University of Virginia College Advising Corps (UVA)

Program Description

The University of Virginia launched the Virginia College Advising Corps, then called the College Guide Program, in fall 2005 to address the widening gap in college access for low income, first generation, and under-represented students. Initial funding was provided by the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation.

The Corps places recent U.Va. graduates in high schools throughout the Commonwealth to work alongside counselors and other college access organizations. College Advisers serve full-time in their placement sites for two years. They become mentors within the school setting, and are often the key resource for students to persist in their education beyond high-school. Our goal is to encourage and assist high school students with college applications, financial aid, scholarship searches, and making the transition to post-secondary education, in an effort to raise the percentage of Virginia students who attend and complete college.

Currently 17 Advisers serve 19 high schools throughout Virginia. VCAC was the model for the National College Advising Corps, now a cohort of 17 national universities using recent undergraduate alumni to encourage students to pursue higher education. Since the program�?�¢??s inception in 2005, VCAC has served more than 94,000 students and helped over 8,000 students enroll in post-secondary institutions.

Best Practices Library

Demographics

Education Level and
Number of Students

• High School: 9900
• Middle School: 0
• Elementary School: 0
• Post-secondary: 0
• Non-traditional: 0

Populations Served

• Academically At-risk

First-Generation

• Between 50% and 75%

Representative
Colleges Attended
by Alumni

• University of Virginia-Main Campus