’Hoos giving guidance

New U.Va. graduates will go back to high school this fall to help other students follow in their footsteps.

A two-year pilot program established with a $623,000 grant from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation will allow U.Va. to train 20 young alumni over the summer. These College Guides will be placed in at least nine Virginia communities to provide services that will encourage students, particularly those with financial need, to apply to college. The guides will help high school students learn how to apply, take standardized tests, obtain financial aid and complete other steps that often prevent academically qualified students from continuing their education after high school.

“The College Guide program, combined with our new financial aid program, AccessUVA, will ensure that qualified students around the state have the opportunity to obtain a college degree and understand how to reach that goal,” said U.Va. President John T. Casteen III.

“Estimates are that only 53 percent of Virginians attend college right out of high school,” said Nicole F. Hurd (PhD, Religious Studies ’02), director of the Center for Undergraduate Excellence and the new guide program. “Our public-service-minded graduates will be great ambassadors for all forms of higher education.”