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National College Advising Corps to Kick Off in Chapel Hill

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August 5, 2007 Future college advisors from 11 states gather for national training, program launch

Sunday-Tuesday (Aug. 5-7)
Carolina Inn and Hyde Hall
UNC campus, Chapel Hill

Media representatives are invited to attend the launch of the National College Advising Corps from August 5-7. 60 recent graduates from 11 colleges and universities will gather at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill to train to be advisors in the National College Advising Corps.

The National College Advising Corps is a new national program that places recent college graduates in high schools with low college attendance in an attempt to reduce barriers to college access. These advisors, working alongside guidance counselors, will help students at partner high schools plan their college searches, complete admissions and financial-aid applications and overcome obstacles that might discourage them from continuing their education.

Funded in part by $10 million from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, the Advising Corps is the first national effort led by colleges and universities to increase access to higher education for first generation, low-income and underrepresented students. In a similar spirit to programs such as the Peace Corps, Teach for America, and Americorps programs, the Advising Corps encourages young people to pursue a path of public service.

College advising is one critical way to decrease barriers to college access. The National Center for Educational Statistics found that the national average for students to guidance counselors is 488 to 1. Research shows that low-income and first-generation students are particularly underserved during the college application process. Notably, low-income high school graduates who score in the top quartile on standardized tests attend college at the same rate as high-income high school graduates in the bottom quartile. Income also influences the attainment of higher education credentials, as only 36 percent of college-qualified low-income students complete bachelor's degrees within 8½ years, compared with 81 percent of high-income students. Clearly, the difference in rates of admission and attainment of college degrees is due, in large part, to the lack of access available to lower-income students.

The central office of the National College Advising Corps, a partnership between the university, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation and the National College Access Network, is based in Carolina's Office of Undergraduate Admissions and is led by Dr. Nicole Hurd, founding director of the College Guide Program at the University of Virginia. It will support the programs at its partner institutions and also encourage other schools to launch similar efforts.

This fall, the following universities will run statewide advising programs in their respective states: Brown University (Rhode Island); Franklin and Marshall College and Pennsylvania State University (Pennsylvania); Loyola College (Maryland); Tufts University (Massachusetts); University of Alabama; University of California, Berkeley; University of Missouri-Columbia; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; University of Utah; and the University of Virginia (College Guide Program).

ADVISING CORPS KICKOFF

Note: The following sessions will probably offer the best opportunities for quotes and good context for a story:

Monday (Aug. 6)
1:30-2:45 p.m; University Room, Hyde Hall, McCorkle Place
The session "KnowHow2Go" will present an overview of the national access campaign sponsored by Lumina Foundation for Education, the American Council on Education and the Ad Council. David Cournoyer from Lumina will be available for questions.

Monday (Aug. 6)
4 p.m. University Room, Hyde Hall, McCorkle Place
In the session "What Will the First Year Be Like?" past guides in the College Guide Program at the University of Virginia, the program that was the model for the National College Advising Corps, will give new corps members advice on the challenges they will face, how to build coalitions within the schools and how to succeed. The advisors and program directors will be available after this session.

Tuesday (Aug. 7)
10:30 a.m.; University Room, Hyde Hall; McCorkle Place
In the session "Advice from the schools' perspective," new corps members will hear from principals, teachers, and guidance counselors from area high schools giving nuts-and-bolts advice on how to successfully integrate into school culture. The panelists will be representing Research Triangle-area schools. Advisors, program directors, and school representatives will be available after this session.

For more information, visit these links:

The National College Advising Corps is supported by both the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the National College Access Network. NCAN would like to acknowledge the support of the Sallie Mae Fund for this program.

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