Grant Recipients

The Foundation’s College Advising Corps is an innovative, nationwide initiative that works to significantly increase access to college among qualified low-income high-school and community-college students. The Foundation has awarded 11 $1-million grants to highly selective private and state flagship colleges and universities, including Brown University; Franklin & Marshall College; University of California, Berkeley; and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, among others. Each institution is using the grant to implement targeted advising programs designed to encourage college-qualified, low-income high-school and community-college students to pursue bachelor’s degrees. All of the programs recruit and train recent college graduates to serve as advisers, and are based on the highly successful pilot program the Foundation funded at the University of Virginia. In addition, the Foundation has made select grants in its region to increase college access for exceptionally promising students with financial need.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) is using its College Advising Corps grant to create the Carolina College Advising Corps, which places college advisers in 18 low-income high schools across the state. The program employs recent UNC graduates to work directly with students in 11th and 12fth grades and with younger high-school and middle-school students.

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Brown University Brown University (Providence, RI) is using its College Advising Corps grant to expand its existing college-access programs at the University’s Howard R. Swearer Center for Public Service.

Franklin & Marshall College Franklin & Marshall College (Lancaster, PA) is using its College Advising Corps grant to develop a college access network in partnership with three other public and private institutions – Dickinson College, Millersville University, and Shippensburg University.

Loyola College Loyola College (Baltimore, MD) is using its grant to implement a college advising program in Maryland high schools with low college-going rates and large numbers of low-income students.

Northern Virginia Community College The Pathways to the Baccalaureate Program at Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC) helps academically prepared students with financial need in Loudoun County enter and succeed at NVCC and, ultimately, transfer to George Mason University or another four-year institution.

Pennsylvania State University Pennsylvania State University (State College, PA), and its 24 campuses, is using its grant to create a pre-college advising program that places advisers in underserved high schools statewide.

Tufts University/Massachusetts Campus Compact Tufts University and the Massachusetts Campus Compact (Medford and Somerville, MA) are using the grant to develop a college-advising program through Tufts’ Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service.

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa, AL) is using its grant to develop a community-college advising program to help low-income students transfer to four-year institutions.

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Educational Partnerships is using its grant to expand its successful Destination: College Advising Corps for students with financial need to reach as many as 20 additional high schools in underserved areas of California.

University of Missouri The University of Missouri is using its grant to create the Missouri College Advising Corps, a college access program intended to increase the percentage of students who earn a four-year college degree.

University of Utah  The University of Utah (Salt Lake City, UT) is using its grant to create the Utah College Advising Corps and develop college-advising programs at 14 low-income high schools designed to increase college enrollment rates statewide.

University of Virginia  The University of Virginia (Charlottesville, VA) was awarded a Foundation grant in 2004 to develop and implement the first College Advising Corps program, which continues to serve as a model for other universities. Today, UVa’s College Guide Program has 22 advisers in 23 public high schools and two community colleges throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia.