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The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation awarded a $1 million grant to Tufts University and Massachusetts Campus Compact (MACC) as part of a nationwide initiative aimed at significantly increasing college enrollment and graduation among low-income high school and community college students. This foundation is private and independent and was established in 2000 by the estate of Jack Kent Cooke to help young people of exceptional promise reach their full potential through education. Following in the tradition of programs like AmeriCorps*VISTA and Teach for America, the College Advising Corps (CAC) will recruit and train Tufts seniors over the next four years to work full time as advisers following graduation.

The CAC will recruit and train recent Tufts graduates to work full time as college advisers for one or two years while serving as a partnership liaison between a college in Massachusetts and a local high school.  During this ten-month program, College Access Corps members will spend their time at both the college and the high school, and work on two primary goals: 1) Increase college enrollment rates of high achieving/low matriculation local high school students and 2) Build deeper partnerships between higher education institutions and high schools to address college access. The first goal involves one-on-one advisement as well as being an information resource.  The second goal is focused on developing college-positive, youth-targeted volunteer programs and resources to strengthen and sustain college-high school partnership.

The goal is to combat staggering rates of college-qualified, low-income high school graduates who fail to earn bachelor's degrees by providing college admission and financial aid guidance to disadvantaged students.  Lack of information about admissions and financial aid is a significant barrier to college for low-income students -- who are much less likely than their counterparts in wealthy communities to have access to SAT preparation, college application guidance and information about financial aid.  On average there is only one high school counselor for every 488 American public high school students.  Even though College Advising Corps is in its' beginning stages, the progress is evident.  Josh Wyner, Vice-President of Programs for the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation stated, "At one Virginia high school, we saw a 23 percent jump in the college admissions acceptance rate.  Now low-income students in Massachusetts will get access to much-needed guidance from mentors fresh out of college who can really inspire them," he added.

2007-2008 College Advising Corps Members and Sites:

• The Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School/ The University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth - Kim Le
• Springfield Science and Technology High School/American International College - Nathan Cleveland
• Drury High School/Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts - Denise Wiseman
• East Boston High School/Bunker Hill Community College - Lillian O'Donnell

Click here for a printable version of this information.

The 2008-2009 College Advising Corps sites are:

• Boston Community Leadership Academy & Wheelock College
• Dorchester Education Complex & University of Massachusetts Boston
• Drury High School (North Adams) & Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
• East Boston High School & Bunker Hill Community College
• Framingham High School & Framingham State College
• John D. O'Bryant High School & Wentworth Institute of Technology
• New Bedford High School & Bristol Community College
• New Bedford Vocational Technical High School & University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
• Somerville High School & Tufts University
• Springfield High School of Science & Technology & American International College

Read stories from Lillian O'Donnell, Nate Cleveland and Denise Wiseman, 2007-2008 Corps Members.

For more information, please contact Andrew Cahill at andrew.cahill@tufts.edu.