College Now goes to Capitol Hill to advocate for FAFSA simplification
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On Tuesday, March 12, College Now’s own Chief Program Officer, Dr. Michele Scott Taylor, testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) during the full committee hearing on “Reauthorizing the Higher Education Act: Simplifying the FAFSA and Reducing the Burden of Verification.” She was one of four experts called on to testify at the hearing, along with Kristina Scott, Executive Director of Alabama Possible, Michael Meotti, Executive Director of Washington Student Achievement Council, and Dr. Mark Wiederspan, Executive Research Officer at Iowa Student Aid.
During her testimony, Michele reiterated both the real and perceived complexity of the FAFSA is a hindrance for the students and families who need federal financial aid the most. Drawing on her own experience as a first-generation college student, Michele also emphasized that transparency of information is vital to the college application process, stating that, “Getting to and through college is a full-time job.”
College Now is proud of the testimony by Michele, Kristina Scott, Michael Meotti, and Dr. Mark Wiederspan, and looks forward to following the U.S. Senate HELP Committee’s progress surrounding issues of FAFSA simplification and verification. You can read more about the Committee hearing
on our blog
, watch the full Committee Hearing on
the Senate’s website
and download Michele’s full written testimony
on the website
, as well.
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#MentorMonday brings in 125 new mentors
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As we highlighted in last month's e-newsletter, College Now partnered with WKYC, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, and Say Yes Cleveland on a day-long mentor recruitment campaign to help College Now recruit 1,000 mentors by April 1st. #MentorMonday occurred on March 4th and was an incredibly successful campaign. The day-long event included highlights such as Russ Mitchell, WKYC Managing Editor and Lead Anchor and College Now Board Member,
meeting his mentee, Mario,
and Russ and WKYC's Hollie Strano
chatting with College Now mentor/mentee pair DeQuan and Brinden
during Live on Lakeside. The day-long campaign brought in 125 new mentors for the Mentoring Program!
#MentorMonday also included a recruitment campaign with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, led by CMSD CEO Eric Gordon and Chief of Staff Karen Thompson. They announced during #MentorMonday that 269 CMSD educators would be supporting Say Yes Cleveland scholarship recipients by mentoring.
We are extremely grateful for the support from WKYC, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, and Say Yes Cleveland in our mentor recruitment efforts. Mentors are being recruited until Monday, April 1, for College Now and Say Yes scholarship recipients graduating this spring. You can
visit our website
to learn more and to apply.
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College Now recognizes Lubrizol for longstanding support
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For over 30 years, The Lubrizol Corporation has been a key supporter of College Now!
Lubrizol’s philanthropy has benefitted a variety of programs at College Now, including, for the last five years, our impactful mentoring program for our scholarship recipients.
With funding from Lubrizol, College Now’s mentoring program has been a critical factor in increasing the persistence and completion rates for our traditional age scholarship recipients, all of whom come from low-income backgrounds and many of whom are first-generation college students. To date, the program has seen strong results: an average of 92% of freshmen students continue to sophomore year; 85% of sophomores continue to junior year; 80% of juniors continue to senior year; and, in the pilot year, 72% of seniors either graduated or continued to a fifth year.
Moreover, in addition to its generous philanthropic support, Lubrizol employees are incredibly generous with their time to College Now; 15 currently serve as volunteer mentors in our mentoring program, a number expected to climb in the 2019-20 school year.
With its worldwide headquarters in Wickliffe, Lubrizol is a specialty chemical company with two business segments, one of which focuses on chemical additive technologies for engine oils as well as other transportation-related fluids and the other of which is a leading international producer of advanced specialty polymers and other advanced materials used in consumer and industrial applications.
College Now thanks The Lubrizol Corporation for its deep commitment to postsecondary educational attainment and our enduring partnership!
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Spring is finally here! Stock up at Amazon and help College Now!
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2. If this is your first time on the site, select College Now as your charitable organization.
3. .5% of your eligible purchases will be donated to College Now!
Thank you for your support!
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College Now Greater Cleveland
50 Public Square, Suite 1800
Cleveland, OH 44113
216.241.5587
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