Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Michael Richards joins ISACorps

Michael Richards is from the Marynook area, and is assigned to the Richland Community College District.
ISAC Tabs Richards for Illinois Student Assistance Corps

Corps members to deploy throughout state as near-peer mentors to guide students on the college path

CHICAGO – The Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) announced that Michael Richards has accepted an offer to join the Illinois Student Assistance Corps, building partnerships with local schools, businesses, and nonprofits in order to deliver free career and college planning and preparation services to students from families with no prior college-going experience.

Richards, who hails from Chicago and currently resides in Chicago, recently graduated from U of I with a degree in Psychology and looks forward to serving in the Corps.

“[I want] to help students realize their potential and help them make good decisions that will have a positive impact on their future,” explained Richards.

"It’s a case of paying it forward. So many of the Corps members talk passionately about how they needed help navigating through the process as they prepared to go to college,” said ISAC Executive Director Andrew Davis. “Now, they want to help the next generation of college students."

Funded by the College Access Challenge Grant Program, the Corps tremendously bolsters ISAC's ability to provide high-quality personal service to students in every single community in the state. Corps members will provide assistance with career exploration, college selection, test preparation, scholarship searches, application completion and the financial aid process in each of the 39 Illinois community college districts.

Richards concluded: “All of the experiences that I have had through high school and college will influence the advice that i give to students I work with. I will try and relate my experiences to their lives in order to give them more relevent information.”

Corps members will deploy to community college districts throughout the state in mid-September.

The Illinois Student Assistance Commission provides students of all ages and backgrounds with the resources and support to obtain financial aid for higher education. A state agency, ISAC has paved the path to post-secondary education with innovative programs for more than 50 years. Last year alone, ISAC continued its mission to make college accessible and affordable for Illinois students by issuing over 186,000 grants and scholarships totaling nearly $431 million.

The Commission provides educational funding with student loans, as a loan guarantor and via numerous public programs such as the Monetary Award Program (MAP), the Illinois Veteran Grant and College Illinois!sm , the Commission’s groundbreaking 529 prepaid college tuition program. Students and families have free access to a wealth of financial aid and college planning information at ISAC’s family of websites available at www.knowhow2GOIllinois.org.

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Paul Palian
Media Affairs
Illinois Student Assistance Commission
100 W. Randolph Street, Ste. 3-200
Chicago, IL 60601
312-814-3679 Direct
312-590-9970 Cell
ppalian (at) isac.org
http://www.knowhow2goillinois.org/

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