The University of Missouri-Columbia (MU) is one of 10 founding member institutions of the College Advising Corps (CAC) national network. In 2007, MU successfully competed for a $1 million grant from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation to establish the Missouri College Advising Corps (MCAC). MCAC launched in 2008 with 9 college advisers serving in 7 high schools and has since grown to have a reach of 48 college advisers serving in 47 partner high schools across the state.
MCAC differs from other college access programs in the following ways:
- MCAC college advisers are near-peer role models. As recent college graduates who themselves had to overcome barriers to enrolling in and completing college, MCAC college advisers have strong credibility with students.
- MCAC college advisers serve full-time in schools, making themselves available throughout the school day as well as during before-/after-school hours and evenings.
- MCAC college advisers work closely with school counselors, providing additional capacity for college advising to individual students.
- MCAC college advisers are available to all students within the school. There is no particular cohort or subset of students.
- MCAC helps students identify, apply to, and enroll in their “best fit” postsecondary institution – institutions that best fit students’ interests as well as academic and financial needs. This aligns with our goal of improving college access and persistence among students.
- MCAC is based at a postsecondary institution and has an extensive network across multiple institutions and educational agencies through which we have access to knowledge and resources to support programming.
- MCAC encourages the professional development of college advisers and prepares them to be actively engaged citizens who will contribute to their local communities.
The College Advising Corps (CAC) traces its roots to 2005 at the University of Virginia. With the help of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, Dr. Nicole Hurd, then serving as Dean and Director of the Center for Undergraduate Excellence at the University of Virginia, launched the “College Guide” program by placing 14 recent UVA graduates in rural communities where college-going rates were below the state average to help low-income, first-generation college, and underrepresented students plan for and complete the college and financial aid application process. The pilot project was a success and, with an investment from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation with additional support from the Lumina Foundation for Education, the program began to expand nationally. Today, after more than a decade of growth and impact, 829 near-peer advisers serve more than 240,000 students in 782 high schools across America.
