The U.S. Department of Education reports that 4 million potential college degree recipients have been “lost” during the past 20 years, due to lack of information available to them about admissions, financial aid, SAT preparation and college application guidance. Many of these students are America’s top-performing, lower-income high school graduates.
Now these students will receive much-needed guidance from mentors fresh out of college thanks to a $1 million grant given to Loyola College in Maryland, Baltimore. The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation awarded the funds as part of a national plan to increase college enrollment and graduation among low-income high school and community college students.
In this college-advising program, Loyola seniors will train to work full-time as advisors following graduation. Over four years, they will provide one-on-one advising to 7,400 students in Maryland high schools with low college-bound statistics and high numbers of students coming from low-income families.
On average, there is only one high school counselor for every 488 American public high school students, reports Loyola.
“This program will change the lives of thousands of Maryland students who need information and support to achieve their educational goals,” said Loyola president Father Brian Linnane, S.J. “I commend and thank the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation for creating this vital program.”