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In the new school year, the Michigan College Advising Corps will more than double the number of MCAC advisers working to increase college-going plans among low-income, first-generation, and underrepresented high school students around the state of Michigan. The Michigan Corps’s base of operations is U-M’s Center for Educational Outreach (CEO).
Having proven its value to hundreds of students in seven communities during its inaugural year, 2010-11, MCAC will expand to 15 Michigan communities this month, including Battle Creek, Benton Harbor, Flint, Grand Rapids, Highland Park, Holland, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Muskegon, Pontiac, Port Huron, Saginaw and more.
MCAC college advisers help students navigate every aspect of the college-going process; collaborate with principals, counselors and teachers to foster a college-going culture in their school and community; and help identify the best fit and match between the students and their college choices.
“The Michigan College Advising Corps is a uniquely effective way for the best and brightest U-M alumni to serve Michigan communities. MCAC advisers promote the idea that educational attainment empowers future success,” says Chris Rutherford, program manager at MCAC’s statewide administrative base, CEO. “MCAC also strengthens U-M’s relationship with high schools and communities toward the goal of promoting postsecondary attainment overall.”
MCAC is a unique approach to increasing the number of low-income, first-generation, and underserved students entering and completing higher education in Michigan. Following in the tradition of AmeriCorps and Teach for America, MCAC recruits and trains a select group of recent U-M graduates to work full time for up to two years as college advisers in underserved Michigan high schools.
“MCAC is a solid complement to the numerous educational outreach programs that are based at U-M,” says Nick Collins, executive director of CEO. “The importance of having a postsecondary degree is critical, not just for the personal empowerment that education provides, but also for the common good. An educated and well-trained workforce drives economic progress for all.”
MCAC at U-M is one of 14 constituent programs around the country that constitute the National College Advising Corps. The NCAC consortium of colleges and universities aims to increase the number of low-income, first-generation college students in the United States.
MCAC is made possible by support from NCAC, which benefits from the support of contributors such as the Kresge Foundation, the College Access Challenge Grant, Lumina Foundation for Education and Bank of America. Organizations also contributing to MCAC include the Flint Community Schools, Genesee County College Access Network, Highland Park City Schools, Holland/Zeeland College Access Network, KnowHow2GO St. Clair and Lansing College Access Network.
