiveness by increasing the number of disadvantaged students who start and complete a postsecondary degree or certificate. Since 2006, Great Lakes has committed more than $69 million in funding to programs that share these goals. For additional information, visit mygreatlakes.org/community.