As millions of high school seniors are preparing for college around the country, October 1^st marked the opening date to submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid or FAFSA.  While most students have plenty of resources at home to help them navigate the college process, there are many students who do not know where to begin.  The College Advising Corps (CAC) was established in 2007 as a national movement to increase the number of low-income, first-generation, and underrepresented students entering and completing higher education.   Today 24 partner institutions, including the University of Texas at Austin through the Advise TX program, work in 646 high schools in 14 states to provide the advising and encouragement that students need to navigate college admissions. CAC advisers are all recent graduates predominantly from their partner institution (for example, all of the Advise TX counselors are from the University of Texas at Austin). The advisers work for a maximum of two years within a specific high school that their program serves.

The CAC tracks its effectiveness by having all advisers record progress in key performance indicators using a comprehensive database called GRACE (Getting Results and Creating Equity). This past month, as the CAC was tracking the FAFSA submission rates of all advisers, one UT Austin adviser stood out.  Advise Texas’s very own Yessenia Delgado, who works at La Joya High School in the Rio Grande Valley, has achieved a 70% FAFSA submission rate by the end of October.  Her submission rate represents the highest rate among all 654 CAC advisers throughout the nation!  Congratulations Yessenia!

The Advise TX program ranked second overall related to FAFSA completions at 28%.

For more information about Advise TX, visit iversity.utexas.edu/schoolpartnerships/advise-tx/