Access College Foundation

High school program and College success program: the Foundation provided postsecondary education planning to more than 4,793 high school juniors, seniors and College students during 2022 and 3,944 in 2021. Of those students served in 2022, 3,392 families (71%), were verified to be low-income and in 2021, 2,879 (73%) were verified to be low-income. Post-secondary education planning includes school-based and virtual advisory services for: College and postsecondary training preparation and success; College application/ testing fee payments; guidance through the admissions process; College tours to prospective campuses; and the leveraging of financial aid, scholarships, and grants needed to attend College or other postsecondary training. Each high school junior and senior completes a "fee waiver application" at the beginning of the school year for our use in determining their level of poverty, based on federal guidelines, to receive fee waivers and fee payments made by Access on their behalf. When financial aid forms (fafsas) are filed for the seniors and our College students, the family size and income information are captured and updated through actual tax returns. This information was used to verify that 71% of the students in 2022 and 73% of the students in 2021 belonged to a family whose annual household income was not in excess of 300% of the federal poverty guidelines. Early College awareness: with our Foundation's primary target being students from low-income families who may not otherwise have Access, we begin laying the groundwork of early College awareness/readiness activities to middle school students in the 7th and 8th grades and then follow them into high school in the 9th and 10th grades. Much of this work is done in group settings and students in these grade levels do not disclose their family's financial information in order to receive services. We do know that the schools these students attend have a majority population receiving free- or reduced- lunch. Additionally, while our mission is to serve low-income students, we know that in the process of providing postsecondary education planning to these low-income students, other students may receive information or benefit from activities provided in group settings.