Former 'Skins owner funds Advising Corps

April 3, 2007
This past week, a $1 million grant was presented to Loyola College by the Jack Kent Cook Foundation, making it possible to establish a College Advising Corps initiative within the school.

The initiative, a service-based program, will place graduating Loyola seniors as college preparatory counselors in Maryland high schools, which have a number of high-achieving, low-income students. The program is designed to provide high school students, who either would normally not have the resources to go to college or would simply not consider a college education as an option, with recently graduated counselors, who will advise them on the college application and financial aid processes throughout the school year.

"We're targeting kids who are really capable but sort of don't think of [college] as part of their life's path," said the Chairman of the Department of Education, Dr. Victor Delclos.

The program, directed by Dr. Lee Richmond, will be primarily run out of the Department of Education in conjunction with other departments on campus, such as the Center for Community Service and Justice, which will be doing the recruitment for the initiative. Students who participate will receive a stipend as well as a housing allowance for the one to two years they work with the program.

Training for the students, who will begin work next fall, starts this summer and will include instruction on the financial aid process from Loyola's financial aid office, as well as training sessions from Loyola's admissions and career development offices. As counselors, they will also work with the high school students on preparing for the SATs, acquiring recommendation letters and taking the students on trips to visit colleges.

"There really are a lot of parts of Loyola that are contributing to the overall effort," said Delclos. "Recruiting is wide open to all majors, and so we expect the counselors will turn out to be mostly non-education students."

Being chosen for this grant is certainly an honor for Loyola. It is one of nine colleges and universities to receive the grant out of an original pool of 160. Loyola joins Brown University, Tufts University, and the University of California Berkley, among others, in receiving the award. The grant will be supplemented with another $1.3 million, provided by Loyola, in order to run the program.

"It really underscores the strength of our Education Department, which will be chiefly responsible for training and placing the advising corps," said Director of Public Relations Mark Kelly.

The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation traditionally provides college scholarships to low-income students. They also provide money for special related initiatives, such as the College Advising Corps. The initiative is based on a pilot model of the program run out of the University of Virginia, which was extremely successful.

"I commend and thank the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation for creating this vital program, which is very much in keeping with Loyola's Jesuit mission to extend educational opportunities while also serving the broader community," said Loyola President Rev. Brian Linnane, S.J., in a press release last week.

The high schools Loyola will be partnering with were selected through Loyola's personal research within the surrounding school districts, as well by working in conjunction with the non-profit organizations, The College Bound Foundation, One Hundred Cap, and the Southern Maryland College Access Network, which already operate similar programs in some of the high schools.

Nine high schools coming from Anne Arundel County, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Prince George's County, and Wicomico County were selected for the initiative. The program is expected to advise 7,400 students over the four-year period.

"We have a contract for four years to run the program and to utilize their funds to help us run the program," said Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations Kurt Sudbrink, whose office wrote the proposal for the grant. "After the four years, I'm not sure what will happen, but I think we have a really great program, and I think as we continue to go, we'll continue to partner with them."

Students interested in participating in the initiative should call extension 2480 for more information.